Requirements
Conditions of employment
- U.S. Citizenship is required.
- Incumbent will be subject to random drug testing.
- Copy of license to practice law.
- Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance.
- Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit: www.dhs.gov/E-Verify/
Qualifications
All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. If you are qualifying based on education OR if there are mandatory education requirements listed below, you MUST submit a copy of your college transcript with your application.
Applicants apply for this position must meet the following requirements to be eligible for further consideration:
Law Degree: Applicants must be a graduate of an accredited law school with a J.D. or LL.M.
Bar Membership: Applicants must be a current member of a bar in good standing in any state, territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Experience: Applicants must have at least four years of specialized experience with at least one year equivalent to the GS-14 level in the Federal Service, which provided you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of this position. The specialized experience must have been gained after admission to the bar.
Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following:
- Experience practicing employment law, including federal statutes, administrative regulations, and case law governing employer/employee relationships.
- Experience conducting all phases of litigation, including discovery, depositions, motion practice, witness preparation and questioning, and courtroom, administrative hearing, or arbitration representation.
- Experience conducting fact findings to verify background, events, and individuals associated with grievances.
- Experience presenting legal analysis and persuasive legal arguments both orally and in writing, including in the form of legal briefs, motions, and/or memoranda.
There is no substitute of education for specialized experience for the GS-15 position.
Education
See the qualifications section of this vacancy announcement for education requirements.
Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. For a list of accredited organizations recognized as specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials, visit: www.naces.org/members.php.
Additional information
- For reasonable accommodation at the U.S. Department of State, please contact the Office of Accessibility and Accommodations at OAA@state.gov.
- If eligible, situational telework agreements may be permitted with supervisory approval.
- Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement. If eligible, applicants to this announcement may be referred to other similar positions in other Bureaus/Offices in the Department for up to 240 days. Telework eligibility and security clearance requirements may vary for such similar positions.
Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Review our benefits
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How you will be evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Once the application process is complete, a review of your resume limited to two pages will be conducted and evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications for this position. Resumes longer than two pages will be deemed ineligible and will not be considered further.
Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies:
- Knowledge of employment law including Federal statutes, administrative regulations, and judicial decisions related to employer/employee relationships.
- Ability to draft decision papers dealing with legal issues related to a grievance case.
- Skill in conducting fact finding investigations to verify the background, events, and individuals associated with individual grievances.
- Ability to draft legal briefs, formulate legal arguments, perform legal research, and conduct administrative litigation in defense of the Department’s position.
- Ability to present factual and legal arguments in formal hearings before administrative authorities.
- Ability to negotiate settlement agreements with parties holding widely divergent objectives and points of view.
In describing your experience, please be clear and specific. We do not make assumptions regarding your experience. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials may result in your removal from consideration.
Applicants must meet all the qualification requirements and submit any supporting documentation by the closing date of this announcement. Your application package must contain sufficient information to make a valid determination that you fully meet the basic/specialized experience requirements as stated in this job opportunity announcement for each grade level(s) for which you are applying.
Your resume serves as the basis for qualification determinations and must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable) as it relates to this job opportunity. 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). Your resume should include the dates of all qualifying experience (from month/year to month/year) and the number of hours worked/volunteered per week. For assistance with creating a resume, please click here.
You may preview questions for this vacancy.
Required Documents
All required documents listed below, that are applicable to you, must be submitted to our automated system "Gateway to State" by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.
1. Resume – your two-page resume or any other written format you choose should contain the required information as specified in the "How You Will Be Evaluated" section. Insufficient information will result in an ineligible rating. Resumes longer than two pages will be deemed ineligible and will not be considered further.
2. Writing Sample – you must submit a writing sample (less than 10 pages) with your application. Writing sample should demonstrate legal analysis of relevant facts and persuasive legal argument as would be included in a legal brief, motion, or memoranda.
3. Transcripts – you must submit a copy of your college transcript(s) from an accredited law school with your application. If selected, an official/sealed college transcript(s) will be required to verify education prior to employment.
4. Proof of bar membership – you must submit proof of bar membership from any state or territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico with your application.
5.. If you are qualifying based on other criteria listed under the Qualification Section of this announcement, you MUST submit the required supporting documentation (certificates, certifications, etc.) with your application.
6.. References – you must submit three professional references with your application.
7. Veterans Preference – There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of State considers veterans' preference eligibility a positive factor in the hiring process. If claiming 5-point veteran's preference, you must provide a copy of your DD-214 Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty (Member Copy 4 is preferred), which must show the type of discharge and dates of active duty.
If you are currently on active duty, you must provide a certification on letterhead from your military branch which contains your military service dates, expected date of discharge or release, and the character of service to show that your military service was performed under honorable conditions. The expected date of discharge or release must be no later than 120 days after the certification is submitted for consideration for this vacancy announcement. If the appropriate information is not submitted to confirm your current or expected discharge status, dates of service, etc., you will not receive credit for the claimed active duty military service.
If claiming 10-point veteran's preference (i.e., preference eligibles with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more), you must submit the documentation required by the SF-15 (Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference) to support your claim (e.g., DD-214, official statement from the Department of Veterans Affairs). If we cannot verify your 10-point preference status, you will receive 5-point preference if veterans' preference requirements have been met. For further information regarding Veterans, click here.
For applicants claiming 10-point derived veterans’ preference (i.e., spouses, widows, widowers or mothers of veterans), a completed SF-15 must be submitted with the application with all required supporting documents listed on the form.
For Sole Survivorship preference, you must provide a copy of your DD-214 (Member Copy 4 is preferred) or another form of official documentation which shows your discharge or release from active duty occurred on or after August 29, 2008 and was based on a sole survivorship discharge.
To gain access to your DD214 online, click here.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
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.