Clarification from the agency

Applications will be accepted from U.S. citizens or U.S. Nationals. No prior federal experience is required.

The CFPB Honors Attorney Program is a two-year program designed to provide exceptional recent law school graduates with early, substantive opportunities to use and develop their legal skills and make a difference in the lives of American consumers. Diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences are critical in carrying out our mission to serve the American consumers. The Honors Attorney Program provides CFPB with an opportunity to further advance the Bureau's diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

This position could be located in any of the following Regional Offices: Washington, D.C., Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, New York, New York, or San Francisco, CA.

During the program, Honors Attorneys are given increasingly complex assignments designed to build their legal skills and increase their ability to support the Bureau's mission. The Honors Attorneys Program also includes mentorship and both formal and informal training to enhance analytical thinking, writing, communication, and other legal skills, as well as an understanding of the Bureau's mission and work. Additionally, Honors Attorneys will also be able to rotate into a different Bureau offices or other federal agencies to develop additional skills. Such rotations typically last about six months.

Honors Attorneys may be placed in one of the following offices:

Office of Enforcement
As a part of the Supervision, Enforcement, & Fair Lending Division, the Office of Enforcement is responsible for investigating potential violations of the Federal consumer financial laws and taking action - such as litigating in federal court and the Bureau's administrative forum - to address violations when appropriate. Their work is critical to furthering the Bureau's goal of a fair marketplace for consumers.

Office of Supervision Policy
As a part of the Supervision, Enforcement, & Fair Lending Division, the Office of Supervision Policy is responsible for developing supervision strategy and providing legal subject-matter expertise to supervision staff in connection with various consumer financial product and service lines and compliance areas, including fair lending. Their work ensures a consistent supervisory approach with respect to different consumer financial products for both banks and non-banks across the Bureau's four regions.

Office of Regulations
As a part of the Research, Monitoring & Regulations Division, the Office of Regulations is responsible for developing and implementing consumer financial regulations. In addition to highly skilled attorneys preparing and finalizing consumer finance rules, they also conduct 10-year regulatory reviews, regulatory burden reviews, and disclosure waiver requests. Their work also assists in providing guidance to industry on Bureau regulations and conducting compliance tools.

Office of Fair Lending & Equal Opportunity
As a part of the Office of the Director, the Office of Fair Lending & Equal Opportunity ensures federal fair lending laws, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, are enforced and ensures fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory access to credit for all consumers in America.

Legal Division
The Legal Division, which has four program offices: (1) General Law and Ethics, (2) Law and Policy, (3) Litigation, and (4) Oversight, is responsible for providing advice on all legal matters; reviewing documents for clearance, rulemakings, enforcement, and other policymaking projects; handling defensive, appellate, and amicus litigation; managing and overseeing responses to requests for information from Congress and other oversight bodies; and ensuring compliance with laws, rules and regulations of general applicability to the federal government, including labor, employment, information, privacy, federal ethics, and others.

As an Honors Attorney, you may be:

• Investigating and litigating potential unfair, deceptive, abusive, and discriminatory acts or practices or other potential violations of federal consumer financial law;
• Defending Bureau rules and regulations in litigation;
• Drafting appellate and amicus briefs regarding consumer financial law and other issues;
• Providing legal analysis and advice for supervisory examinations;
• Participating in complex rulemakings;
• Developing policy guidance to improve industry compliance; and
• Advising senior Bureau officials on various legal and policy issues, including those with general applicability to the federal government, such as labor, employment, ethics, and intellectual property.

Conditions of employment

Key Requirements:

• Must be U.S. citizen or U.S. National.
• A trial period may be required.
• Public Trust - Background Investigation will be required.
• Complete a Declaration for Federal Employment to determine your suitability for Federal employment, at the time requested by the agency.
• Have your salary sent to a financial institution of your choice by Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer.
• 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.
• 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.
• Obtain and use a Government-issued charge card for business-related travel, if necessary.

Qualifications

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

This is a position established to provide developmental experience to recent law school graduates in the Honors Attorney Program. To be eligible, applicants must be either:

(1) current law students who expect to graduate before August 1, 2024, and meet Superior academic achievements requirements: Includes at least a 3.5 GPA (on a 4.00 point scale) or equivalent, graduation with honors, graduating in the top 15% or higher in their class or other evidence of superior academic achievement; OR
(2) attorneys who graduated from law school after August 1, 2020 with superior academic achievements, and who, at the time of appointment, will have spent no more than one year since graduating law school in a position other than a graduate education program, judicial clerkship, public-interest position, or comparable activity.

**To be qualifying experience, Law Clerkships must be post law school.

Qualifications:
Law Degree: Applicants must be a graduate of an accredited law school with an LL.B., J.D. or equivalent.
Bar Membership: Applicants must be a current member of a bar with a valid license to practice law in a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
**Applicants who are a current member of a bar with a valid license to practice law in a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico will be placed into the CN-51, CN-52 or CN-53 level attorney positions. Applicants who are not yet a member of the bar will be placed into the CN-51 grade level as a Law Clerk on a 14-month appointment until successful completion of the Bar Examination. Those not admitted to the Bar within 14 months will be separated from the CFPB.

Experience requirements for the CN-51: Superior academic achievement as described above.
Experience requirements for the CN-52: Superior academic achievement as described above and one year of clerkship or fellowship.
Experience requirements for the CN-53: Superior academic achievement as described above and three years of clerkship or public interest legal fellowship.

The experience may have been gained in either 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/day/year, and indicate 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.

We will evaluate your application by comparing your description of your work experience, level of responsibility, and accomplishments, with the requirements of the position to determine whether you meet all the qualification requirements. The assessment questions are for information gathering purposes only.

Veterans preference is not applied but considered a positive factor.