Paralegal Specialist - Appellate Division (Pathways Recent Graduate)

If selected for this position, you will serve as a Paralegal Specialist within the Appellate Division of the United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California.

At the full performance level, you will support Appellate Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSA) by providing a variety of paralegal or legal work which demonstrates a practical knowledge of law, the litigation and judicial process, and applicable rules, regulations, policies and procedures. Typical work assignments will include:

• Conduct legal research on cases and issues identified by AUSAs, utilizing statutes, case law, regulations, court rules, legal periodicals, and policy documents
• Provide legal support in appeals of immigration and other habeas cases to the Ninth Circuit.
• Prepare drafts on a variety of legal documents, such as pleadings, memoranda of law, trial briefs, appellate briefs, summonses, complaints, indictments, answers, motion papers, and stipulations.
• Review and organize complex factual material and other documentary data for appellate briefing.
• Provide advice on the most efficient method for preparing legal documents.
• Generate tables, proofread drafts, and check citations in drafts with efficiency.
• Develop and enter various case material into a computer database.
• Maintain calendars and track deadlines for court filings.
• Provides advanced case support to AUSAs by reviewing witness materials, identifying deficiencies and coordinating needed investigative follow-up.

Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress.

Travel Required: Occasional travel may be required

Conditions of employment

• You must be a United States Citizen or National.
• Initial appointment is conditioned upon a satisfactory pre-employment adjudication. This includes fingerprint, credit and tax checks, and drug testing. Continued employment is subject to a favorable adjudication of a background investigation.
• You must be registered for Selective Service, if applicable.
• You must submit a transcript or proof of degree/certificate.
• Recent Graduates serve a trial period for the entire duration of their excepted service appointment.
• You must meet all qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.

Qualifications

To be eligible for a recent graduate appointment, ALL of the following requirements must be met:

• Recent Graduates must have obtained a qualifying associates, bachelors, master's, professional, doctorate, vocational or technical degree or certificate from a qualifying accredited educational institution within the previous 2 years unless military service interfered with a veteran's eligibility to apply during that two year time frame. Veterans meeting the above exclusion may apply within 2 years of discharge or 6 years from the date of receipt of the degree whichever comes first. (Go to http://www.ed.gov/accreditation?src=rn to verify accreditation status).
• Recent graduates must be United States citizens or owe permanent allegiance to the United States. (Currently, natives of American Samoa, Swains Island and certain inhabitants of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are the only groups that owe permanent allegiance to the United States.)
• You must successfully complete a background investigation to determine your suitability for Federal employment.
• All recent graduates are required to sign a Pathways Recent Graduate Participant Agreement.
• Recent Graduates serve a trial period for the entire duration of their excepted service appointment.
• Qualification requirements as outlined below:

GS-7:To be eligible at the GS-7 level, you must meet at least ONE of the following conditions, as defined below: Specialized Experience, Education, OR a combination of Education and Experience.

Specialized experience: One full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-5 level. Specialized experience is defined as experience drafting a variety of legal documents and correspondence. Examples of specialized experiences may include the following: assists in the preparation and organization of documentation and evidence for production as discovery and for use in trial; compiles, organizes, and indexes evidentiary exhibits for use at hearings or trial; prepares draft list of exhibits to be offered at trial; review legal documents to extract information related to specific issues; verifying citations and statutory references contained in legal documents; and utilizing various computerized data base programs to organize extensive documents.
-OR-
Education: Successful completion of one (1) full year of progressively high-level graduate education (18 semester hours or the number of units your school uses to describe one graduate year of academic study) in a related field (e.g. Criminal Justice. Paralegal Studies, Law) leading to a master's degree OR completed bachelor's degree with superior academic achievement. See education section for superior academic achievement definition.
-OR-
Combining Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed graduate education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements. In order to qualify based on combined education and experience, candidates must demonstrate a combination of specialized experience and graduate level education that equals 100% of the requirements.

GS-9:To be eligible at the GS-9 level, you must meet at least ONE of the following conditions, as defined below: Specialized Experience, Education, OR a combination of Education and Experience.

Specialized experience One full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-7 level. Specialized experience is defined as experience performing legal research using statues, case law, regulations court rules, policy documents, and electronic databases such as Westlaw and Lexis. Examples of specialized experience may include the following: summarizing findings into memoranda, annotated references, bibliographies, and organized research packages to support appellate litigation: drafting pleadings, memoranda, briefs, motions, and other legal documents by incorporating legal references, analyzing precedents, proofreading, and citation checks for accuracy; assisting with oral-argument preparation by gathering and indexing briefs, case law, and record materials under established procedures.
-OR-
Education: One of the following types of education in a related field (e.g. Criminal Justice, law): a Mater's or equivalent graduate degree (such as an LL.B. or J.D.); OR 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree. Education at the graduate level must be in an accredited college or university and must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the duties of the position.
-OR-
Combining Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed graduate education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements. In order to qualify based on a combination, graduate education must be in excess of 1 full year.