Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to the public. This position allows for situational and recurring telework, but does not qualify for full-time or remote work.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO) is seeking an experienced Attorney Advisor to join its Department of Program Services, Court Services Office (CSO), Court Policy Division. CSO's Court Policy Division provides primary staff support for the Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management (CACM or Committee). CACM is a committee of general jurisdiction that plays a role in most multicommittee initiatives handled by the judiciary. The CACM Committee and its staff regularly coordinate with a number of other committees, the Federal Judicial Center, and at times Executive Branch agencies, on issues vital to the judiciary. The Committee also takes the lead on handling issues with cross-cutting impact and political implications.

This position reports to the Court Policy Division Chief.

The incumbent must possess the ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with executives, judges, court staff, members of Congress, congressional staff, and the public. Additionally, the incumbent must be able to effectively develop and present qualitative and quantitative analyses in both written and oral form.

The duties of this position include, but are not limited to:

1. Supporting CACM, CACM subcommittees, and CACM judge members assigned to other Committees, Councils, and working groups.
2. Providing staff support to CACM judge members involved in the oversight of the Case Management Modernization (CMM) program and serving as a liaison with AO offices and courts to identify and resolve policy issues relating to the CMM program.
3. Providing oversight and policy guidance on various Judicial Conference-approved and congressionally-mandated pilot programs, while serving as the primary liaison between CSO, the Budget Committee, and CACM for review and approval of annual budget proposals for the judiciary's libraries, electronic public access, bankruptcy noticing, and records programs.
4. Developing and implementing statutes and national policies adopted by the Judicial Conference of the United States.
5. Developing and analyzing pending legislation related to court administration and case management.
6. Writing agenda items for consideration by CACM and the Judicial Conference.
7. Preparing and making oral presentations on issues within the Committee's purview at CACM, subcommittee, advisory group, and council meetings.
8. Evaluating, interpreting, and effectively presenting case management statistics and related data to CACM and its subcommittees.
9. Conducting in-depth legal research and studies.
10. Writing reports relating to judicial administration.
11. Responding to inquiries from Congress and researching issues to prepare for Congressional hearings.
12. Ensuring the Guide to Judiciary Policy, AO Manual, AO publications, JNet pages, and other guidance documents are updated to reflect a new or amended CACM-approved policy or recommended practices.
13. Researching and providing legal and policy advice to CSO and AO offices and the courts.

Conditions of employment

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

1. All information is subject to verification. Applicants are advised that false answers or omissions of information on application materials or inability to meet the following conditions may be grounds for non-selection, withdrawal of an offer of employment, or dismissal after being employed.
2. Selection for this position is contingent upon completion of OF-306, Declaration of Federal Employment during the pre-employment process and proof of U.S. citizenship for competitive status positions or conversion to a competitive status position with the AO. If non-citizens are considered for hire into a temporary or any other position with non-competitive status or when it is confirmed by the AO Human Resources Office there are no qualified U.S. citizens for a competitive status position (unless prohibited by a law or statue), non-citizens must provide proof of authorization to work in the U.S. and proof of entitlement to receive compensation. Additional information on the employment of non-citizens can be found at USAJOBS Help Center | Employment of non-citizens/. For a list of documents that may be used to provide proof of citizenship or authorization to work in the United States, please refer to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.
3. All new AO employees will be required to complete an FBI fingerprint-based national criminal database and records check and pass a public trust suitability check.
4. New employees to the AO will be required to successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights/responsibilities, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/.
5. All new AO employees are required to identify a financial institution for direct deposit of pay before appointment.
6. You will be required to serve a trial period if selected for a first-time appointment to the Federal government, transferring from another Federal agency, or serving as a first-time supervisor. Failure to successfully complete the trial period may result in termination of employment.
7. If appointed to a temporary position, management may have the discretion of converting the position to permanent depending upon funding and staffing allocation.

Qualifications

Applicants must have demonstrated experience as listed below. This requirement is according to the AO Classification, Compensation, and Recruitment Systems which include interpretive guidance and reference to the OPM Operating Manual for Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions.

Bar Membership: Applicants must currently be an active member in good standing of the bar of a state, territory, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or a federal court of general jurisdiction (attach a copy of license). Applicants are responsible for citing minimum qualifications such as J.D. and bar membership information (institution name, state(s) for bar, and dates) on their respective resumes. Failure to supply details will constitute an incomplete application. All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Post J.D. Experience: Applicants must also possess at least 4 years of post J.D. experience.

Specialized Experience: Subsequent to graduation from law school, applicants must have at least one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience in each of the following:

1. Providing legal and operational advice to federal and/or state court judges, court executives, or court staff.
2. Researching legal and policy issues.
3. Conducting or overseeing studies, writing reports, and analyzing and proposing policy initiatives.

Attaching a cover letter is highly encouraged but not required to qualify for this position.

How you will be evaluated

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

We will review your resume and supporting documentation and compare this information to your responses on the occupational questionnaire to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications for this job. If you meet the minimum qualifications for this job, we will evaluate your application package, to assess the quality, depth, and complexity of your accomplishments, experience, and education as they relate to the requirements listed in this vacancy announcement.

You should be aware that your ratings are subject to evaluation and verification. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume and/or narrative responses, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Failure to submit the mandatory narrative responses will result in not receiving full consideration and/or rating credit. Deliberate attempts to falsify information may be grounds for not selecting you, withdrawing an offer of employment, or dismissal after being employed.

For this job announcement the following documents and/or information are required:

• Resume - Any written format you choose to describe your job-related qualifications (limit two pages).
• Citizenship -Include country of citizenship on resume.
• Bar Membership/License - Documentation that demonstrates current active member in good standing of a bar of a state, territory, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a federal court of general jurisdiction.
• Law School Transcript.
• Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) - All applicants outside of the AO must submit a copy of your latest SF-50 to verify current or former Federal employment status.

Next steps