Summary
The Department’s Honors Attorney Program offers new law graduates and recent law graduates completing judicial clerkships or judicial fellowships a unique opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the Department’s diverse law practice. To be eligible for our next program starting in August 2025, you must be a U.S. citizen graduating from law school in Spring 2025 or completing a judicial clerkship or judicial fellowship in Summer 2025.
This job is open to
Clarification from the agency
Applications will be accepted from any U.S. Citizen graduating from law school in Spring 2025 or completing a judicial clerkship or judicial fellowship in Summer 2025.
This position is in the Excepted Service. For information on the Excepted Service, please visit: Excepted Service Appointing Authorities@ https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/excepted-service/
This is a Bargaining unit position represented by AFGE, 3313 and 11374.
Duties
As an Honors Attorney, you will:
- Provide legal advice and policy counsel to DOT leadership on complex areas of law affecting DOT’s duties and responsibilities, both in writing and orally.
- Conduct legal research and analyses on sensitive matters.
- Provide training on a variety of laws and policies affecting DOT personnel.
- Engage with other Federal agencies, congressional committees, the courts, and other transportation stakeholders
The Ideal Candidate Statement: Honors Attorneys work under the close supervision of experienced attorneys. The ideal candidate is a highly motivated, self-reliant and skilled individual willing to work in a challenging and fast-paced environment with experienced professionals committed to delivering the world’s leading transportation system, serving the American people and economy through the safe, efficient, sustainable, and equitable movement of people and goods. The ideal candidate exercises initiative and must be creative in coping with exceptionally difficult and novel legal and policy matters.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
- You must be a U.S.Citizen and eligible for consideration.
- Submit application and resume by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.
- This is an Excepted Service position.
- Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:
- SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered for Selective Service.
- TRIAL PERIOD: This is an Excepted Service position. This job will be filled by an alternative hiring process and is not in the competitive service. Applicants selected for an excepted service position may be subject to a two-year trial period.
- ETHICS/CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT: All employees are subject to the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, set out in Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 2635, including restrictions on owning financial interests that may conflict with performance of their duties. Some employees, like those involved in contracting or regulating non-Federal entities, are subject to Executive Branch Financial Disclosure requirements set out in Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 263.
- DUTY LOCATION: This vacancy is located in Washington, DC. You must be willing to relocate to the Washington, DC area.
Qualifications
To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet the EDUCATION REQUIREMENT for the series, provide a copy of your law school transcript for verification, and meet the education and relevant experience qualifications for the grade at which you are requesting consideration.
To qualify for the GRADE 11, you must have:
- Be a graduate of an accredited law school with a LL.B., J.D., or equivalent.
- Be an active member in good standing of the bar in a state or territory of the United States or the District of Columbia or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
- A law school GPA of at least 3.0 for schools on a 4.0 scale.
To qualify for the GRADE 12, you must have:
- Be a graduate of an accredited law school with a LL.B., J.D., or equivalent AND at least one (1) year of professional legal work experience OR a second professional law degree (LL.M.) which requires one full year of graduate study.
- Be an active member in good standing of the bar in a state or territory of the United States or the District of Columbia or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
- A law school GPA of at least 3.0 for schools on a 4.0 scale.
Note: If you are not yet admitted to the bar of a State, the District of Columbia, a U.S. territory, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to qualify on Education, you must possess a professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.). An applicant who has not been admitted to a state bar may be selected for a Law Clerk, GS-0904-11 position. Appointment as a Law Clerk is limited to 14 months, during which time appointee must be admitted in good standing to the bar of a court of general jurisdiction of a state, territory or possession of the United States. Upon admission to the bar, the position will be converted to a permanent appointment as an Attorney-Adviser.
Desired Qualifications
All applicants are reviewed for the following competencies:
- Legal analysis, reasoning and writing, including the ability to effectively integrate and synthesize facts and law to make legally sound decisions, including in compressed timeframes.
- Interpersonal and communication skills.
- The ability to work both independently and as a team member in a demanding environment.
- The ability to exercise sound judgment in challenging situations.
- Willingness to consider diverse perspectives and ability to navigate changing circumstances.
- Ability to effectively manage multiple work assignments and competing priorities concurrently.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:
- Technical - Uses knowledge that is acquired through formal training or extensive on-the job experience to perform one's job: works with, understands, and evaluates technical information related to the job; advises others on technical issues.
- Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical sensitive controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
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). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4
All applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
Education
MANDATORY EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS:
In order to qualify for this position, candidates must have successfully completed a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have a professional law degree, and must currently be a member in good standing of the bar of a State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia.
Note: If you are not yet admitted to the bar of a State, the District of Columbia, a U.S. territory, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to qualify on Education, you must possess a professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.). An applicant who has not been admitted to a state bar may be selected for a Law Clerk, GS-0904-11 position. Appointment as a Law Clerk is limited to 14 months, during which time appointee must be admitted in good standing to the bar of a court of general jurisdiction of a state, territory or possession of the United States. Upon admission to the bar, the position will be converted to a permanent appointment as an Attorney-Adviser.
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.
DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level
For this announcement, applicants will be reviewed to determine if they meet the basic qualifications for this position, specifically the educational and specialized experience requirements.
All applications will be referred for direct consideration by the hiring office. Review of applications and hiring decisions by the selecting official may occur on a running basis prior to the closing date of this announcement. You may preview questions for this vacancy.
Required Documents
- RESUME - It must show education and relevant experience supporting your qualification for the position. Please send a traditionally formatted resume rather than a resume created within USA Jobs Resume Builder.
- PROOF OF ACTIVE BAR MEMBERSHIP IN GOOD STANDING (IF APPLICABLE)
- TRANSCRIPTS - Verifying that you meet the stated education requirements for the series. The transcripts need not be official.
- WRITING SAMPLE: Provide a writing sample (no more than 10 double-spaced pages that is an accurate reflection of your legal writing abilities and not substantially edited by a third party). Candidates selected for second round interviews may be asked to participate in a brief writing assignment at that time.
- VETERANS: Department of Transportation attorney positions are in the excepted service, not the competitive civil service. There is no formal rating system for applying veterans’ preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of Transportation considers veterans’ preference eligibility as a positive factor in the attorney hiring process. If you are eligible for veterans’ preference in hiring, you are encouraged to include that information in your application along with supporting documentation, e.g., SF15, DD214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, or other supporting documentation.
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
You must submit a complete application package (including the required documents specified below) no later than 11:59 PM Eastern Time on the closing date of the announcement by email to honors.attorney@dot.gov with the subject line "<First Name> <Last Name>, <Law School>".
If you are having difficulty applying, please contact honors.attorney@dot.gov
Next steps
You will be contacted directly if you are selected for an interview. Due to the large quantity of applications expected for these positions, we are unable to contact and provide status information to applicants that are not selected for an interview.
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