Clarification from the agency

1. U.S Citizens or U.S. Nationals; no prior federal experience is required.

HUD's Mission
The mission of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is to foster strong communities by supporting access to quality, affordable housing, expanding the housing supply, and unlocking homeownership opportunities for the American people. The Department is committed to furthering the promise of self-sufficiency in every American while promoting economic development to revitalize rural, tribal, and urban communities across the country.

This position is located in the Office of General Counsel (OGC), Legal Service Center. OGC is the chief legal office of the Department, the principal legal adviser to the Secretary and staff of HUD, and the head of the Departmental Enforcement Center. OGC provides legal opinions, advice, and services with respect to all Departmental programs and activities, and assists in the development of HUD programs and policies. OGC also provides functional legal counsel on defensive and affirmative litigation and the development of legislation and regulations.

The following are the duties of this position at the GS-14. If you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform all these duties and will receive training to help you grow in this position.

As a Trial Attorney, you will:

• Provide legal counsel, review, and assistance regarding all types of litigation, including both affirmative and defensive litigation.
• Advise and counsel on a variety of complex litigation with respect to all programs within the jurisdiction.
• Provide guidance with respect to affirmative and defensive litigation matters, personnel law matters, ethics opinions and advice, fair housing enforcement and other enforcement activities, and procurement.

Conditions of employment

Candidates will be selected for a job assigned to one of the official duty stations listed in this announcement. Failure to report to duty at the location for which the candidate is selected may be grounds for a disciplinary action, including removal.

Key Requirements:

• Must be U.S. Citizen or U.S. National.
• A one year probationary period may be required. Continued employment is contingent upon supervisory certification that continued employment will benefit the Federal Service; the certification will occur no less than 30 days before the end of the probationary/trial period.
• Must successfully complete a background investigation.
• Public Trust - Background Investigation will be required.
• Complete a Declaration for Federal Employment to determine your suitability for Federal employment, at the time requested by the agency.
• Have your salary sent to a financial institution of your choice by Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer.
• If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so.
• Go through a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) process that requires two forms of identification from the Form i-9. Federal law requires verification of the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires in the U.S.
• Obtain and use a Government-issued charge card for business-related travel.
• Please refer to "Additional Information Section for additional Conditions of Employment."

Qualifications

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Basic Requirements: Applicants MUST:

(1) be a graduate of an accredited law school with an LL.B. or J.D.;
(2) be a current member of a bar with a valid license to practice law in a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; and
(3) meet all specialized experience requirements as described in the vacancy announcement.

AND

Requirements for meeting the GS-12 Education:

First professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.), plus two (2) years of professional legal experience at least one of which must be at a level of difficulty comparable to the GS-11 in the federal service. OR

Second professional law degree (LL.M.), plus one (1) year specialized experience at a level of difficulty comparable to the GS-11. OR

Superior law student work (academic standing in the upper 1/3 of the law school graduating class, high-level honors for academic excellence in law school, winning of a moot court competition with other law schools, significant work or achievement on the schools official law review, significant summer clerkship or other evidence of clearly superior achievement) plus one (1) year of specialized experience which must be at a level of difficulty comparable to the GS-11 level in the Federal service.

AND

In addition to the above requirements, you must meet the Specialized Experience at the GS-12.

Specialized Experience for the GS-12, you must have one year (full 52 weeks) of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service.

Specialized experience for this position is defined as:

• Experience as an attorney responsible for litigating or assisting in litigation before Federal or State courts or administrative forums; OR
• Applying Federal laws and practice related to all types of litigation, including affirmative and defensive litigation matters, personnel law matters, ethics opinions and advice, fair housing enforcement or procurement, OR
• Representing clients in adversarial proceedings, including hearings before Federal or State courts or administrative forums; OR
• Interpreting federal, state or local statutes, conducting legal research and preparing pleadings, including briefs, motions, memoranda of law, legal opinions or other legal writings and preparing, defending or conducting discovery; OR
• Interacting directly with clients and government officials at the Headquarters, Regional and Field level, United States Attorneys, members of the private bar, as well as the public.

Requirements for meeting the GS-13 Education:

First professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.), plus three (3) years of professional legal experience one of which must be at a level of difficulty comparable to the GS-12. OR

Second professional law degree (LL.M.), plus two (2) years of professional legal experience at least one year of which must be at a level of difficulty comparable to the GS-12. OR

Superior law student work (academic standing in the upper 1/3 of the law school graduating class, high-level honors for academic excellence in law school, winning of a moot court competition with other law schools, significant work or achievement on the schools official law review, significant summer clerkship or other evidence of clearly superior achievement) plus two (2) years of professional legal experience, at least one year of which must be at a level of difficulty comparable to GS-12.

AND

In addition to the above requirements, you must meet the Specialized Experience at the GS-13.

Specialized Experience for the GS-13, you must have one year (full 52 weeks) of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service.

Specialized experience for this position is defined as:

• Experience as an attorney responsible for litigating or assisting in litigation before Federal or State courts or administrative forums; OR
• Applying Federal laws and practice related to all types of litigation, including affirmative and defensive litigation matters, personnel law matters, ethics opinions and advice, fair housing enforcement or procurement, OR
• Representing clients in adversarial proceedings, including hearings before Federal or State courts or administrative forums; OR
• Interpreting federal, state or local statutes, conducting legal research and preparing pleadings, including briefs, motions, memoranda of law, legal opinions or other legal writings and preparing, defending or conducting discovery; OR
• Interacting directly with clients and government officials at the Headquarters, Regional and Field level, United States Attorneys, members of the private bar, as well as the public.

Requirements for meeting the GS-14 Education:

First professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.), plus four (4) years of professional legal experience at least one of which must be at a level of difficulty comparable to the GS-13. OR

Second professional law degree (LL.M.), plus three (3) years of professional legal experience at least one year of which must be at a level of difficulty comparable to the GS-13 OR

Superior law student work (academic standing in the upper 1/3 of the law school graduating class, high-level honors for academic excellence in law school, winning of a moot court competition with other law schools, significant work or achievement on the schools official law review, significant summer clerkship or other evidence of clearly superior achievement) plus three (3) years of professional legal experience, at least one year of which must be at a level of difficulty comparable to GS-13.

In addition to the above requirements, you must meet the Specialized Experience at the GS-14.

Specialized Experience for the GS-14, you must have one year (full 52 weeks) of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service.

Specialized experience for this position is defined as:

• Experience as an attorney responsible for litigating or assisting in litigation before Federal or State courts or administrative forums; OR
• Applying Federal laws and practice related to all types of litigation, including affirmative and defensive litigation matters, personnel law matters, ethics opinions and advice, fair housing enforcement or procurement, OR
• Representing clients in adversarial proceedings, including hearings before Federal or State courts or administrative forums; OR
• Interpreting federal, state or local statutes, conducting legal research and preparing pleadings, including briefs, motions, memoranda of law, legal opinions or other legal writings and preparing, defending or conducting discovery; OR
• Interacting directly with clients and government officials at the Headquarters, Regional and Field level, United States Attorneys, members of the private bar, as well as the public.

The experience may have been gained in either the public, private sector or volunteer service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/day/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week on your resume.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your application includes your resume, responses to the online questions, and required supporting documents. Please be sure that your resume includes detailed information to support your qualifications for this position; failure to provide sufficient evidence in your resume may result in a "not qualified" determination.

1. Minimum Requirements: Your application must show that you meet all requirements, including the education and/or experience required for this position. You will be found "not qualified" if you do not possess the minimum competencies required for the position. If your application is incomplete, we will rate you as ineligible.

2. Referral: Since this is an Excepted Service position, a non-rated method of evaluation will be used. We will evaluate your application by comparing your description of your work experience, level of responsibility, and accomplishments with the requirements of the position to determine whether you meet all the qualification requirements. Although competitive examining rules for rating and ranking and veterans' preference do not apply, veteran's preference will be considered as a positive factor. Candidates who meet all the qualification and other eligibility requirements will be referred to the selecting official for consideration and possible interview.

Referral: If you are among the top qualified candidates, your application may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. You may be required to participate in a selection interview.

A complete application includes:

1. A resume: All applicants are required to submit a resume either by creating one in USAJOBS or uploading one of their own choosing. (Cover letters are optional.)

• USA Jobs restricts resume uploads to a maximum of 2 pages. Resumes attached in other sections (such as "Documents" or "Other") will not be considered in the determination of specialized experience. If multiple resumes are submitted, the resume submitted last (based on time stamp) will be the only one reviewed as a part of your application. To ensure readability, resumes must be formatted using an easy-to-read font (such as Lato, Calibri, or Arial) with a minimum font size of 10-points and margins no smaller than 0.5 inches. Failure to follow these formatting guidelines may result in disqualification from further consideration.
• To receive full credit for relevant experience, please list the month/date/year and number of hours worked for experience listed on your resume.
• For resume writing guidance, please visit USAJOBS Help Center - How do I write a resume for a federal job?

2. Vacancy question responses: All applicants are required to complete vacancy question responses by clicking the apply online button of this vacancy announcement.

3. Submission of any required documents identified below, if applicable: Please note that if you do not provide all required information, as specified in this announcement, you may not be considered for this position (or may not receive the special consideration for which you may be eligible).

• VETERANS' PREFERENCE DOCUMENTATION: If you are claiming veterans preference, please see applicant guide for required documentation.
  • In order to be considered for veterans preference, you must submit all required documentation as outlined in the applicant guide.
• ACTIVE BAR MEMBERSHIP:
  • You must submit evidence of an Active Bar Membership as described in the Qualifications Section of this announcement.

• EDUCATION DOCUMENTATION:
  • Attorney positions do have an education requirement. Applicants must be a graduate of an accredited law school with an LL.B. or J.D. For positions with an education requirement, you MUST submit a copy of your transcripts or equivalent. An official transcript will be required if you are selected. In addition, you must provide proof of bar or your bar number in the vacancy questions.
  • For positions with an education requirement, or if you are qualifying for this position by substituting education or training for experience, you MUST submit a copy of your transcripts or equivalent. An official transcript will be required if you are selected. A college or university degree generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools which meet these criteria, please refer to Department of Education Accreditation page. If you are qualifying based on foreign education, you must submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. Refer to the OPM instructions.

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