Clarification from the agency

Excepted Service

As a Supervisory Attorney-Advisor with the Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Departmental Ethics Office, Advice and Counsel Branch located in Washington, DC your specific duties will include:

• Rendering appropriate and timely legal advice to officials and employees In the Department of the Interior and its Bureaus on all legal Issues pertaining to Government ethics, including criminal conflict of Interests laws, Executive Branch Standards of Conduct and the Hatch Act;
• Researching and writing opinions for the Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO) and Alternate Designated Agency Ethics Official (ADAEO) on complex and novel ethics issues at the Department;
• Supervising attorneys providing advice and counsel to Departmental employees, tracking and assigning work, and providing legal review as necessary for work produced by non-attorneys in other DEO organizational branches;
• Reviewing public and confidential financial disclosure reports and recommending appropriate action;
• Assisting with the review of financial disclosure reports of Presidential nominees and providing recommendations for resolution of potential conflicts in ethics agreements;
• Coordinating advice with the Office of Government Ethics, the Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, the Office of Special Counsel, the Office of White House Counsel, and other agencies' ethics officials as necessary;
• Identifying, reviewing, and analyzing the impacts of changes in law or regulations on the operations of the Department's programs and ethics implications of such changes;
• Assisting in the drafting and development of ethics program-wide policies, procedures, and guidance and make recommendations for improvement in the work of the ethics program;
• Collaborating with ethics officials throughout the Department on the identification and resolution of ethics matters;
• Ensuring that information regarding possible violations of law are referred to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) as required, referring other matters for OIG investigations as appropriate and providing technical assistance to the OIG in the analysis of potential ethics violations;
• Recommending possible disciplinary or remedial actions to program officials arising out of OIG reports of investigation;
• Reviewing legislative proposals and assisting with the Department's response on items that affect the Department's ethics program;
• May assist in preparing Congressional testimony or responding to requests from Congress on issues relating to the Department's ethics program;
• May assist in ensuring that ethics training goals for employees are met, to include creating and presenting such training.

Salary Range: GS-15: $ 163,964- $191,900

First time hires to the federal government typically start at the beginning salary in the range for their respective grade level.

This vacancy may be used to fill additional positions as vacancies become available.

Conditions of employment

Key Requirements:

• Applicants must be U.S. Citizens.
• Suitable for Federal employment, as determined by background investigation.
• Must be an active member of the bar.
• Selectee may be subject to serving a 2-year trial period.
• You will be required to have federal payments made by Direct Deposit.
• Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service system, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. See http://www.sss.gov/.

• A background investigation will be required for this position. Continued employment will be subject to the applicant's successful completion of a background security investigation and favorable adjudication. Failure to successfully meet these requirements will be grounds for termination.
• If selected for this position, you may be required to file one or more financial statements and/or a procurement integrity certification of compliance upon reporting and annually, some of which may be subject to public disclosure.
• Throughout the recruitment and hiring process we will be communicating with you via email; therefore, it is imperative that the email address you provide when applying for this vacancy remains active. Should your email address change, please notify the point of contact identified in the vacancy announcement as soon as possible so that we can update our system.
• This position requires completion of a one year supervisory/managerial probationary period, if one has not previously been completed.
• Because this position requires travel for official business, the selectee will be required to apply for a charge card within 30 calendar days of appointment. Individuals who have delinquent account balances from a previous Government charge card will be required to satisfy their existing obligation before a new card can be issued.

Qualifications

In order to better assess your qualifications for this position, when preparing your resume please be sure to address your experience in or familiarity with the following areas of legal work: Federal Ethics practice and the Ethics in Government Act, and researching and writing legal memoranda and opinions and providing legal advice or recommendations to clients, judges, and/or senior attorneys; In addition, please address your experience in or familiarity with Federal administrative law issues and the supervision of Federal employees.

Basic Qualification Requirements
Education: You must be a graduate from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association.
Bar Membership: You must be an active member in good standing of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico bar.
Documentation: You must submit proof that you are licensed and authorized to practice law. Such proof can include a current active bar card, a screen print from a bar website that reflects you are an active member of the bar or a letter/certificate from the bar certifying you are licensed and authorized to practice law. Documents (bar card, screen print, letter/certificate) must be dated within 3 months of the closing date of the announcement. If using a screen print, make sure it is clear when the screen print was taken. For bar cards that do not have a date on them, please also submit a screen print or letter/certificate certifying you are licensed and authorized to practice law dated within 3 months of the announcement closing date.

To qualify for a GS-15 applicants must possess at least 6-years of professional legal experience following law school graduation;

For any of the grades indicated above you can substitute one year of experience with any of the following:

1. have a second professional law degree; OR
2. meet any of the criteria indicated below:
   • academic standing in top one-third of law school graduating class;
   • graduation with academic honors;
   • significant participation on the law school's law review;
   • significant participation in the law school's moot court competition;
   • significant participation in a clinical legal aid program;
   • significant summer law office clerk experience; or
   • other equivalent evidence of clearly superior achievement.

Candidates should have excellent oral communication, writing, research and analysis skills, and the ability to work effectively with other people, and exercise sound judgment.

All applicants must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements for the position by the closing date of the announcement.

Experience refers to 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). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualification Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions and is available at OPM's website:https://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/num-ndx.asp

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, we will review your application to ensure you meet the job requirements. To determine if you are qualified for this job, a review of your resume, supporting documentation and responses to the online questionnaire will be made.

Please note applicants must meet the all qualifications requirement and submit all required documentation by closing date of the announcement for consideration for this position. Failure to meet all qualifications requirement and/or submit all required documents will result in an ineligible for consideration rating.

Applicants who are found to be qualified and referred to the selecting official for consideration will be asked to provide a writing sample. Instructions will be included in the email communication sent to qualified candidates

Basis of Rating: Applicants will not be rated or ranked. All applicants that meet the basic eligibility and qualification requirements of the position will be referred to the selecting official for consideration

To preview the announcement questionnaire, click here: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12418305