An official website of the United States government
Attorneys assigned to the Office of the General Counsel provide legal advice and services to all agencies of the United States Department of Agriculture in administering USDA programs and activities within the defined geographic area. The incumbent serves as an attorney providing legal advice, research, analysis and interpretation of federal, state and local laws, as well as oral and written opinions, memoranda, pleadings, briefs and legal support of all USDA programs and litigation, and performs other legal services as assigned.
This is a permanent, full-time position.
If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is neither implied nor guaranteed.
Pay Scale:
Listed below are the salary ranges for each grade level.
Washington D.C.
GS-13: $96,970 - $126,062
GS-14: $114,590 - $148,967
Please Note: Applicants must have 52 weeks of time-in-grade at the next lower grade level (or its equivalent) in order to move to the next higher grade level.
03/16/2018 to 04/06/2018
$96,970 - $148,967 per year
GS 13 - 14
Occasional travel - Occasional travel may be required.
No
Permanent
Full-Time
14
No
AG-OGC-2018-0035
494069400
As an Attorney Advisor, you will be responsible for the following:
•The incumbent performs legal services primarily in connection with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, governing employment discrimination matters before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in the federal sector, other civil rights matters, and in mixed cases or mixed appeals before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), other litigation responsibilities related to employment discrimination, labor and employment law in other forums and such others duties as may be assigned by the Associate or Assistant General Counsel.
•Reviewing investigative reports, preparing pleadings in administrative proceedings; preparing exhibits and interviewing witnesses in the preparation for trial or hearing of such matters; participating in prehearing or pretrial conferences; examining and cross-examining witnesses; arguing motions in the course of such proceedings; preparing briefs in support of the Government’s case; preparing and participating in the oral arguments of such matters; preparing pleadings in civil or criminal court actions, conferring with appropriate officials regarding case work, engaging in, and responding to, discovery requests, and defending the Secretary in actions brought before the EEOC, MSPB, Office of Special Counsel, Federal Labor Relations Authority, and other decision-makers.
•Serving as an advisor and consultant to departmental and agency officials and attorneys in other divisions of the Office, attending and giving oral advice at conferences and meetings both internal and external to the Department; maintaining routine contact with administrative officials of the different client agencies; frequently contacting opposing counsel and respondents involved in administrative proceedings and DOJ attorneys; consulting with representatives of other Federal agencies, members of various industries, public interest groups and other members of the general public.
•Providing training to Agency representatives, managers and employees on civil rights, labor and employment law matters, as requested by the Associate or Assistant General Counsel.
These duties are described at the FPL GS-14, the GS-13 is developmental leading to such performance.
REQUIREMENTS:
•If you are newly hired, the documentation you present for purposes of completing the Department Homeland Security (DHS) Form I-9 on your entry-on-duty date will be verified through the DHS "E-VERIFY" system. Federal law requires the use of E-VERIFY to confirm the employment eligibility of all new hires. Under this system, the new hire is required to.
•If selected you must be able to obtain and maintain a Public Trust security clearance and a credit report inquiry.
•May be subject to satisfactory completion of a two year probationary or trial period.
•You must submit a written statement, in your cover letter or in a separate document, explaining your interest in working for the USDA's Office of the General Counsel, and noting any relevant course work, training, or prior experience that you believe should be considered in evaluating your application.
•This position is subject to limited telework only by managerial approval and subject to change at any time from the Agency or Department.
Attorney positions are in the excepted service, not the competitive civil service. There is no formal rating system for applying veterans’ preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service.
Education: Successful completion of a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have the first professional law degree (LLB or JD) (Law School transcript required)
and
Bar Membership: Applicant must currently be a member in good standing of the bar of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Foreign Education: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university.
It is your responsibility to provide adequate proof that you meet the above requirements (education and bar membership). Inadequate or illegible information could result in non-qualification and loss of consideration.
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
However, if you are eligible for veterans’ preference in hiring, you are encouraged to include that information in your application along with the supporting documentation, e.g., SF-15, DD 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, Proof of Bar Membership or other supporting documentation.
You will be evaluated based on your qualifications for this position as evidenced by the education, experience, and training you described in your application package, as well as the responses to the Occupational Questionnaire to determine the degree to which you possess the knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies listed below:
Your application, including the online Assessment Questionnaire, will be reviewed to determine if you meet (a) minimum qualification requirements and (b) the resume supports the answers provided to the job-specific questions. Your resume must clearly support your responses to all the questions addressing experience and education relevant to this position. Those determined to be in the best qualified category will be referred to the selecting official for consideration.
Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered to more accurately reflect the submitted documentation. Please follow instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action up to including removal from Federal service.
You must submit a complete Application Package, prior to 11:59, ET, on the closing date of this announcement. The following documents must be submitted for your application package to be considered complete. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents are received within the required timeframes. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, illegible fax transmissions, delays in the mail service, system failure or downtime, etc.
Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.
Other required documents may include:
NOTE: If a document is resubmitted, it replaces the previous submission, which means the previous document is no longer available to the Human Resources Office. If you are adding to, rather than replacing a previous submission, you must upload both the old document and the new document. Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded resumes must be less than 3MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, or Word (DOC or DOCX).
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin.
The following instructions outline our application process.
Step 1: Create a USAJOBS account (if you do not have one) at www.usajobs.gov. It is recommended that as part of your profile you set up automatic email notification to be informed when the status of your application changes. If you choose not to set up this automatic notification, then you will have to log into your USAJOBS account to check on the status of your application.
Step 2: Create a resume with USAJOBS or upload a resume into your USAJOBS account. Customize your resume to ensure it documents duties and accomplishments you have gained that are directly related to this position in order to verify that qualifications are met. Your resume must support your responses to the online questionnaire (you may preview the online questionnaire by clicking on the link at the end of the How You Will Be Evaluated section of the job announcement).
Step 3: Click "Apply Online" and follow the prompts to complete the Occupational Questionnaire and attach any additional documents that may be required.
You can update your application or documents anytime while the announcement is open. Log into your USAJOBS account and click on "Application Status." Click on the position title, and then select "Update Application” to continue.
NOTE: Verify that uploaded documents from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system. Once in the Agency's staffing system you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded resumes must be less than 3MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, or Word (DOC or DOCX).
If you set up your USAJOBS account to send automatic email notifications, you will receive an email acknowledging: 1) the submission of your online Occupational Questionnaire and resume was successful, 2) if you were referred to the selecting official for consideration, and 3) if you were selected or not selected. If you choose not to set up automatic email notifications, you must check your USAJOBS account for the latest status of your application. Your application may be reviewed to verify that you meet the qualifications and eligibility requirements for the position prior to issuing lists to a selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. Normally, a final job offer to the selected candidate is made within 30-60 days after the issuance of the certificate.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
This job originated on www.usajobs.gov. For the full announcement and to apply, visit www.usajobs.gov/job/494069400. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.
Learn more about
