Attorney-Adviser (Transportation) Job in Washington, DC

Vacancy No. STB-12525399-24-CM Department Surface Transportation Board
Salary $82,764.00 to $191,900.00 Grade 11 to 15
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 10/1/2024 Close Date 12/24/2024
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Public
Locations:
Washington, DC


Summary

The individual (s) serves as an Attorney-Adviser, GS-0905, in the Office of Proceedings, which has primary responsibility for conducting legal research, developing recommended outcomes, and drafting decisions for cases before the Board, including adjudications and rulemaking decisons.

The full performance grade level is a GS-15.

The hiring official may select at any grade level from GS-11 through GS-15.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

All U.S. Citizens.

Duties

The major duties of this position are researching and drafting decisions in proceedings before the Board.

The Board adjudicates, among others, the following types of proceedings: complaints of unreasonable railroad rates or practices; declaratory orders; licensing of rail line constructions, acquisitions, or abandonments; railroad mergers or acquisitions; and proceedings under the Board's limited jurisdiction over motor carriers, water carriage in the noncontiguous domestic trade, and certain pipelines.

In preparing draft decisions, the selected attorneys will review the record before the agency and apply the relevant statutes, regulations, policies, and case law. Board decisions include summaries of relevant evidence, analysis of salient legal issues, and findings of fact, conclusions of law, and determinations of actions to be taken by the Board.

The selected attorneys will lead meetings with staff from other offices within the Board to develop recommendations for resolving Board proceedings, lead briefings of the Board members to present staff recommendations, and draft legal memoranda, correspondence, or other materials as assigned.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • U.S. Citizenship is required.
  • All qualification requirements must be met by one of the four cut-off dates as follows: the first cut-off date (10/22/24), second cut-off date (11/12/2024), third cut-off date (12/03/2024), or the fourth cut-off date (12/24/2024).
  • Your application package will not receive consideration if it lacks any of the required documents under the "Required Documents" tab.
  • Trial Period: A two-year trial period will be required.
  • Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. See http://www.sss.gov/
  • Background Suitability Investigation: Continued employment is contingent upon satisfactory completion of a background investigation and the granting of a Federal suitability or security clearance.
  • If selected, you may be offered tentative employment until the background investigation has been fully adjudicated.
  • E-Verify: If you are selected for this position, the documentation that you present for purposes of completing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Form 1-9 will be verified through the DHS "E-Verify" System.
  • The STB is an E- Verify Participant.
  • Employment is contingent upon the satisfactory completion of a background investigation and the granting of a Federal suitability clearance. If selected, you may be offered a tentative offer until the background investigation has been adjudicated.
  • Relocation expenses are not authorized.

Qualifications

The Office of Personnel Management has not issued qualification standards for attorney positions. However, successful candidates must possess the following minimum qualifications before the closing date of this posting:
However, STB sets minimum qualifications for attorney positions and sets forth these qualifications for this position. You must meet both requirements below:
A.
· A professional law degree (LL.B., J.D., LL.M.) from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA);
· Upon entering duty, current membership in good standing of the bar of a state or territory of the United States or the District of Columbia. Proof of bar membership will be required before entering on duty.

All candidates must demonstrate through their application documents: excellent research and writing skills, incisive legal analytical ability, and strong oral advocacy and presentation skills.

AND

B. Specialized experience:

GS-11 Level
GS-11 candidates must possess their first professional law degree and a record of the first professional law degree demonstrating superior law student work or activities (e.g., superior academic standing, significant achievement in law school activities, or other equivalent evidence of clearly superior achievement i.e., law clerk experience or work experience significant to law school of record).

GS-12 Level
GS-12 candidates must have one year of professional legal experience: analyzing statutes, regulations, and decisional law, and presenting those analyses and relevant legal or policy issues for decision. Federal clerkships count towards creditable experience.

GS-13 Level
GS-13 candidates must have two years of professional legal experience: analyzing statutes, regulations, and decisional law, and presenting those analyses and relevant legal or policy issues for decision and resolving disputes. Federal clerkships count towards creditable experience.

GS-14 Level
GS-14 candidates must have three years of professional legal experience: analyzing statutes, regulations, and decisional law; presenting those analyses and relevant legal or policy issues for decision; resolving disputes, and must possess a legal background in transportation, economics, administrative law, or government regulation. Federal clerkships count towards creditable experience.

GS-15 Level
GS-15 candidates must have four years of professional legal experience: analyzing statutes, regulations, and decisional law, and presenting those analyses and relevant legal or policy issues for decision and resolving disputes in support of an efficient, competitive, and economically viable surface transportation network. Candidates at this level will also have experience providing advice on complex technical issues concerning rail transportation. Federal clerkships count towards creditable experience.

A writing sample and cover letter are to be submitted with the application package.

Only experience and education obtained by the cut-off dates of this announcement will be considered.

For qualifications determinations, it is recommended that applicants include their months, years, and hours worked per week for each employment listed on their resume. To receive full consideration for specialized experience, please list month/year to month/year (XX/XX-XX/XX) or month/year to present (XX/XX-present) and the number of hours worked per week for each period of employment/experience listed in your resume. Your responses to the questionnaire must be supported/demonstrated in your resume. If a determination cannot be made about the length of your creditable experience for qualification requirements, you will be removed from consideration.

Education

All applicants must possess a first professional law degree: J.D. or LL.B from an American Bar Association Law School, or equivalent training. Equivalent training is training permitted in some states in lieu of attendance at a law school. To be acceptable, this training must be of the kind and nature required by the state in which the bar exam is taken. A copy of your transcript(s) is required to show proof that you meet this requirement. Please see the Required Documents section of the announcement for more specific information.

Submit a copy of your transcript(s) or list of courses with credit hours, major(s) and grade-point average or class ranking. 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. Click on the link for a list of accredited organizations recognized as specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials: http://www.naces.org/members.htm.

Additional information

This position is eligible for telework in accordance with STB's telework policy.

Fitness Center: STB employees, at no cost, have access to the fitness center conveniently located in the building; and

A monthly transit subsidy for a portion of your commuting costs to help defray the commuting costs of employees who use mass transportation, including commuter bus, Metrorail or Metrobus, or commuter rail systems.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

ICTAP does not apply to Excepted Service positions.

This announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

Benefits

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.

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 the resume and supporting documentation will be made to determine if you are qualified for this job. 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.

Preview the Assessment Questionnaire,

Required Documents

Please be advised, that the following documents are required even if you are already a current Federal or STB employee:

1. Cover letter indicating why you are applying for this position and why you believe you ought to be selected.

2. Resume that includes the experience you wish to be considered for the review of your qualifications, the dates of employment with month and year, and hours worked per week, if part-time. Resumes that do not contain all of the necessary information to determine qualifications may be marked as insufficient and applicants may not receive consideration for this position. Your latest resume submission is the one that will be used to determine your qualifications.

3. Responses to questionnaire.

4. Writing Sample: applicants MUST include an unedited or lightly edited writing sample that demonstrates your ability to perform the duties of the position and illustrates your ability to conduct complex legal research and analysis. Selected extracts of larger documents are acceptable. If appropriate, please attach and explanatory cover memo to your writing sample. DO NOT submit any sensitive or classified documents or documents containing personally identifiable information (PII).

5. You MUST provide transcripts or other documentation to support your educational claims. Unless otherwise stated: (1) unofficial transcripts are acceptable, or (2) you may submit a list with all of your courses, grades, semester, year, and credit for the course. All materials must be submitted by the closing date of the announcement.

6. Supporting documents verifying your eligibility or any preference eligibility along with your application package.
These documents may include, but are not limited to:
· Veterans documentation: There is no formal rating system for applying veteran's preference to attorney appointments in the Excepted Service. However, if you are eligible for veteran's preference, you may attach supporting documents. If submitting DD214, a MEMBER 4 copy is required. If you are currently on active duty, you must submit an official statement of service from your command or other official documentation that proves your military service was performed under honorable conditions;
· Preference eligible documentation: If claiming 10-point preference you must also submit an SF-15 and any other proof that you are eligible for 10-point preference. If a job offer is extended to you, the final VA letter including percentage (please do not include letter from VA noting specific private medical information) is required;

Failure to submit any of the required documents by the closing date of the vacancy will result in your removal from consideration for this position. Please review your application prior to final submission and ensure you have submitted all appropriate documents.

Uploading documents to USAJobs does NOT ensure inclusion with your application to our system. You must verify that the documents are in the system with your application prior to final submission.

How to Apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application.

To apply for this position, you must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section above. The complete application package must be submitted within one of the cut-off dates (1st cut-off date: 10/22/2024; 2nd cut-off date:11/12/2024; 3rd cut-off date: 12/03/2024; 4th and FINAL cut-off date: 12/24/24) before the announcement closes. The following instructions outline our application process. You must complete this application process and submit any required documents by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, please contact us by noon ET on the announcement's closing date.

To begin your online application:

You must create a login.gov account if you don't already have one. You must:
-Create a login.gov account - you only need to do this once.
-Enter an email address during the account setup - use the same email address you use for USAJOBS (your primary or secondary email address)
-Create a new password.
-Have a working phone number (mobile or landline) near you - login.gov will send you a security code.
-Finish setting up your login.gov account.

Once you've finished setting up your login.gov account, you'll go back to USAJOBS to finish the process. Double-check your USAJOBS Profile to make sure all of your information is accurate. You must use your login.gov email address, password, and security code every time you want to sign into USAJOBS. Follow the prompts in USAJOBS to take the online questionnaire and submit the required documents. See the Required Documents section for more details.

Note: We recommend you don't use a .gov, .mil or .edu email address. Instead, use a personal (non-government) email address when you create your login.gov account. Please do not use an email address you share with someone else

**For any issues signing into login.gov, go to https://login.gov/contact/

Reasonable accommodation requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis, you must email your request for Reasonable accommodation directly to HR@stb.gov

Agency contact information

Cynthia McClam
Address
Surface Transportation Board
395 E Street, SW
Washington, DC 20423
US
Learn more about this agency

Next steps

Once referred, you may be asked to complete a structured interview, written demonstration, and/or fit interview. Deliberate attempts to falsify information may be grounds for not selecting you or for dismissing you from the position/agency during the probationary period.

Once your online application is submitted you will receive a confirmation notification by email. Your application will be evaluated. You will receive another notification about the status of your application.


Note: We cannot accept applications on behalf of Federal Agencies. Application instructions are listed within the Job Description.


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