Clarification from the agency

This announcement is for current Federal employees in permanent competitive service positions (status candidates) in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

As a Legal Administrative Specialist, you will join a well-respected team that is responsible for providing a variety of litigation and trial support services to the United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Kentucky. Duties will include (but are not limited to):

- Serving as the primary support specialist for discovery in criminal or affirmative civil enforcement matters, including by coordinating with client agencies to preserve and collect materials that may be needed for discovery, reviewing incoming materials to assess responsiveness, organizing complex and voluminous materials for efficient review by the case team, preparing materials for production, and maintaining detailed indices of materials received and produced.

- Providing technical advice to Assistant United States Attorneys on ways to make efficient and effective use of litigation support software to organize, review, produce, and present case materials and evidence, including for purposes of discovery and trial.

- Analyzing and summarizing documentary and other evidence, drawing upon knowledge of the legal and factual issues in the Government's case.

- Drafting a variety of legal documents such as subpoenas and other discovery requests, discovery correspondence, and routine pleadings, motions, proposed orders, and notices.

- Assisting attorneys in pretrial preparations, including by managing and preparing witnesses, and by drafting witness lists, exhibit lists, and trial subpoenas.

- Preparing and organizing exhibits and demonstratives for hearings and trials, which may include voluminous documents, demonstratives such as summary charts and diagrams, and audio and video clips.

- Assisting attorneys during trials and other court proceedings, including by managing exhibits and operating trial presentation software in the courtroom.

Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• You must be registered for Selective Service, if applicable.
• If selected, you may be required to complete a one year probationary period.
• Background Investigation, credit and tax checks, and drug test required.
• You must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.

Qualifications

GS-9: To be qualified at the GS-9 grade level you must meet at least one of the following conditions below.

Specialized Experience: At least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 grade level in Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as performing the following types of duties:

Working in a legal environment providing technical assistance and a range of case support to attorneys on preparing, organizing, indexing, and managing discovery, exhibits, and other case-related materials; reviewing litigation support requirements to recommend appropriate strategies to meet litigation needs; preparing legal documents such as pleadings, subpoenas, motions and proposed orders, discovery correspondence, and trial-related documents; using litigation support technology such as Trial Director, CaseMap, Relativity, or similar programs to organize case information for efficient retrieval and review, or to prepare computerized trial presentations; reviewing and summarizing documentary and other evidence to facilitate case development; and providing in-courtroom support during legal proceedings, including by operating trial presentation software and managing exhibits.
-OR-
Education: Education in a related field: a J.D. or LL.B; OR a Master's or equivalent graduate degree or higher (in a related field, e.g. Law, Criminal Justice, Public Administration, Business Administration); OR 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree.
-OR-
Combining Education and Experience: Combinations of specialized experience and graduate education which when combined equal 100% of the requirements. (Only graduate education in excess of 1 full year is creditable.)

You MUST meet all qualification requirements, including time-in-grade, by 04/27/2026 of this announcement.

Your resume must support your responses to the application questionnaire and the qualification requirements. Failure to do so may result in an ineligible rating.See the Required Documents section for important notes about what must be included in your resume.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your complete application package (resume/supporting documentation, online questionnaire, and USA Hire Competency Based Assessment) will be used to determine whether you meet the job qualifications listed on this announcement. If you are basically qualified for this job, your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses on the online questionnaire. If you rate yourself higher than is supported by your application materials, your responses may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this job. If you are found to be among the top candidates, you will be referred to the selecting official for employment consideration.

You will be rated on the following Competencies (see The OPM Website for definitions):
Attention to Detail, Customer Service, Decision Making, Flexibility, Integrity/Honesty, Interpersonal Skills, Learning, Reading Comprehension, Reasoning, Self-Management, Stress Tolerance, and Teamwork

To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

It is your responsibility to carefully review the list of required documents below and submit the necessary documentation based on your eligibility.

- Required: Your responses to the Online Occupational Questionnaire (This is completed automatically during the apply online process).

- Required: Your resume cannot exceed two pages - you will be deemed ineligible and receive no further consideration if your resume exceeds two pages - see USAJOBS for formatting requirements. Include relevant employment history as outlined below for each job:

• Official position title (if Federal, include series/grade),
• Employer name and contact information,
• Start and end dates (for full consideration you must include month, day, and year),
• Indicate full-time or number of hours worked per week if part-time, and
• A list of duties performed and accomplishments.

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.

- Required if you meet qualifications based on education: An unofficial college transcript (Note: If you are selected for this position, an official transcript will be required prior to your first day.) and foreign education evaluation documentation, if applicable, as described under the "Qualifications" section of this vacancy announcement.

- Required if you are a current or former Federal employee: a recent copy of an SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, showing title, series, grade, and full performance level (FPL); AND a copy of your most recent performance appraisal. Please note your SF-50 must include your FPL in the remark section (e.g., appointment, reassignment, promotion actions), pay adjustments and awards do not include this information so they are not acceptable.

- If you are requesting a reasonable accommodation to the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you must submit documentation to support your request, including the Reasonable Accommodation Request Form found at: https://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.php?title=Reasonable_Accommodations_for_USA_Hire

- Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office by providing a copy of your applicable SF-50, along with a statement that provides the following information regarding your most recent political appointment:

• Position title;
• Type of appointment (Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES, or Presidential Appointee);
• Agency; and
• Beginning and ending dates of appointment.

Next steps