Clarification from the agency

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

The mission of the Office of Chief Counsel 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 Associate Chief Counsel, Finance and Management (F&M) organization supports the administrative, financial, and managerial programs of the Office of Chief Counsel and Deputy Chief Counsel on all management matters for the organization nationwide. F&M is also responsible for providing support services to all of Chief Counsel's field offices located in over 50 cities nationwide.

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 the GS-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, 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.
• Reviews 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.
• Must be U.S. Citizens or U.S. Nationals.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

• A one-year probationary period is required (unless already completed).
• 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

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.

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 answering phones and greeting visitors; 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 or general experience as follows:

GS-05: Four academic years post-high school study or a Bachelor's degree.

GS-06: As a general rule, education is not creditable above GS-5 for this series; however, graduate education may be credited in those few instances where the graduate education is directly related to the work of the position.

OR

You may qualify by a combination of education and experience. Options for qualifying based on a combination will be identified in the online questions.

In addition to the above requirements, you must met the following, if applicable:

• GS-06: You must have been at the GS-05 level for 52 weeks (time-in-grade requirement).

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 - Category A, Category B, or Category C - 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 score an 85 or higher to be rated as "well qualified" to receive special selection priority.