Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens and U.S. Nationals; no prior Federal experience is required.

As a Legal Assistant (OA), you will perform a variety of clerical, technical, and administrative tasks while providing legal support to attorneys and paralegals. Practice areas may include general litigation, tax litigation, criminal tax, and advisory services.

The following are the duties of this position at theGS-06. If you are selected at the lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform all these duties and will receive training to help you grow in this position.

As a Legal Assistant (OA), you will:

• Perform routine administrative work such as but not limited to: scanning, copying, preparing letters and memoranda for distribution, e-filing, tax court processing, and case closing.
• Assist attorneys with basic research and gathering information. 
• Receive visitors and phone calls.
• Prepare and assembles documents, including necessary transmittal forms and envelopes, in accepted office format for mailing, submission to court, or as otherwise directed.
• Review outgoing legal correspondence and documents to ensure proper signature and conformance to style and format required.
• Maintain files.

Please note this is not a complete list of the duties you will perform.

Conditions of employment

• Please refer to "Conditions of Employment."
• Click "Print Preview" to review the entire announcement before applying.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

• A one-year probationary period is required.
• Must successfully complete a background investigation.
• Complete a Declaration for Federal Employment to determine your suitability for Federal employment, at the time requested by the agency.
• If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so.
• Have your salary sent to a financial institution of your choice by Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer.
• Go through a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) process that requires two forms of identification from the Form I-9. Federal law requires verification of the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires in the U.S.
• Undergo an income tax verification.
• The employment of any candidate selected for this position, including a current employee or a new hire, may be conditional upon classification and/or audit of federal tax returns. This audit may include up to two years of returns.

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.

Qualifications

WHAT IS THE OFFICE OF CHIEF COUNSEL?
The Office of Chief Counsel, the largest tax law firm in the country, is looking for enthusiastic individuals to join our team and gain valuable experience in a legal environment. 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. The Office of Chief Counsel is a great place to work with an excellent benefits package and family-friendly atmosphere.

3 or more vacancies may be filled.

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

TYPING PROFICIENCY:
A typing proficiency of 40 words per minute with no more than three errors is required. Proof of an acceptable typing speed must be submitted with the application in one of the following ways: a current notice of test results (from an appropriate testing authority) based on a five-minute typing test which includes words per minute and error rate ; or you may self-certify by indicating typing speed on application.

OFFICE AUTOMATION SKILLS:
This position requires office automation skills. Some examples of office automation software include electronic spreadsheets, database management, desktop publishing, electronic calendar, and electronic mail.

GS-05: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-04 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes experience receiving visitors and phone calls; receiving, opening, time stamping, reviewing, and distributing incoming legal office mail and faxes; and preparing and assembling legal files and documents, correspondence, and other materials.

OR

You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows: Four years of education above the high school level obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university.

OR

You may qualify by a combination of experience and education as follows: 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 your semester hours of education beyond two years (total semester hours minus 60) by 60. Add the two percentages.

GS-06: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes experience receiving visitors and phone calls; preparing, receiving, reviewing, and verifying legal documents; maintaining legal office records and systems; and locating and compiling data or information from legal files and other data sources.

OR

You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows: A half year (i.e., 9 semester hours) of graduate level education in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position.

OR

You may qualify by a combination of experience and education as follows: 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) by 9. Add the two percentages.

The experience may have been gained in the public, private sector, or Volunteer Service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/year and the number of hours worked per week on your resume.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your application includes your resume, responses to the online questions, and the required supporting documents. Please be sure 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.

Rating: Your application will be evaluated in the following areas: 1) Skill in preparing and processing documents and correspondence and maintaining filing systems; 2) Ability to screen and distribute correspondence and to review correspondence and other documents for format, grammar, and tone; 3) Ability to effectively and professionally interact with internal and external customers; 4) Skill in the use of office automation equipment and software programs; and 5) Ability to plan, organize, coordinate, and perform a variety of clerical and administrative activities. Category rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. If qualified, you will be assigned to one of three quality level categories - Best Qualified, Highly Qualified, and Qualified - depending on your responses to the online questions regarding your experience, education, and training related to this position.

Veterans' preference is applied after applicants are assessed. Preference-eligibles will be listed at the top of their assigned category and considered before non-preference-eligibles in that category. Qualified preference-eligibles with a compensable service-connected disability of 10% or more will be listed at the top of the highest category.

Referral: If you are among the top qualified candidates, your application may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. 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.  

If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee (eligible for Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)), you must be assigned the Highly Qualified category or better to be rated as "well qualified" to receive special selection priority.