Supv General Attorney

Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens

• As District Counsel, furnishes expert legal advice, assistance, and services to the District Commander and District Engineer who is the head of the Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District.
• Supervise and manage the delivery of legal services by the Office of Counsel which includes a Deputy District Counsel (non-supervisory), 15 staff attorneys, and 5 paraprofessionals.
• Deliver and supervise legal services regarding federal laws, regulations, policies and procedures relating to the Corps' mission and programs for military construction, civil works, and support for others.
• Advise on activities involving fiscal law; federal acquisition and procurement; contract claims and litigation; and environmental law, compliance, regulation and remediation.
• Deliver and supervise legal services for the following federal practice areas: litigation, administrative law, ethics, employment, labor relations, real estate, information law, torts and constitutional law.
• Supervise and direct legal services that balance national and organizational program goals and priorities; develop and utilize innovative issue resolution approaches.
• Work effectively with other Corps military and other senior management officials; governmental entities; tribal entities; and with private parties.

Conditions of employment

• Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret clearance.
• Financial Disclosure Statement (OGE-450) is required.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: US Citizens

In order to qualify, you must meet the education and 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.

Basic Requirement for the Supervisory General Attorney position:
Degree: 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).

In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below:

Specialized Experience: Three or more years of professional legal experience, acquired after being admitted to the bar, commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the position. One year of the required professional legal experience is equivalent to the GS-14 under the General Schedule or other pay systems which includes providing senior-level legal advice on federal contracting matters; conducting legal analysis and recommendations on contract claims, disputes, and bid protests; preparing litigation reports and supporting federal litigation through research, factual development, and coordination with Department of Justice or U.S. Attorneys; delivering authoritative ethics guidance, including reviewing financial disclosures and applying the Joint Ethics Regulation; and supervising attorneys and legal staff by assigning work, reviewing legal products, and offering technical oversight across a geographically dispersed organization.

NOTE: Experience must be documented in your resume.

Must be a current member in good standing of a bar of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency in the following areas:

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. Please follow all instructions carefully when applying, errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

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.

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.

All applicants meeting the qualifications listed above will be referred for consideration. The Selection Panel appointed and chaired by the HQUSACE Deputy Chief Counsel, will review all qualified applicants and their submitted documents.

NOTICE OF VETERAN'S 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 eligibility a positive factor for attorney hiring. Applicants eligible for veterans' preference must include that information in their cover letter or resume and attach supporting documentation (e.g. DD form 214, "Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty") to their submissions. (DD Form 214 is available from the DoD Forms Management Program Website at http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/inofmgt/forms/formsprogram.htm). 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. (SF15, which lists the types of 10-point preference and the required supporting documents, is available from the Office of Personnel Management website at www.opm.gov).

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT REQUIRED DOCUMENTS FOR THIS ATTORNEY POSITION: If you DO NOT provide the required documents listed below for this US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Attorney position, your application will be determined to be an incomplete application package and will not receive further consideration for this position.

The documents you are required to submit vary based on whether or not you are eligible for preference in federal employment. A complete description of preference categories and the associated required documents is in the Applicant Checklist for Public 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 must be two pages or less and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement. Resumes exceeding two pages will be removed from consideration.
• For each relevant work experience, make sure you include the employer's name, job title, start and end dates (include month and year), for qualifications purposes, the number of hours worked per week, and a brief description that show you can perform the tasks at the required level listed in the job announcement. If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete, and you may not receive consideration for this position.
• Use plain language. Avoid using acronyms and terms that are not easily understood. The hiring agency will not make assumptions about what's in your resume.
• 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 additional information, to include formatting tips, see: What to include in your resume.

2. Other supporting documents:

• Cover Letter, optional
• Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable
• 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
• Official certificate showing that you are a member in good standing of the bar.
  1. The official certificate must be dated within three months of the date that the application package is submitted.
  2. The certificate is required to be submitted by all applicants to include attorneys currently appointed to positions under the qualifying authority of The Judge Advocate GeneraI, (including active duty Army Judge Advocates).
• Sworn Statement:
  1. 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, or if either has been challenged, a sworn (notarized) statement concerning the facts and circumstances, together with any explanation that you deem appropriate may be submitted.
  2. As an alternative to a sworn (notarized) statement, a statement which includes a declaration under penalty of perjury may be submitted in the following format: "I declare (or certify, verify, or state) under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct ... executed on (date) ... (your signature)." (28 U.S.C.1746).
  3. The statement must be dated within three months of the date that the application package is submitted.
  4. The statement is required to be submitted by all applicants to include attorneys currently appointed to positions under the qualifying authority of The Judge Advocate General, (including active duty Army Judge Advocates).
• Writing Examples
  1. Examples of writing skills as demonstrated by legal briefs, memoranda, or letters.
  2. These examples should total no more than ten pages in length.
  3. Extracts of selected sections of larger documents are acceptable.
• Required Documents for current US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Attorneys:


• 1. Resume
• 2. Most recent annual performance appraisal
• 3. Your most recent non-award Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50)

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.

Next steps