Paralegal Specialist

Clarification from the agency

Open to Status Candidates, to include current or former competitive service employees; Veterans to include those eligible under VRA, VEOA, or the 30% compensable authority; Individuals with Disabilities; and other individuals eligible for non-competitive appointment.

This vacancy includes a Selective Placement Factor. Please see Qualifications for more information.

As a Paralegal Specialist, you may perform duties such as:

• Assisting at all levels in the development of criminal litigation or appeals, beginning at the investigation level, to filing pleadings with the court.
• Assisting attorneys by preparing filings and exhibits for trials or appeals.
• Organizing case documents, conducting first-level document review, and coordinating document productions.
• Proofreading and cite-checking legal briefs, memoranda, and other documents, and ensuring accordance with Bluebook and/or other citation and style requirements for legal writing.
• Conducting various document searches using document management databases such as Relativity.
• Producing work products that are well written, clear, and free of errors.
• Preparing for interviews, depositions, hearings, and appeals.
• Conducting extensive and thorough research in a variety of legal and non-legal databases and providing information in response to a wide range of questions.
• Preparing and organizing evidence, discovery and trial exhibits, such as statistical charts, graphs, and maps, to be presented in court.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to qualify for this position.
• You must complete the online questionnaire and additional assessment(s).
• You must undergo a pre-employment security investigation.
• Selective Service Registration is required, as applicable.
• You must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
• You must meet status eligibility for this announcement.
• Direct Deposit: All federal employees are required to have federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing.
• A one-year probationary period may be required.
• The Criminal Division participates in the Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification Program. E-Verify helps employers to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. For more information, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/.

Qualifications

To qualify at the GS-09 level, applicants must demonstrate one of the qualifications as listed below:

• Have at least one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience at, or equivalent to, the GS-07 level. This experience must include duties such as: conducting legal research; writing legal reports, to include summarizing factual information, legal issues, and case law relevant to a given case; and assisting with the preparation of exhibits, such as statistical charts, graphs and maps to be presented in court; OR
• Two full years of graduate education or a master's degree, LL.B, J.D., or equivalent degree that demonstrates the competencies needed to do the work of the position may be substituted for the experience required; OR
• A combination of education and experience as listed above. Please note, only education in excess of one year of graduate education may be used in this calculation.

• Have at least one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience at, or equivalent to, the GS-09 grade level. This experience must include duties such as: independently conducting legal research for litigation or appeals; reviewing evidence such as subpoenas and witness binders for use during litigation or appeals; writing legal reports, to include summarizing factual information, legal issues and case law relevant to a given case; and preparing exhibits, such as statistical charts, graphs and maps, to be presented in court; OR
• Three years of progressively higher graduate education, leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; OR
• A combination of education and experience.

How you will be evaluated

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

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

You are strongly encouraged to convert your resume to an Adobe PDF file prior to submitting your application, especially if you are submitting using a Mac system. Resumes not pre-converted to a PDF will undergo system conversion that may cause some formatting changes to your resume, including line and page break errors.

You must provide a complete application package which includes:

1. Resume (cover letter is optional) - Applicants will be evaluated based on a comparison of the position requirements against the quality and extent of experience or related education as reflected in their resume. Applicants are encouraged to ensure work experiences clearly show the possession of knowledge of the subject matter pertinent to the position and the technical skills to successfully perform the duties of the position. Your resume must be no more than 2 pages. If more than 2 pages are submitted, only the first 2 pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility/qualifications. Please ensure all information you believe is qualifying for the position is contained in the first two pages, or you may be marked ineligible. Additionally, your resume must include the following information for each job listed: month and year, start/end dates (e.g. June 2007 to April 2008), and full-time or part-time status (include hours worked per week).
2. Unofficial Transcripts (if qualifying based on education)
3. USA Hire Reasonable Accommodations Requests - If you are requesting a reasonable accommodation to the USA Hire Assessments, you may be asked to submit documentation to support your request (https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us/articles/45424542500371-How-to-request-a-reasonable-accommodation).
4. SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applying as a status candidate with current or former federal service) which shows type of service appointment, tenure group, grade, and salary. If you are applying for a higher grade, please provide the SF-50 Form which shows the length of time you have been in your current/highest grade (examples of appropriate SF-50s include Promotions, Within Grade/Range Increases, and SF-50s over one year old).
5. Most Recent Performance Appraisal.
6. Any Relevant Performance Award (must attach SF-50)(if applicable).
7. Documentation of Eligibility for Special Hiring Authorities (if applicable) to prove appointment eligibility. Examples include: Peace Corps volunteer letter, military spouse hiring authority documentation, etc.
8. Current or Former Political Appointees (if applicable) - Please note on your resume and attach an SF-50. 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, or Non-Career SES employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the HR Office.
9. Schedule A Documentation (if applicable) - The Criminal Division welcomes and encourages applications from persons with disabilities and is firmly committed to satisfying its affirmative obligations under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to ensure that persons with disabilities have every opportunity to be hired and advanced on the basis of merit within DOJ. Eligible Schedule A applicants can also submit their resumes directly to the Criminal Division disability POC at crm.schedulea@usdoj.gov.
10. CTAP or ICTAP Documentation (if applicable) - If you are a displaced Federal employee claiming eligibility under CTAP or ICTAP:
    • A copy of the agency notice (i.e., letter of intent, separation notice, or agency RIF letter);
    • Your most recent performance appraisal; and
    • Your most recent SF-50 showing your current/former position title and series, grade, promotion potential, and duty location.
11. VEOA Eligibility Documentation (if applicable):

• If you are a discharged, non-disabled veteran, you must submit a copy of your DD-214 showing character discharge (Member 4 Copy), or other documentation of service and separation under honorable conditions. If you do not have your DD-214, you may request it after discharge from the National Archives at http://www.archives.gov/veterans.
• If you are a veteran within 120 days of discharge, you must submit signed documentation from the Armed Forces certifying: 1) your expected release/retirement from active duty, 2) under honorable conditions, 3) your pay grade/rank/rate at time of discharge, 4) dates of active duty service, 5) any campaign or expeditionary medals received, and 6) dated within 120 days of your separation.
• If you are a disabled veteran, Purple Heart recipient, or parent or spouse of a disabled or deceased veteran, you must submit a completed SF-15 (https://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/SF15.pdf) and all additional proof required by the SF-15, as applicable, if you do not have your Department of Veterans Affairs letter establishing proof of disability, you may request it at https://www.va.gov/resources/getting-started-with-va/ or call 1-800-827-1000.

Next steps