Paralegal Specialist

Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) is responsible for the development and implementation of strategies to advance the Department's legislative initiatives and other interests relating to Congress.

OLA coordinates the Department's responses to congressional committee oversight requests and other inquiries from individual members and congressional staff.

OLA participates in the Senate confirmation process for federal judges and Department nominees such as Assistant Attorney General.

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 duties and responsibilities of a Paralegal Specialist, GS-0905-11 generally include, but are not limited to, the following :

• Work and assist attorneys, managers, and other employees.
• Assemble and arrange case files and documents, preparing for hearings, and preparing draft testimony.
• Prepare materials for briefings with congressional members and staff.
• Assist with drafting, reviewing, editing, and / or providing input to written materials.
• Compile and collate notes of meetings, enrolled bills, and other records.

Salary

$82,764 - $107,590 / year

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a United States Citizen or National.
• You will be required to complete a pre-employment security investigation and background check which includes a drug screening.
• You may be required to complete a one-year probationary or two-year trial period.
• Selective Service registration is required for males born on, or after, December 31, 1959. Those not registered should have an approved exemption on file.
• You must meet all eligibility requirements by the closing date of this announcement and continue to meet these requirements throughout the hiring process.

Offers can be rescinded if requirements are not met.

Additional selections may be made from this announcement, at any time, if openings occur in other offices serviced by Justice Management Division, HR Operations.

Qualifications

To qualify for the position of Paralegal Specialist at (GS-0950-11), you must meet the basic qualification requirements listed below AND / OR possess the required specialized experience specific to this series and grade you're applying to.

If you are a current or former government employee on a permanent appointment in the competitive service, you will need to demonstrate 1-year (52-weeks) at the next lower grade level, to meet the time-in-grade requirements for this occupational series and grade.

Additionally, please ensure to submit an applicable SF50 (please refer to the "required documents" section for additional information).

Specialized Experience : For the GS-11, you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service in or related to managing legal case files and documents;

summarizing and compiling information utilizing statutes, regulations, department orders, and other legal reference materials, AND presenting findings or conclusions utilizing appropriate language, legal reasoning, and organization of facts or ideas.

Take the next step in your career now, scroll down to read the full role description and make your application.

OR Education : Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.

M. in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position. (NOTE : You must provide a copy of your transcripts)

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. (NOTE : You must provide a copy of your transcripts)

You MUST meet all qualification requirements, including Time-in-Grade, by the closing date of this announcement, 11 / 04 / 2024.

Your resume must support your responses to the online questionnaire and the 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, please see the statements below : 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 towards your qualifications. Therefore, 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

The bullets below outline the various groups of applicants that fall under the term "status candidates". This vacancy is open to applicants from any of the groups listed below : When you apply you'll have the chance to claim an eligibility pathway, be sure you fully read each statement and any links provided to make sure you know which eligibility you qualify for.

• CURRENT AND FORMER FEDERAL EMPLOYEES : For more information, see USAJOBS Federal Employees.
• CAREER TRANSITION PROGRAMS ( CTAP or ICTAP ) : For more information visit : USAJOBS Career Transition Programs.
• VETERANS AND MILITARY SPOUSES : Please see USAJOBS Veterans Preference for more details.
• SCHEDULE A, PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES : Learn more at USAJOBS - Individuals with Disabilities.

General Employment Information

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION : Our policy can be found at : https : / / www.justice.gov / jmd / reasonable-accommodation#policy.

DOJ EEO STATEMENT : The U.S. Department of Justice fosters an inclusive and diverse workforce, find our EEO statement online at : https : / / www.

justice.gov / jmd / page / file / 1394116 / download.

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.

This position is excluded from the bargaining unit. Required Documents

Documentation requirements may vary from applicant to applicant based on your eligibility claims.

It is your responsibility to carefully review the list of document descriptions below, to see which documents are required for your application.

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

• Contact Information : Name, address, phone number, and email,
• Official position title;
• Employer name and contact information;
• Start and end dates ( including month and year );
• A detailed list of duties & accomplishments,
• Your grade / step achieved; and
• The number of hours worked per week (or indicate full-time ).

If you are a current or former Federal employee :

• You must submit your most recent SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action) or equivalent agency form. Do not submit an award SF-50 , these do not contain sufficient information about your appointment.
• Your SF-50 should list the full position title, series, grade and step, organization, duty location, service computation date, effective date, and your service type and tenure status.
• Submit a copy of your most recent performance evaluation or appraisal, signed, showing your final rating. If a performance appraisal is not available submit a statement explaining why one is not available.
• See USAJOBS Current & Former Employees for more information.

If you are a Veteran or a qualifying parent or spouse :

• Submit all DD-214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, Member-4 Copy ) forms.
• If you are a Veteran with a service-connected disability rating you will need to submit the SF-15 (Application for 10-point Veterans Preference) and a copy of your VA Letter stating your disability rating.
• If you are the qualifying parent or spouse of a disabled, deceased, or deployed Veteran, and are seeking a derived preference eligibility, you must submit appropriate supporting documentation such as the Veterans DD-214, SF-15, VA Letter.
• For more information on each type of Veterans Preference, and the documentation required for each, see FedsHireVets.

If you are a person with a disability, claiming eligibility under Schedule A :

• You must submit "proof of a disability" documentation ("Proof of a disability" is a letter stating that you have an intellectual disability, severe physical disability or psychiatric disability).
• You must get this letter from your doctor, a licensed medical professional, a licensed vocational rehabilitation specialist, or any Federal, state, or local agency that issues or provides disability benefits.
• For more information about Schedule A and verification requirements, please see OPM's Schedule A site.

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

• You must submit your separation notice or agency RIF letter from your agency.
• 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.
• See USAJOBS' Career Transition Programs for more information.

If you are using education to qualify for this position, or education is required :

• 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.
• Your transcript must come from a nationally-accredited educational institution recognized by the Department of Education.
• Please do not submit electronic transcripts with documentation security protection. These may prevent our application system from accepting and processing the document.
• If submitting a foreign transcript, you must have the transcript reviewed by an approved foreign education review organization recognized by the Department of Education.

Your transcript must also be in English or have an English translation included.

USAJOBS - What documents might I need to provide? How to Apply

To apply for this position, you must complete the online application questionnaire and submit your supporting documentation.

Your complete application package must be submitted by 11 : 59 PM (EST) on 11 / 04 / 2024 to receive consideration.

Please note that if the vacancy has an application limit, it will be listed at the top of the announcement by USAJOBS, and the closing date may be sooner than listed here.

• Click "Apply Online" to get started.
• If you're not logged in to your USAJOBS account, you will need to login. If you don't have an account, please create one.
• You will be prompted to select one of your stored (or uploaded) resumes, and any supporting documents you have uploaded to USAJOBS.

If you have not uploaded these documents, you can do so later before submitting your application.

After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, you will be asked to submit your demographic information (if you have provided this in your profile).

Submission is optional and anonymous.

You'll be asked to confirm your choices and certify the accuracy of your information before you're able to continue to the Application Manager system.

Until you see the blue border and DOJ logo, you are still on USAJOBS. You'll see a folder animation just before you leave USAJOBS.

Once you reach DOJ's Application Manager system, you'll be asked to verify the information you transmitted from USAJOBS.

You will then respond to the application assessment questionnaires and indicate your eligibility options.

• After responding to the questionnaires, you will have the opportunity to attach the documents you brought over from USAJOBS *OR* upload documents directly from your computer or device.
• If you opt to upload a document directly, click the "Upload" button and select the document on your device, then wait for the upload to finish.

Repeat as needed. Documents must be less than 3 MB each and should be in a compatible file format.

Once all your documents are uploaded, you must assign the uploads to the appropriate document category. You may attach more than one document to each category.

Click the drop-down menu for a document category, and select one of the available options in the menu. The document will be listed under this category.

You can click the drop-down again to add other documents, as needed. You can have up to 15 document assignments.

• Once you've uploaded and assigned all your documents to an appropriate document type, you can proceed to the final verification step, and click Submit.
• If you have correctly submitted your application, you will receive an automated e-mail notification within 30-60 minutes.

Be sure to review the announcement fully to make sure that your application contains everything that is required.

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 Kim Hall at [email protected] or 202-598-5013 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 so the HR Specialist knows how 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.

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent.

Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

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