• Identifies potential legal issues, researches and applies when relevant and/or pertinent Department regulations, policies, laws, Executive Orders, and other guidelines for legal implications related to human resources.
• Provides appropriate legal advice on relevant laws including the Civil Service Reform Act, the Foreign Service Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Rehabilitation Act. Works with DOJ on employment cases in federal courts.
• Conducts negotiations, plans the approach, and develops the completed product.
• Participates in intradepartmental, interagency, and inter-jurisdictional meetings and conferences in which s/he is expected to justify recommendations for particular legal considerations associated with deciding courses of action or policy positions.
• At the GS-15 level, the incumbent performs the same duties as outlined above; however, the scope and complexity of assignments are increased, and the incumbent receives less supervision than the GS-14.

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship is required.
• Incumbent will be subject to random drug testing.
• 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/
• Copy of license to practice law.

Qualifications

All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

This vacancy is being advertised as permanent. To qualify for a permanent appointment, applicants must have three years of prior full-time service as a practicing attorney at a federal agency or serving in a federal clerkship.

Applicants applying 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.

Applicants interested in GS-14:

Experience: Applicants must have at least three years of specialized experience with at least one year equivalent to the GS-13 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 with employment law and litigation, including Federal statutes, administrative regulations, and judicial decisions that pertain to areas of the employer/employee relationship.
• Experience addressing in writing, legal aspects of domestic operational situations, memorializing interagency agreements, and settlement agreements.

There is no substitute of education for specialized experience for the GS-14 position.

Applicants interested in GS-15:

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 with employment law, including Federal statutes, administrative regulations, and judicial decisions that pertain to areas of the employer/employee relationship.
• Experience defending against claims at the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), conducting investigations or negotiations, planning the approach, and developing the completed products.

There is no substitute of education for specialized experience for the GS-15 position.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

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. For this announcement, all applicants will be reviewed to determine if they meet the qualifications for this position, specifically, the education and specialized experience requirements. Applicants will not be rated or ranked. All applicants that are verified to meet the required qualifications will be referred to the selecting official.

Your resume will be evaluated to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications required; and on the extent to which your application shows that you possess the knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs), and other characteristics that are relevant to the duties of this position as defined below: 

• Ability to draft legal briefs, formulate legal arguments, perform legal research, and conduct administrative litigation in defense of the Department's position.
• Ability to orally present factual and legal arguments in formal hearings before administrative authorities as well as in meetings with Departmental senior management.
• Ability to negotiate settlement agreements with parties holding widely divergent objectives and points of view.
• Ability to draft clear legal arguments citing applicable laws, regulations, and precedents.
• Knowledge of employment law including Federal statutes, administrative regulations, and judicial decisions that pertain to areas of the employer/employee relationship such as employment discrimination and overtime regulations; Federal Foreign Service and Civil Service personnel management laws, rules, and regulations.
• Ability to provide guidance to less experienced colleagues.

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.

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.

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. A completed online questionnaire through the Department's automated system "Gateway to State".

3. Transcripts – you must submit a copy of your law school 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.

Next steps