About the Position: Join an outstanding legal team supporting complex and dynamic programs in Florida. This is an opportunity to work both independently and in a team to provide the highest level of legal service. The legal office has six paraprofessionals and over 20 attorneys.
Duties
- Provide paralegal, administrative, and logistical support for cases in litigation in state and federal courts and administrative proceedings, involving contract claims and appeals, environmental issues, and personnel issues.
- Prepare litigation reports, pleadings, affidavits, exhibit lists, and other documents necessary to litigate before administrative bodies and federal courts.
- Perform extensive independent research on a multitude of complex legal issues relating to execution of the Corps' missions and present or anticipated litigation in various forms.
- Use computerized legal research, other online resources, and /or legal periodicals/reference materials.
- Participate in general legal office management, including assistance with preparation of reports, budget development, data and information management, and office administration.
- Manage District FOIA's and Privacy Act programs, including all tracking requests, utilizing databases, communicating with requestors and responding to requests, asserting exemptions, and preparing annual reports.
Salary
Qualifications
PLEASE NOTE: This position may be filled at either the GS-07, GS-09 or GS-11 level. If you are selected at the GS-07 or GS-09 level you have promotion potential to the GS-11. Promotion to the next higher grade is at manager's discretion. Who May Apply: Only applicants who meet one of the employment authority categories below are eligible to apply for this job. You will be asked to identify which category or categories you meet, and to provide documents which prove you meet the category or categories you selected. See Proof of Eligibility for an extensive list of document requirements for all employment authorities. Current Department of Army Civilian Employees Current Department of Defense (DOD) Civilian Employee (non-Army) Domestic Defense Industrial Base/Major Range and Test Facilities Base Civilian Personnel Workforce Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act Non-Department of Defense (DoD) Transfer People with Disabilities, Schedule A Priority Placement Program, DoD Military Reserve (MR) and National Guard (NG) Technician Eligible Priority Placement Program, DoD Military Spouse Preference (MSP) Eligible Priority Placement Program, DoD MR and NG Preference Eligible Tech Receiving Disability Retirement Priority Placement Program, DoD Retained Grade Preference Eligible Reinstatement Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) of 1998 In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or 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. Qualifications for the GS-07: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes knowledge relevant to or demonstrated ability to assist with office administration, to include assisting with budget development, tracking metrics, and developing reports and presentations; knowledge relevant to or demonstrated ability to communicate with managers and supervisors in order to prepare recommendations to meet office requirements; knowledge relevant to or demonstrated ability to draft and prepare correspondence on complex matters; knowledge relevant to or demonstrated ability to assist attorneys and paraprofessionals with preparation of basic motions, interrogatories, briefs, or litigation reports; knowledge relevant to or demonstrated ability to organize facts to assist in case preparation; knowledge relevant to or demonstrated ability to assist with basic legal research; knowledge relevant to or demonstrated ability to manage case files; knowledge relevant to or demonstrated ability to identify relevant regulations and/or guidance; knowledge relevant to or demonstrated ability to extract pertinent information from legal documents for ongoing matters; and knowledge relevant to or demonstrated ability to assist in the preparation of discovery responses. OR One full year of graduate level education in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts). OR Superior Academic Achievement: Successful completion of all the requirements for a bachelor's degree with Superior Academic Achievement. In order to be creditable under this provision, Superior Academic Achievement must have been gained in a curriculum that is qualifying for the position to be filled. Superior Academic Achievement is based on:(1) Class Standing - Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses; or (2) Grade-Point Average (G.P.A.) - Applicants must have a grade-point average of either (a) 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on your official transcript. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-07). Qualifications for the GS-09:Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes assisting attorneys and paralegals with preparation of motions, interrogatories, briefs, or litigation reports; organizing facts to assist in case preparation; independently conducting legal research and analysis of single issue or fundamental substantive issues; managing case files; identifying relevant regulations and/or guidance; extracting pertinent information from legal documents for ongoing matters; assisting in the preparation of administrative records and discovery responses; assisting with office administration, to include assisting with budget development, tracking metrics, and developing reports; and communicating with managers and supervisors in order to prepare recommendations or draft legal opinions and positions. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-07). OR Education: Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if unrelated in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: Paralegal, Legal studies or Business Administration. OR Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the first year (total graduate semester hours minus 18) by 18. Add the two percentages.
Education
(CONTINUED) Qualifications for the GS-11:Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes assisting attorneys and paraprofessionals with preparation of motions, interrogatories, briefs, or litigation reports; organizing facts and ideas to assist in case preparation; independently conducting legal research and analysis in multi-issue or complex substantive issues; Managing and updating case files; identifying relevant regulations and/or guidance; extracting pertinent information from legal documents for ongoing matters; preparing draft legal documents such as affidavits and discovery responses with minimal supervision; and communicating with managers and supervisors in order to prepare recommendations or draft legal opinions and positions; selecting and assembling substantive information by use of statutes, regulations, department orders, digests, commentaries, legal instruments, and other legal reference material; Identifying issues from case law and preparing synopses for attorney use; and researching relevant legislation, regulations and precedents. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS- 09). OR Education: Ph.D or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position. OR Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages. You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency in the following areas: Attention to Detail Customer Service Decision Making Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Interpersonal Skills Learning Legal, Government and Jurisprudence Problem Solving Reading Comprehension Reasoning Self-Management Stress Tolerance Teamwork Time in Grade Requirement: Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-05, GS-07 and GS-09 respectively). FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html
Required Documents
The documents you are required to submit vary based on the authority you are using to apply (i.e., applying as a veteran, applying as a current permanent Federal employee, applying as a reinstatement, etc). Please review the following links to see which documents you need to provide to prove your eligibility to apply: Applicant Checklist for Internal/Merit Promotion 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 may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement. 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 qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete, and you may not receive consideration for this position. For additional information see: What to include in your resume. 2. Other supporting documents: Cover Letter, optional Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable Proof of Eligibility to Apply: Your application must include the documents which prove you are eligible to apply for the vacancy. The Proof of Eligibility document describes authorities commonly used in merit promotion recruitment and what document(s) are required to prove you meet the requirements of the authority. You must meet the requirements of at least one of the authorities listed in the Who May Apply section above to receive further consideration. Time-in-grade documentation: If you are applying for a higher grade and your SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you meet the one year time-in-grade requirement so you will need to provide an SF-50 which clearly demonstrates you meet the time-in-grade requirements (examples of appropriate SF-50s include Promotions, Within-grade Grade/Range Increases, and SF-50s with an effective date more than one year old). 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 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.
How to Apply
Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. To preview the application questionnaire, click the following link: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12656865 Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on 01/21/2025. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. For more general information, system requirements, reasonable accommodation information, and to request assistance regarding the USA Hire Assessments, review the following resources: https://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.php?title=USA_Hire_Assessments To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: Click on this: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application.
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