Paralegal Specialist

This flyer serves as a public notice for the use of the College Graduate Direct Hire Authority in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 3327. This is a Paralegal Specialist position located in the Department of Justice, Office of the Solicitor General in Washington, DC. Applicants must follow the directions of the "How to Apply" section, as applications are not being accepted through USAJOBS.

Duties

As the federal agency whose mission is to ensure the fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans, the Department of Justice is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. To build and retain a workforce that reflects the diverse experiences and perspectives of the American people, we welcome applicants from the many communities, identities, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, religions, and cultures of the United States who share our commitment to public service.

The primary purpose of this position is to provide substantive legal support to the Office's Deputy Solicitors General, Assistants to the Solicitor General, attorneys in the various divisions of the department, and officials and attorneys in other governmental agencies in the preparation of cases for litigation in the Supreme Court or another judicial appellate body before which the Solicitor General decides to participate as an amicus curiae.

At the full performance level GS-11 the duties and responsibilities of this Paralegal Specialist position include but are not limited to:

• Provide high caliber paralegal support; communicate well orally and in writing with individuals and peers, conduct meticulous research of legislative materials and case law.
• Manage and organize multiple assignments with varying deadlines and conflicting priorities.
• Act independently, work closely with attorneys to identify the type of assistance needed on cases; provide timely, responsive assistance.
• Identify the need for additional information, analyses, reviews, and highlights changes in statutory, legislative history, guidance, and case law developments.
• Locate and evaluate official, primary legal sources that are difficult to find, obscure, problematic, antiquated, or archival.
• Use electronic and hardcopy federal and state statutes, electronic or hardcopy federal and state reporter systems to conduct research.
• Conduct research using various resources and legal databases, sherardize citations to determine whether cases cited have been reaffirmed, overturned, cited by later cases or questioned.
• Compile legislative histories to verify the accuracy of citations, quotations, paraphrasing, assertions, and parenthetical information regarding sources cited briefs, court documents, and legal publications.
• Review and edit a variety of briefs: amicus briefs, briefs in opposition, merits briefs, reply to briefs, petitions, appendices, applicable titles of law; jurisdictional statements, implementing laws-and regulations; court decisions, Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States; Uniform System of Citation (Blue Book); and OSG's Rules of Citations and practice.
• Advise attorneys and other officials on the accuracy and relevancy of citations quotations, paraphrasing, parenthetical information, and other references; and propose reliable additions of relevant citations and other references for the improvement of the brief.
• Exercise judgment and discretion in determining what information may be provided and to whom.
• Proofread, distribute, and review page proofs (final document for publication) for accuracy and completeness of legal citations for all briefs; collates all citations to a master copy for final printing before submission to the Court.

Salary

• $69,923 - $109,975/year

Conditions of Employment

This vacancy is open to RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATES who have completed a bachelor's or graduate degree within the last two years (Certain veterans may have up to six years) to apply.

Learn more about the College Graduate Hiring Authority

In addition, you must also meet the specific qualifications requirements for this announcement and the occupational series and grade of this position as described in the Qualifications section below.

Please pay careful attention to the entire announcement to ensure you understand these important requirements.

• You must be a United States Citizen or National.
• You must successfully pass a security/background investigation and drug screening.
• You will be required to obtain and maintain an interim and/or final security clearance prior to entrance on duty. Failure to obtain and maintain the required level of clearance may result in the withdrawal of a job offer or removal.
• You may be required to complete a one-year probationary or trial period.
• Selective Service registration is required for males born on, or after, December 31st 1959. Those not registered should have an approved exemption on file.
• Under Recent College Graduate regulations, you are eligible only if you have received a bachelor or advanced degree within the last two years.
• You must meet all eligibility requirements by the submission date of your application and meet these requirements throughout the hiring process. Offers can be rescinded if requirements are not met.
• Financial Disclosure: If selected, you may be required to disclose financial information in accordance with DOJ and Federal ethics guidelines.
• Additional selections may be made from this announcement, at any time, if openings occur in other offices serviced by Justice Management Division, HR Operations.
• Must be determined suitable for federal employment.
• Must participate in the direct deposit pay program.
• New employees to the Department of Justice will be required to successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-verify.gov.

Qualifications To qualify for the Paralegal Specialist GS-0950-09, you MUST meet the eligibility requirements and possess specialized experience: Your resume must demonstrate one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service performing duties which include but are not limited to: researching and reviewing legal, policy, or scholarly memoranda, publications, or other comparable documents.

OR

Have a master's or equivalent graduate degree or two full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related.

To qualify for the Paralegal Specialist GS-0950-11, you MUST meet the eligibility requirements and possess specialized experience: Your resume must demonstrate one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service performing duties that include, but are not limited to: advanced legal research and writing (involving sources such as legislative history, judicial decisions, and other legal precedents), or comparable advanced policy research and writing.

OR

Have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; or three full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree; or LL.M., if related.

You MUST meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/25/2025.

Your resume must support your responses to the questionnaire and qualification requirements. Failure to do so may result in an ineligible rating. See the Required Documents section for important notes about what must be included in your resume. Education If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements: Education must be reviewed and certified by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be creditable toward your qualifications. Therefore, you should provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Foreign Education: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that 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 more information about this requirement, please visit the U.S. Department of Education website for Foreign Education Evaluation. All documentation must be in English or include an English translation. Other Information

This is a Direct Hire Authority Flyer and applications are not being accepted through this Job Opportunity Announcement.

This announcement uses an OPM Direct Hire Authority to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service.

Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.

Telework eligibility and security clearance requirements may vary for such similar positions.

Positions may be filled at either grade level.

A tentative offer of employment will be rescinded if the selectee fails to meet the pre-employment requirements, including failure to report to any of the scheduled appointments.

Veteran's preference does not apply when selecting individuals under this specific hiring authority.

Notice of Result letters will not be sent to applicants who respond to this flyer.

Salaries for each grade level can be found at: Pay & Leave: Salaries & Wages - OPM.gov

SELECTIVE SERVICE: If you were born male, on or after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. Additional information is found at: www.sss.gov.

Required Documents

ALL APPLICANTS: You must submit a detailed resume containing the following pieces of information for each job entry listed in your employment history:

1. Official position title,
2. Employer name and contact information,
3. Start and end dates (including month and year),
4. A detailed list of duties & accomplishments,
5. Your grade/step achieved (if applicable), and
6. The number of hours worked per week (or indicate full-time).

If you're unsure about what to include in your resume, please review the USAJOBS Resume Writing Tutorial on YouTube. You are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder, as this will ensure you're including everything that is required.

Applicants are highly encouraged to include a cover letter that addresses why the applicant is interested in and qualified for this position, including applicants ability to perform detail-oriented work.

If you are a displaced Federal employee claiming eligibility under CTAP or ICTAP:

1. You must submit your separation notice or agency RIF letter from your agency.
2. If you have not yet been separated, you can provide the letter of intent to separate you from the agency because of reduction-in-force.
3. See USAJOBS' Career Transition Programs for more information.

Education is required:

1. You must submit a transcript, which may be unofficial, as long as it contains a full listing of courses, credit earned, grade and grade-point-average, subject area, degree(s) earned, and dates of award.
2. Your transcript must come from a nationally-accredited educational institution recognized by the Department of Education.
3. If submitting a foreign transcript, you must have the transcript reviewed by an approved foreign education review organization recognized by the Department of Education.
4. Please do not submit electronic transcripts with documentation security protection, these may prevent our application system from accepting and processing the document.
5. This is a RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATE Flyer, to be eligible you must have received a bachelor or advanced degree within the past two years.

More Info:
USAJOBS - What documents might I need to provide?
Application Manager Help - Documents

How to Apply

The APPLY button is deactivated on this Direct-Hiring Authority (DHA) Public Notice, application packages are being accepted directly by DOJ. Your resume MUST include the following information for each job listed: Job title; duties (be as detailed as possible); month & year start/end dates (e.g. June 2007 to April 2008); and full-time or part-time status (include hours worked per week). Interested applicants must submit resumes/application package to the below email:

• Resumes should be sent directly to Latinya.s.thompson@usdoj.gov
• Email subject line MUST include the Announcement Number: OSG-25-12707762-DE
• If you are applying under CTAP (Career Transition Assistance Program) or ICTAP (Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program) authority, the email subject line MUST also reflect CTAP and/or ICTAP.
• Please include the lowest and highest grade levels you are interested in being considered for in your email.
• Resumes that are not sent to the correct email address will not be considered.
• In addition, resumes should NOT be sent as a link to another website, they must be a PDF or Word attachment. We will not download an external link to access the resume, it must be an attachment. Please DO NOT send additional attachments with Personal Identifiable Information (PII) through unencrypted email.

There may or may not be actual vacancies filled from this flyer.

Notice of result letter will NOT be sent to applicants who respond to this flyer.

Facsimile applicants will not be considered.

All resumes/applications must be received no later than the closing date of this flyer.

It is the applicant's responsibility to verify that all information in their resume and documents, legible, and accurate. HR will not modify answerers/documents submitted by an applicant.

Please note: This is a Direct-Hiring Authority Public Notice that vacancies may exist, however applicant notifications will NOT be sent. If a hiring official determines you have the needed skillset for the vacancy, a member of the DOJ team will contact you. Due to the large number of applications received for all vacancies, status inquiry emails will not be answered.

Thank you for your interest in employment with Department of Justice, Offices, Boards and Divisions, Justice Management Division, Office of the Solicitor General.

If you need help with the application process, please see the USAJOBS Help Site (for everything on the USAJOBS-side), or the Application Manager Help Site (for everything on the DOJ-side). Regrettably, the Department of Justice cannot assist you with USAJOBS account issues. If you contact us for assistance and the problem is related to your USAJOBS account, we will have to direct you to USAJOBS to remedy the issue.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS:
If you are unable to apply online due to a disability or overseas deployment, you must request an alternative application, which is available from the Human Resources Office. Please contact Eliza Swallows at eliza.a.swallows@usdoj.gov to discuss your situation. Accommodations are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Indicate that you're asking for a reasonable accommodation in your e-mail subject so the HR Specialist knows where to direct you.

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