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Legal Administrative Specialist

Department of Defense
Office of Inspector General
Office of General Counsel
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located in the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG), Office of General Counsel (OGC). The Office of General Counsel provides independent and objective legal counsel and advice to the Inspector General and OIG components.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
01/13/2023 to 01/20/2023
Salary
$64,957 to - $122,459 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 9 - 12
Location
Alexandria
1 vacancy
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel up to 5% for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
12
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Secret
Drug test
Yes
Position sensitivity and risk
Noncritical-Sensitive (NCS)/Moderate Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
IG-23-11795905-OGC-MP
Control number
699869300

Duties

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  • As a Legal Administrative Specialist, some of your duties may include the following:
  • Administer the agency's Ethics Program under guidance of counsel.
  • Tracks and manages all aspects of Agency ethics training; provides ethics presentations during the New Employee (EOD) orientation and prepares ethics articles for review.
  • Maintains the agency's Ethics website and manages the Financial Disclosure program/systems.
  • Provides administrative support for litigation attorneys by tracking litigation deadlines, arranging conference lines, and coordinates witness software tests for virtual hearings.
  • Arranges IT support, manages witnesses during hearings, assembles exhibits, affidavits, and other legal documents, and secures and manages court reporter services as needed.
  • Drafts and edits legal memoranda, researches summaries and correspondence. Prepares informational briefings for the General Counsel and staff to present to the Inspector General and/or other senior leadership.
  • Briefs the General Counsel, Inspector General, and other senior leadership on recent standard legal findings and recommendations.
  • Performs legal research. Locates statutory and regulatory authority using appropriate resources such as LEXIS or Westlaw.
  • Verifies the accuracy of case citations. Assembles routine legislative histories as needed.
  • Composes synopses of issues with designation of relevant authorities.
  • Utilizes basic office software such as Microsoft Suite to prepare legal documents and correspondence.
  • Provides administrative support for OGC as instructed.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen.
  • Position has been designated as Noncritical Sensitive. Incumbent is required to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance.
  • Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service (see http://www.sss.gov).
  • Incumbent is required to submit to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment and is subject to random drug testing for the duration of service with DoD OIG.
  • Current DoD civilian employees are not required to submit to drug testing if moving from one Testing Designated Position (TDP) to another with no break in service, unless deemed appropriate on a case-by-case basis.
  • The incumbent must adhere to the DoD Standards of Conduct.
  • Prior to entry on duty or at some point thereafter, new DoD civilian employees MAY be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID 19, subject to such exceptions as required by law.
  • More details regarding vaccine requirements can be found at https://www.saferfederalworkforce.gov/faq/vaccinations/. Selected candidates will receive further information during the job offer process.
  • Relocation allowance WILL NOT be authorized.
  • All qualifications and time-in-grade requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.
  • Applicants who have held a non-temporary General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must meet the time-in-grade restriction.

Qualifications

Applicants must demonstrate that they meet the Specialized Experience AND Minimum Qualification requirements as noted below.

Time in Grade:

You may qualify at the GS-09, GS-11 and or GS-12 level, if you fulfill the following qualification requirements and meet the specialized experience described below:

GS-09 Level:


1. You must have 52 weeks of specialized experience at the next lower grade level of GS-07 in the federal service or equivalent. Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience supporting administration duties in an Ethics Program such as: (1) disseminating requests for financial reports, managing documents, data, and databases relating to ethics and compliance requirements; and (2) conducting technical or conflict reviews on ethics documents; and (3) preparing ethics-related and legal correspondence and assisting with administering office management to include training, budget, court reporter contract, facilities, etc. (4) preparing hearing documents, filing documents, ensuring that pleadings are maintained in the SharePoint litigation files.
2. Completion of a Master's Degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B or J.D., if related. (You MUST submit transcripts or proof of education to verify your claim. All education must be accredited by accrediting body or organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.)
3. Combination of experience and education as are described in 1 and 2 above; however, percentage of the education and experience which when combined totals 100% of the necessary education and experience to qualify for this position. (You MUST submit transcripts or proof of education to verify your claim. All education must be accredited by accrediting body or organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.)


GS-11 Level:

1. You must have 52 weeks of specialized experience at the next lower grade level of GS-09 in the federal service or an equivalent level. Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience supporting administration duties in an Ethics Program such as: (1) providing advice to employees on the application of ethics statutes, regulations, and policies; and (2) maintaining and reviewing the financial disclosure process; and (3) processing documentation for release under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts; and (4) assisting with the administrative and legal correspondence management pending litigations; and (5) preparing hearing documents, ensuring that pleadings are maintained in the SharePoint litigation files.
2. Completion of a PH.D or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M if related; (You MUST submit transcripts or proof of education to verify your claim. All education must be accredited by accrediting body or organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.)
3. Combination of experience and education as are described in 1 and 2 above; however, percentage of the education and experience which, when combined, totals 100% of the necessary education and experience to qualify for this position. (beyond what is required for a master's degree, i.e., more than 36 hours leading to a Ph.D. You MUST submit transcripts or proof of education to verify your claim. All education must be accredited by accrediting body or organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.)

GS-12 Level:

You must have 52 weeks of specialized experience at the next lower grade level of GS-11 in the federal service or equivalent level. Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience supporting administration duties in an Ethics Program such as: (1) interpreting and applying of ethics statutes, regulations, and policies on issues including financial disclosure, recusals and gift exceptions; and (2) reviewing confidential and public financial disclosure reports; and (3) assisting with the administrative legal correspondence and management of pending litigations; and (4) preparing and filing hearing documents ensuring that pleadings are maintained on the SharePoint litigation files; and (5) Conducting legal research and reviewing past court decisions as well as pre-trial documents; and (6) interviewing witnesses and various individuals for cases under review to include preparing evidence and documents to support recommendations.

You must meet the minimum qualification requirements as stated in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Operating Manual, Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions: http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/Standards/group-stds/gs-prof.asp.

Paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual, community, student, social) is qualifying. Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience.

Qualification and time-in-grade requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Applicants who have held a non-temporary General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must meet the time-in-grade restriction.

Education

Substitution of Education for Specialized Experience:

GS-09 Two full years of progressively higher level graduate education, Master's or equivalent graduate degree, may be substituted to meet the specialized experience requirement.

GS-11 Three full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree may be substituted to meet the specialized experience requirement.

There is no substitution of education for the qualifying experienceat the GS-12 grade level.

Equivalent combinations of education and experience may be used to substitute for the specialized experience requirement.


Only experience and/or education obtained by the closing date of this announcement will be considered.

If you are using education to substitute for the qualifying experience, you must submit transcripts at the time you apply. Failure to do so may disqualify you from consideration.

If selected for this position, you will be required to provide an official certified copy of your transcripts before a start date will be established. All applicants must provide transcripts with their application.


Due to the education requirement of this position, an unofficial transcript must be submitted at the time of application. If transcripts are not received, you will be rated as ineligible.

Using Education to Qualify: You MUST provide unofficial transcripts or other documentation to support your educational claims. Unless otherwise stated: (1) unofficial transcripts are acceptable, or (2) you may submit a list with all of your courses, grades, semester, year, and credit for the course. All materials must be submitted by the closing date of the announcement.

Pass/Fail Courses: If more that 10 percent of your undergraduate course work (credit hours) were taken on a pass/fail basis, your claim of superior academic achievement must be based upon class standing or membership in an honor society.

Graduate Education: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis. If you cannot obtain your graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study.

Accreditation: Only degrees from an accredited college or university recognized by the Department of Education are acceptable to meet positive education requirements or to substitute for experience. For additional information, please go to the Office of Personnel Management website at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/ and U.S. Department of Education website at http://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities must be evaluated in terms of equivalency to that acquired in U.S. colleges and universities. Applicants educated in whole or in part in foreign countries must submit sufficient evidence, including transcripts, to an accredited private organization for an equivalency evaluation of course work and degree. A listing of these accredited organizations can be found on the Department of Education's website. You must provide a copy of the letter containing the results of the equivalency evaluation with a course by course listing along with your application. If you fail to provide the required documentation, by the closing date of this announcement, you will not receive consideration.
For further information, visit: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html

Additional information

  • If you have not previously completed a probationary period with the Federal government in a similar position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period.
  • This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies within 90 calendar days of the initial issue date of the referral list.
  • Telework availability will be based upon the mission requirements and supervisory determination.
  • PCS costs (moving expenses) WILL NOT be paid
  • Recruitment, relocation, or retention incentives WILL NOT be authorized by the hiring official. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 makes certain reimbursements/payments taxable. For information on these changes and the Relocation Income Tax Allowance (RITA), for which some appointees are eligible, click here.
  • For more information on veterans' preference click here.
  • Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) Priority Consideration: Applicants must be well-qualified, which is defined as meeting all of the minimum qualification standards and eligibility requirements as well as possessing skills that clearly exceed the minimum qualification requirements for the position. For more information on ICTAP, click here . If you have never worked for the Federal Government, you are NOT ICTAP eligible.
  • The Department of Defense (DoD) policy on employment of annuitants issued March 18, 2004 will be used in determining eligibility of annuitants.
  • Position(s) may be filled by displaced Department of Defense (DoD) employees through the DOD Priority Placement Program.
  • Priority Placement Program (PPP) Military Spouse Preference (MSP) eligible candidates will receive priority consideration at the full performance level only.
  • You may submit a cover letter which will be forwarded to the selecting official with your resume. Your cover letter will not be used to verify your qualifications or eligibility
  • If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.
Retired/Retiring Veterans: Please be aware that there is a 180-Day Restriction on Department of Defense (DoD) Employment of Military Retirees. A retired member of the Armed Forces may not be appointed to a civilian position in the DoD within 180 days after retirement unless the agency requests and is granted a waiver; the position is authorized special pay under 5 U.S.C. 3505; or a state of national emergency exists.

COVID-19 WORKPLACE SAFETY PROTOCOLS: To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the below COVID-19 vaccination mandate is not presently being enforced as a condition of employment for this position.

How you will be evaluated

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

Once the application process is complete, a review of your resume and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine if you are qualified for this job.

The numeric rating you receive is based on your responses to the questionnaire. The score is a measure of the degree to which your background matches the competencies required for this position. If, after reviewing your resume and or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, you may lose consideration for this position.

Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating.

All qualified candidates will be evaluated on the following competencies:

  • Legal, Government and Jurisprudence
  • Management Support
  • Oral Communication
  • Program Management
  • Research
  • Writing


You can preview the Assessment Questionnaire here:https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11795905

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