Attorney Advisor

As an Attorney Advisor in the Development Law Office, you will advise on matters relating to FRA’s financial assistance programs, compliance with environmental and historic preservation laws, FRA’s broad legal and financial interests relating to Amtrak, and other matters to advance the agency’s interests in railroad development.

Duties

As an Attorney Advisor, you will:

• Advise on the agency's intercity passenger rail programs and work directly with relevant program offices on the development and delivery of major infrastructure projects.
• Advise the agency on the development and implementation of financial assistance programs authorized by law.
• Advise on the agency's environmental and historic preservation programs, including any reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and related environmental laws and regulations, including representing the agency in any related litigation.
• Communicate and coordinate with officials at all levels within the agency and work closely with interdisciplinary teams of agency experts including environmental protection specialists, grant managers, engineers, and project managers.
• Provide legal services supporting a range of FRA's non-safety programs, including, Amtrak, administrative law generally, drafting regulations and guidance, freight, and passenger rail policy, and representing the agency in litigation and other disputes.

The ideal candidate should have knowledge of and experience in a wide range of legal practice areas affecting the transportation industry DOT, including specifically: administrative law; financial assistance programs, including grants; legislation and regulations; and environmental and historic preservation laws, regulations, and guidance.

PLEASE NOTE: This announcement establishes an open continuous vacancy announcement. Given our continuing need for top professionals in this field, we will review applications on an as needed basis. We will give equal consideration to all applications we receive. Duty locations will vary.  The difference in salary is determined by the locality pay in each location.  Salaries for all areas are available on the OPM website at:https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/2024/general-schedule/.

Salary

• $82,764 - $191,900/year

Conditions of Employment

• This is an Excepted Service position.
• Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.
• Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.
• You must be a U.S.Citizen and eligible for consideration.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

• SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the 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.
• GOVERNMENT TRAVEL CARD: This position involves travel.  A government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only.
• BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION: You will be required to complete a background/security investigation and meet preliminary requirements prior to onboarding.

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet technical qualifications (all grades) AND the specialized experience qualifications for the grade at which you are requesting consideration.

TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (All grades):

1. Experience in two or more of the following legal practices and program areas: Financial Assistance Law; Environmental and Historic Preservation Law; Transportation Law, and General Administrative Law.
2. Work with a diverse, senior, geographically dispersed client base on a broad range of legal matters, including potentially controversial and sensitive issues.
3. Interpret legal questions and resolve factual issues in compliance with laws, regulations, and policies and communicate clearly orally and in writing.

To qualify for the GS-11 on Experience, you must have at least one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-09 it must include:

• Be a graduate of an accredited law school with a LL.B., J.D., or equivalent.
• At least 1 year of specialized legal experience, or equivalent academic achievement (e.g., law review, clerkships, internships).
• 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.

To qualify for the GS-11 on Education alone, you must have:

• 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree.

You can also qualify based on a combination of higher level graduate education and experience. This must be fully supported by your resume and transcripts, provided with your application.

To qualify for the Grade 12, you must have at least one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-11 it must include:

• Be a graduate of an accredited law school with a LL.B., J.D., or equivalent AND at least One (1) years of professional legal work experience.
• 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.

You cannot qualify for the GS-12 on education alone; you must also have experience. 

To qualify for the Grade 13, you must have at least one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-12, it must include:

• Be a graduate of an accredited law school with a LL.B., J.D., or equivalent AND at least TWO (2) years of professional legal work experience.
• Be an active member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of any state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

You cannot qualify for the GS-13 on education alone; you must also have experience. 

To qualify for the Grade 14, you must have at least one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-13, it must include:

• Be a graduate of an accredited law school with a LL.B., J.D., or equivalent AND at least THREE (3) years professional legal work experience of a progressively responsible nature.
• 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.

You cannot qualify for the GS-14 on education alone; you must also have experience. 

To qualify for the Grade 15, you must have at least one year of specialized experience equal or equivalent to the GS-14, it must include:

• Be a graduate of an accredited law school with a LL.B., J.D., or equivalent AND at least FOUR (4) years of professional attorney experience.
• 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.

You cannot qualify for the GS-15 on education alone; you must also have experience. 

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:

1. Administrative Law - Knowledge of state and Federal administrative laws, including procedures, regulations, guidelines, and precedents related to case preparation and settlements.
2. Written Communication - Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner for the intended audience.
3. Oral 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.
4. Problem Solving - Identifies and analyzes problems; weighs relevance and accuracy of information; generates and evaluates alternative solutions; makes recommendations.

For all types of consideration, 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 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. Other Information

The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits the Department of Transportation and its Operating Administrations from requesting an applicant's criminal history record before that individual receives a conditional offer of employment. In accordance with 5 U.S. Code § 9202(c) and 5 C.F.R § 920.201 certain positions are exempt from the provisions of the Fair Chance to Compete Act. Applicants who believe they have been subjected to a violation of the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, may submit a written complaint to the Department of Transportation by email at, FairChanceAct@dot.gov. To learn more, please visit our page at: The Fair Chance to Compete Act | US Department of Transportation

This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if similar vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.

Required Documents

RESUME: Your resume MUST contain specific information used to make a qualification determination that includes employment beginning and ending dates for each position, whether employment is Full-time or Part-time or average number of hours worked per week,  and position titles.  If the position is/was in the Federal government, you will need to provide the position series and grade level.  The resume should show relevant experience and education as well as support the required specialized experience. Formatted resumes may be uploaded later in the application process. For assistance with the resume builder, please visit:  https://help.usajobs.gov//Help/how-to/account/documents/resume/build/

TRANSCRIPTS - Transcripts are REQUIRED as there is a stated education requirement for the series. The transcripts need not be official, but must show that you meet the stated education requirements, including specific major or class requirements. Provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. 

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.

DISPLACED EMPLOYEES: If requesting consideration under the Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or Interagency CTAP program (ICTAP), you must meet the well qualified standards for this vacancy (meeting minimum requirements for position and scoring at least an 85) and provide all of the following documents:  

• your most recent performance appraisal,
• the proof of eligibility letter from the Agency, and
• your most current SF-50, displaying current series and grade.

Displaced employees may be eligible for ICTAP or CTAP priority consideration. For more information, please review the OPM Employee's Guide to Career Transition.

Additional Required Documents: 

• RESUME
• COMPLETED QUESTIONNAIRE
• COVER LETTER
• PROOF OF BAR MEMBERSHIP
• WRITING SAMPLE: For this position, a writing sample may be requested for candidates selected for an interview (NO MORE THAN 10 PAGES)
• TRANSCRIPTS 

Failure to submit any of the required documents by the closing date of the vacancy will result in your removal from consideration for this position. Please review your application prior to final submission and ensure you have submitted all appropriate documents. Uploading documents to USAJobs does NOT ensure inclusion with your application to our system.  You must verify that the documents are in the system with your application prior to final submission.

How to Apply

You must submit a complete application package (including resume, vacancy questions and supporting documents) no later than 11:59 pm (EST) on the closing date of the announcement.

• To begin, click the "Apply Online" button on the job announcement posting.
• Follow the directions to register, submit all required documents and complete the assessment questionnaire.
• You may review your saved application(s) at https://help.usajobs.gov/

If you are having difficulty applying online, please contact the DOT Automated Staffing Office via email at:  Transjobs@dot.gov

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. Learn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits