Clarification from the agency

This is an excepted service position and targeted recruitment will be used.

Our mission is to serve America's taxpayers fairly and with integrity by providing correct and impartial interpretation of the internal revenue laws and the highest quality legal advice and representation for the Internal Revenue Service. It is a great place to work with an excellent benefits package and family-friendly atmosphere. 

Because of its tax-related mission, the Office of Chief Counsel requires fingerprinting, tax verification, and a background security investigation as part of the pre-employment process.

The IRS Office of Chief Counsel’s Honors Program offers entry-level positions that provide the opportunity to acquire significant training and experience in tax law. Honors Program positions are open to individuals each year who have superior academic qualifications or relevant experience to the work of Chief Counsel. The target start date for this position is fall 2019.

Eligibility is limited to graduating law students who will graduate from law school between October 1, 2018 and September 30, 2019 and recent law school graduates who began participating in eligibility preserving activities within 9 months of law school graduation. Eligibility preserving activities are full-time activities starting after law school graduation that can preserve a law school graduate’s eligibility for the Honors Program. The following are eligibility preserving activities: judicial clerkships, tax or accounting-related graduate programs (including Tax LL.M. programs), or qualifying legal fellowships. Qualifying legal fellowships must have a formal sponsor (e.g., a public service organization, a foundation, a bar association, a corporation, a law school, etc.), an established legal mission (e.g., purpose, type of work), and be publicly advertised as a fellowship at the time the candidate applied to the fellowship.  Fellowships must also be of fixed duration ("bridge the gap" fellowships that require fellows to continue to seek other employment and terminate when the incumbent secures permanent legal employment do not qualify). Breaks between consecutive eligibility preserving activities cannot exceed 120 days. Participation in the eligibility preserving activity must be active through at least December 1 of the application year (may run later). Law school graduates who received their J.D. prior to October 1, 2015 are ineligible.

If you are not admitted to practice law before the highest court of a state or territory of the U.S., the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico when you join the Honors Program, you will initially be brought on board as a Law Clerk. Upon admission to the bar, and demonstration of satisfactory employment during the interim period, you will be eligible for conversion to an Attorney position.

We are currently recruiting for the following National Office divisions in Washington, DC: Corporate; Employee Benefits, Exempt Organizations, & Employment Taxes; and Procedure & Administration.   Here is a link to a list of all our legal divisions: https://www.jobs.irs.gov/resources/job-descriptions/legal-divisions

Conditions of employment

• Please refer to conditions of employment.
• Print preview to review the entire announcement before applying.

Your application includes your resume, responses to the online questions, and required supporting documents. Please be sure that your resume includes detailed information to support your qualifications for this position, as failure to provide sufficient evidence in your resume may result in a “not qualified” determination.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement:

Class Rank Requirement:

1. J.D.: Top 25% class rank required (if school does not provide class rank information allowing us to determine if a student is in the top 25%, such as individual class rank or honors for students in a certain percentage of the class, at the time a selection is made, then a minimum GPA of 3.4 is required; if the school does not provide class rank or GPA at the time a selection is made, a minimum LSAT of 160 is required) OR
2. Tax LL.M. (including those in combined J.D./Tax LL.M. programs) who have completed any LL.M. coursework: Must satisfy the J.D. class rank requirement above or have a minimum GPA of 3.3 in the LL.M. program (if the LL.M. program does not provide GPAs, a minimum LSAT of 160 is required);

• Must attend an ABA accredited law school; and
• Must be a U.S. citizen.

• Special high-level recognition for academic excellence in law school, such as selection to Order of the Coif or receipt of the American Jurisprudence Award in related courses; or top grades in tax or related course work (e.g., “A” grades in tax courses);
• Evidence of background or experience in the position to be filled, such as taking relevant law school classes (e.g., tax law, bankruptcy/debtor creditor law, administrative law) or relevant legal or tax experience (e.g., tax legal experience) or relevant tax volunteer experience (e.g., VITA, Tax Clinic);
• Work or achievement in the law school’s law review or other recognized law journal;
• Winning a moot court or mock trial competition or membership on a moot court or mock trial team

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Rating: Your application will be evaluated using the requirements in the qualifications section.

Referral:  Veterans' preference is applied after applicants are assessed. Preference-eligibles will be listed at the top of the referral list and considered before non-preference-eligibles. All other candidates will be listed below those with preference. If you are among the top qualified candidates, you may be required to participate in a selection interview. We will not reimburse costs related to the interview, such as travel to and from the interview site.