Legal Administrative Specialist

If selected for the Legal Administrative Specialist position, you will join a well-respected team that is responsible for providing technical advice to litigation teams on legal automation requirements and systems capabilities to facilitate litigation decisions, trial preparation and presentation. Typical work assignments will include:

• Providing advice and technical assistance to Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) in facilitating the management of incoming and outgoing documents in support of eLitigation in accordance with e-Discovery and other procedural requirements to facilitate litigation decisions, trial preparation and trial presentation.
• Helping AUSAs specify what type of ESI (electronically stored information) to request and how to capture and preserve metadata from discovery provided by opposing parties.
• Utilizing a variety of Automated Litigation Support (ALS) software applications to locate, organize, analyze, characterize and present information that is pertinent to the case.
• Assists AUSAs in developing the most effective trial presentations using ALS resources.
• Assisting and training AUSA and legal support staff in organizing and processing voluminous case information for efficient retrieval through automated means such as scanning, indexing and organizing documents in a data base.
• Reviewing incoming discovery and other requested information.
• Managing and operating a variety of computer hardware such as printers, plotters, audio-visual devices, and other state-of-the-art equipment to conceptualize exhibits and complete special presentation projects.
• Preparing exhibits for legal proceedings, which may involve a wide range of visual materials including charts, diagrams, photographs and models.

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

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. 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.
• If selected, you may be required to complete a one year probationary period.
• Time-in-Grade: Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements within 30 days after the closing date of this announcement.
• You must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements within 30 days after the closing date of this announcement and before placement in the position.

Qualifications

GS-07 - To be eligible at the GS-07 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:

• providing litigation support by scanning and coding documents and creating DVDs or CDs;
• assisting attorneys in preparing for court by preparing exhibits, compiling trial notebooks, compiling witness and exhibit lists and/or preparing computerized trial presentations and exhibits;
• preparing a variety of legal documents;
• utilizing software packages such as spreadsheets and word processing applications to present evidence.

OR
Education: One (1) full year of progressively higher-level graduate education leading such to a degree in a related field (e.g., Legal Studies, Law, Criminal Justice). 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
Combination of Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements.
OR
Superior Academic Achievement: Possess a Bachelor's Degree or expect to complete the requirements for a Bachelor's degree within the next 9 months AND possess at least one of the following criteria: class standing in the upper third of the graduating class; an overall GPA of 3.0 OR at least a 3.0 based on courses completed during the final two years of my curriculum; a GPA of at least 3.5 based on the average of required courses completed in my major field OR based on the average of required courses completed during the final two years of my curriculum; OR election to membership in a national scholastic honor society.

GS-09 - 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:

• providing litigation assistance such as maintaining records regarding electronic case materials;
• assisting attorneys in trial preparation such as preparing subpoenas, trial exhibits, information requests, pleadings, and/or correspondence;
• providing legal and administrative support to attorneys including examining and preparing legal documents, editing, cite-checking, tracking cases, and/or discovery processing;
• using automated legal research tools such as Westlaw, Lexis, as well as public information databases to research case-specific legal matters.

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 related.
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.

GS-11: To be eligible at the GS-11 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-9 level. Specialized experience is defined as experience:

• providing technical advice to litigation teams on legal automation requirements and system capabilities;
• organizing and managing voluminous case information;
• providing legal support to attorneys in trial preparation such as preparing subpoenas, trial exhibits, information requests, pleadings, and/or correspondence;
• analyzing litigation support requirements to develop or recommend appropriate strategies to meet litigation needs;
• using automated legal research tools such as Westlaw, Lexis, as well as public information databases to research case-specific legal matters.

OR
Education: One of the following types of education in a related field (e.g., Law, Criminal Justice or IT): LL.B. or J.D., if related; a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; OR 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree; or LL.M., if related. 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: A combination of specialized experience and graduate education (as described above), which when combined equal 100% of the requirements. In order to qualify based on a combination, graduate level education must be in excess of 2 full years. To calculate your percentage of graduate education, first determine the total number of graduate hours that exceed 36 semester hours (or your school's definition of two years of graduate study), then divide the total number of your excess graduate semester hours by 18 (or your school's definition of one year of study).

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)- The ICTAP provides eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your ICTAP eligibility; 2) you apply under the instructions in the announcement; and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and receive a score of 85 or better on established ranking criteria. You must provide proof of eligibility to receive selection priority. Such proof may include a copy of your written notification of ICTAP eligibility or a copy of your separation personnel action form. Additional information about ICTAP eligibility is at: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)-The CTAP provides eligible surplus and displaced competitive service employees in the Department of Justice with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your Department of Justice component has notified you in writing that you are a surplus or displaced employee eligible for CTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your CTAP eligibility, 2) you apply under the instructions in this announcement, and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and receive a score of 85 or better on established ranking criteria. You must provide a copy of your written notification of CTAP eligibility with your application. Additional information about CTAP eligibility is at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) -VEOA allows eligible veterans to apply and compete for positions announced under merit promotion procedures when the hiring agency is recruiting from outside its own workforce. To be eligible for a VEOA appointment, a veteran must be honorably separated and either a preference eligible or have substantially completed three (3) or more years of continuous active military service. If you are applying for a Merit Promotion announcement and wish to be considered under VEOA, you must submit a copy of the Member Copy 4 of your DD-214, in addition to any other required documents listed on this announcement.