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The Department’s Honors Attorney Program offers new law graduates and recent law graduates completing judicial clerkships or judicial fellowships a unique opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the Department’s diverse law practice. To be eligible for our next program starting in August 2025, you must be a U.S. citizen graduating from law school in Spring 2025 or completing a judicial clerkship or judicial fellowship in Summer 2025.
Learn more about this agency06/17/2024 to 08/16/2024
$82,764 - $128,956 per year
GS 11 - 12
Many vacancies in the following location:
No
Yes—This position may be eligible for occasional and/or regularly scheduled telework. The number of telework days approved will be determined by your immediate supervisor or manager following the agency’s telework policy and guidance. If participating in the telework program, you will be required to sign a telework agreement detailing agency telework policy requirements, working conditions, and expectations for the position.
Not required
No
Term - Term appt, NTE 2 yrs
Full-time - Full Time
Excepted
12
No
No
OST.C-2024-0011
796035900
Applications will be accepted from any U.S. Citizen graduating from law school in Spring 2025 or completing a judicial clerkship or judicial fellowship in Summer 2025. This position is in the Excepted Service. For information on the Excepted Service, please visit: Excepted Service Appointing Authorities@ https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/excepted-service/ This is a Bargaining unit position represented by AFGE, 3313 and 11374.
As an Honors Attorney, you will:
The Ideal Candidate Statement: Honors Attorneys work under the close supervision of experienced attorneys. The ideal candidate is a highly motivated, self-reliant and skilled individual willing to work in a challenging and fast-paced environment with experienced professionals committed to delivering the world’s leading transportation system, serving the American people and economy through the safe, efficient, sustainable, and equitable movement of people and goods. The ideal candidate exercises initiative and must be creative in coping with exceptionally difficult and novel legal and policy matters.
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:
To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet the EDUCATION REQUIREMENT for the series, provide a copy of your law school transcript for verification, and meet the education and relevant experience qualifications for the grade at which you are requesting consideration.
To qualify for the GRADE 11, you must have:
To qualify for the GRADE 12, you must have:
Note: If you are not yet admitted to the bar of a State, the District of Columbia, a U.S. territory, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to qualify on Education, you must possess a professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.). An applicant who has not been admitted to a state bar may be selected for a Law Clerk, GS-0904-11 position. Appointment as a Law Clerk is limited to 14 months, during which time appointee must be admitted in good standing to the bar of a court of general jurisdiction of a state, territory or possession of the United States. Upon admission to the bar, the position will be converted to a permanent appointment as an Attorney-Adviser.
Desired Qualifications
All applicants are reviewed for the following competencies:
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:
Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4
All applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
MANDATORY EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS:
In order to qualify for this position, candidates must have successfully completed a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have a professional law degree, and must currently be a member in good standing of the bar of a State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia.
Note: If you are not yet admitted to the bar of a State, the District of Columbia, a U.S. territory, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to qualify on Education, you must possess a professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.). An applicant who has not been admitted to a state bar may be selected for a Law Clerk, GS-0904-11 position. Appointment as a Law Clerk is limited to 14 months, during which time appointee must be admitted in good standing to the bar of a court of general jurisdiction of a state, territory or possession of the United States. Upon admission to the bar, the position will be converted to a permanent appointment as an Attorney-Adviser.
This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if similar vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.
This is an Excepted Service appointment. You will be on a trial period throughout your entire two-year program. If selected, you will be required to complete a Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306) to determine your suitability for Federal employments and to authorize a background investigation.
Upon successful completion of the program, depending on the agency's needs, you may be converted without a break in service to a permanent appointment in the excepted service. The position may have a career ladder target up to the GS-15 grade level depending on the office the candidate is selected to work in. There is no guarantee of a permanent position following this program.
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level
For this announcement, applicants will be reviewed to determine if they meet the basic qualifications for this position, specifically the educational and specialized experience requirements.
All applications will be referred for direct consideration by the hiring office. Review of applications and hiring decisions by the selecting official may occur on a running basis prior to the closing date of this announcement.
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.
You must submit a complete application package (including the required documents specified below) no later than 11:59 PM Eastern Time on the closing date of the announcement by email to honors.attorney@dot.gov with the subject line "<First Name> <Last Name>, <Law School>".
If you are having difficulty applying, please contact honors.attorney@dot.gov
You will be contacted directly if you are selected for an interview. Due to the large quantity of applications expected for these positions, we are unable to contact and provide status information to applicants that are not selected for an interview.
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/796035900. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.
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The Office of the Secretary (OST) oversees the formulation of National transportation policy and promotes intermodal transportation. Other responsibilities range from negotiation and implementation of international transportation agreements, assuring the fitness of US airlines, enforcing airline consumer protection regulations, issuance of regulations to prevent alcohol and illegal drug misuse in transportation systems and preparing transportation legislation.
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