Summary
About the Position: Position is located in the US Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District, Office of Counsel.
Management may select at any grade. Position has promotion potential up to the GS-13 level.
This job is open to
Clarification from the agency
See "Who May Apply" in the "Qualifications" section for more information on who is eligible to apply for this position.
Duties
- Provides legal advice and trial advocacy in a wide range of practices areas to including, but not limited to, government contract law, labor and employment law, information law, tort, admiralty, and ethics.
- Duties include, but are not limited to, conducting legal research, reviewing documents, drafting agreements and legal opinions, participation on project delivery teams, and litigation.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
- Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
- Travel is up to 15% of the time.
- This position requires pre-employment Financial Disclosure Statement OGE Form 450 and annually thereafter in accordance with DoD Directive 5500-7-R.
- This position requires a Fitness to Practice Statement - A sworn (notarized) statement from you that your fitness to practice law or conduct as an attorney has never been challenged in any jurisdiction to the best of your knowledge.
- Must maintain a license to practice law and be a member in good standing of the bar, state, territory of US, District of Columbia or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
- Appointment to this position is subject to a one year probationary/trial period.
- This position is designated as moderate risk involving Public Trust. Appointment to this position is subject to a background investigation including a credit check to determine suitability for Federal employment and/or the position.
Qualifications
Who May Apply: US Citizens
In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document.
The following minimum qualification requirements must be met before applicants are eligible for further consideration:
Education: An applicant must have successfully completed a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have the first professional law degree (LLB or JD).
Bar Membership: Applicant must currently be a member in good standing of the bar of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Experience at the GS-11: Applicant must have one or more years of professional legal experience, acquired after being admitted to the bar, this is commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of this position, OR have graduated in the top third of class, OR have obtained an advanced law degree (Master of Laws (LL.M). However, this criterion may be waived for applicants who demonstrate unusual compensating qualifications, such as significant pertinent public service experience, technical background, or other academic degrees.
Experience at the GS-12/13: Applicant must have two years of professional legal experience, acquired after being admitted to the bar, commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the position. (Exceptions to the experience requirement may be made for possession of special qualifications. For example, a second professional law degree (master of laws) or graduation with a distinguished record from an accredited law school (for example, in the top 25 percent of the class) may be substitute for one year of the required professional legal experience.
Time in Grade Requirement: Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-09 for the GS-11 position; GS-11 for the GS-12 position; GS-12 for the GS-13 position).
NOTICE OF VETERANS' PREFERENCE: There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the Excepted Service; however, the Department of Army considers veterans' preference eligible a positive factor for attorney hiring. Applicant's eligibility for veterans' preference must include that information in their cover letter and attach supporting documentation (e.g., DD Form 214, "Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty") to their submissions. Although the point-preference system is not used, applicants eligible to claim a 10 point preference must submit a Standard Form (SF) 15, "Application for 10-Point Veteran's Preference," and supporting documentation required for specific type of preference claimed. SF 15, which lists the types of 10-point preference and the required supporting documentation, is available from the Office of Personnel Management website at www.opm.gov.
If qualified, your application package will be evaluated as to whether and how your experience, knowledge, skills, training and/or education clearly reflect that you possess the following required knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) to successfully perform the duties of this position.
1. Ability to effectively identify and diligently research factual and legal issues.
2. Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing.
3. Ability to work efficiently and effectively, both independently and on a team, to advise and advocate for the client.
Education
FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.
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.
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 announcement has closed, a review of your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine whether you meet the qualification requirements listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified, your resume and supporting documentation will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your level of experience. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully when applying, errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.
You should list any relevant performance appraisals and incentive awards in your resume as that information may be taken into consideration during the selection process. If selected, you may be required to provide supporting documentation.
Required Documents
The documents you are required to submit vary based on the authority you are using to apply (i.e., applying as a veteran, applying as a current permanent Federal employee, applying as a reinstatement, etc). Please review the following links to see which documents you need to provide to prove your eligibility to apply: Applicant Checklist for Internal/Merit Promotion Announcements.
As described above, your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.
1. Your resume:
- Your resume may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.
- If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you may not be considered for this vacancy.
- For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). If your resume does not contain this information, your application will be marked as incomplete and you will not receive consideration for this position.
- For additional information see: What to include in your resume.
2. Other supporting documents:
- Cover Letter, optional
- Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable
- Proof of Eligibility to Apply: Your application must include the documents which prove you are eligible to apply for the vacancy. The Proof of Eligibility document describes authorities commonly used in merit promotion recruitment and what document(s) are required to prove you meet the requirements of the authority. You must meet the requirements of at least one of the authorities listed in the Who May Apply section above to receive further consideration.
- Time-in-grade documentation: If you are applying for a higher grade and your SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you meet the one year time-in-grade requirement so you will need to provide an SF-50 which clearly demonstrates you meet the time-in-grade requirements (examples of appropriate SF-50s include Promotions, Within-grade Grade/Range Increases, and SF-50s with an effective date more than one year old).
- This position has an individual occupational requirement and/or allows for substitution of education for experience. If you meet this requirement based on education you MUST submit a copy of your transcript with your application package or you will be rated ineligible. See: Transcripts and Licenses
- This position requires a job-related license or certification. You MUST submit a copy of your license or certification with your application package or you will be rated ineligible. See: Transcripts and Licenses
NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.
IN ADDITION TO THE REQUIREMENTS ABOVE, ALL APPLICANTS MUST SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS BY THE CLOSING DATE OF THIS VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT: (1) Official certificate or other evidence showing employee is in good standing with the Bar; (2) Sworn (notarized) statement that fitness to practice law or conduct as an attorney has never been challenged in any jurisdiction; (3) List of References from three members of the Bar; (4) Official or unofficial law school transcript; (5) Copies of your most recent performance appraisal and most recent Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) (current federal employees only); (6) Relevant training, awards history, professional registration/licenses, if applicable, should be included in the content of the resume; (7) Writing sample which shall not exceed 10 pages total; (8) OF612, SF171 or resume demonstrating specialized experience applicable to the job.
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.
How to Apply
To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below.
The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 07/08/2024 to receive consideration.
- To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application (https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12455062).
- Follow the prompts to select your resume and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
- After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.
- You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.
- It is your responsibility to verify that your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. Uploaded documents may take up to one hour to clear the virus scan.
- Additional information on how to complete the online application process and submit your online application may be found on the USA Staffing Applicant Resource Center.
To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/.
Next steps
If you provided an email address, you will receive an email message acknowledging receipt of your application. Your application package will be used to determine your eligibility, qualifications, and quality ranking for this position. If you are determined to be ineligible or not qualified, your application will receive no further consideration.
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