Attorney-Advisor (General)

This position is located within the Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Rocky Mountain Region and the duty station is either Billings, Montana OR Lakewood, Colorado.

This particular position will be assigned to the Billings Field Office and will primarily represent the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) on any matters relating to BIA's Rocky Mountain Region, which covers reservations in Montana (except for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes) and in Wyoming. The position may also provide representation to other Interior bureaus, primarily relating to Indian law.

Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following:

• Representing the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Civilian Board of Contract Appeals cases and Interior Board of Indian Appeals cases.
• Advising the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act contracts.
• Reviewing Bureau of Indian Affairs land acquisitions and issue title opinions.
• Reviewing and preparing litigation reports, overseeing discovery, drafting pleadings, and reviewing Department of Justice filings in judicial litigation on matters arising out of various programs and activities for Interior's agencies.
• Other duties as assigned, including authoring memoranda of understanding, recommendations regarding appeal, settlement documents, and other transactional documents arising out of bureau and agency program activities.
• Assist on other matters assigned by the Regional Solicitor, Field Solicitor, or other supervising attorney advisor. Such assignments may include conducting legal research, analyzing and interpreting federal statutes, regulations, case law, other legal documents, and agency guidance and producing opinions and memoranda requiring a high degree of creative legal effort, judgment, and discretion, often harmonizing conflicting positions in areas with little or no precedent, while promoting goals of uniformity, simplicity, and efficiency, and providing formal and informal advice to various DOI agencies.

Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.

First time hires to the federal government typically start at the beginning salary in the range for their respective grade level.

For duty station in Billings, Montana
GS-13: $106,437 (Step 1) - $138,370 (Step 10) Per Annum
GS-14: $125,776 (Step 1) - $163,514 (Step 10) Per Annum

For duty station in Lakewood, CO
GS-13: $118,675 (Step 1) - $154,280 (Step 10) Per Annum
GS-14: $140,239 (Step 1) - $182,316 (Step 10) Per Annum

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Direct Deposit participation required.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit www.dhs.gov/EVerify/.
• A financial disclosure report will be required within 30 days of appointment.
• You are required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and purchase authority.
• Requirement. Active bar membership is required for all attorneys engaged in the practice of law in Federal government.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 2-year trial period during which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated.

This period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the trial period, such appointments are terminated.

Upon completion of your trial period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Basic Qualification Requirements
Applicants must be law school graduates with LL.B. or J.D. degrees AND applicants must be an active member in good standing of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico bar.

• To qualify for a GS-13 applicants must possess at least 3 years of professional legal experience following law school graduation;
• To qualify for a GS-14 applicants must possess at least 4.5 years of professional legal experience following law school graduation;

For any of the grades indicated above you can also substitute one year of experience with any of the following:

• have a second professional law degree; OR
• meet any of the criteria indicated below;
  1. academic standing in top one-third of law school graduating class;
  2. graduation with academic honors;
  3. significant participation on the law school's law review;
  4. significant participation in the law school's moot court competition;
  5. significant participation in a clinical legal aid program;
  6. significant summer law office clerk experience; or
  7. other equivalent evidence of clearly superior achievement.

Candidates should have excellent oral communication, writing, research and analysis skills, and the ability to work effectively with other people, and exercise sound judgment.

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.

Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualification Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions and is available at OPM's website: https://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/num-ndx.asp

All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.