Skip to main content
U.S. flag
Back to results

Paralegal Specialist

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of Enforcement. As a Paralegal Specialist, you will serve as a senior paralegal in the Office of Enforcement.

Overview

Help
Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
05/30/2024 to 06/20/2024
Salary
$88,336 to - $184,702 per year
Pay scale & grade
CN 51 - 52
Locations
3 vacancies in the following locations:
San Francisco, CA
Washington, DC
Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
52
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Announcement number
24-CFPB-159-P
Control number
793461200

This job is open to

Help

Clarification from the agency

U.S Citizens or U.S. Nationals; No prior federal experience is required.

Duties

Help

The following are the duties of this position at the CN-52, broadly equivalent to the GS-12. If you are selected at a 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.

  • Research legislation, regulations, and precedents for the most complex cases or issues surrounding Federal consumer financial law and consumer protection litigation.
  • Independently perform extensive legal research and analysis in support of staff attorneys.
  • Apply the results of legal research to the specific problem or issue presented and formulate a recommended course of action.
  • Make recommendations to attorneys based on findings and note any discrepancies in material or other supporting documents that have been submitted as evidence of claims.
  • Search for legal precedent in indices and computerized legal reference systems and analyze their applicability to individual cases. Prepare summaries of research findings.

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

This opportunity is also open to Status Candidates under Announcement 24-CFPB-158-MP. Please refer to that announcement for details on open period, eligibility, and how to apply.

Key Requirements:
  • Must be U.S. Citizen or U.S. National
  • A one year probationary 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.

Qualifications

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

Specialized Experience: For the CN-52, you must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the CN-51 grade level in the Federal service. (For qualification purposes, the CN-51 is broadly equivalent to the GS-11).
Specialized Experience for this position includes:

  • Experience researching legislation and case law, reviewing and summarizing case files and legal documents; AND
  • Researching legal issues involved in productions, corresponding with opposing counsel or expert witnesses, preparing for depositions, researching legislation and case law, developing recommendations; AND
  • Conducting and summarizing interviews or meetings either orally or in writing for senior management.

For the CN-51, you must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the CN-40 grade level in the Federal service. (For qualification purposes, the CN-40 is broadly equivalent to the GS-09). Specialized experience for this position includes:
  • Experience working with cases in active litigation performing duties such as preparing briefs and other litigation papers for review or approval by attorneys, analyzing evidence relevant to litigation; AND
  • Researching legal issues involved in productions, corresponding with opposing counsel or expert witnesses, preparing for depositions, researching legislation and case law, developing recommendations; AND
  • Summarizing legal documents either orally or in writing for senior management.
OR Education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related.

OR Combining Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements.


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 résumé.

Education

Education Requirements:
The education generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are qualifying based on foreign education, you must submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. Refer to the OPM instructions.

You MUST submit a copy of your transcripts or equivalent.

Additional information

OTHER INFORMATION:

  • We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.
  • This announcement may be used to fill like positions in other organizations within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  • This is a bargaining unit position. The Union that represents CFPB employees is the National Treasury Employees Union ("NTEU"), Local Chapter 335.
  • We offer opportunities for telework.
  • We offer opportunities for flexible work schedules.
  • Bureau employees are subject to government-wide ethical standards of conduct, financial disclosure requirements, and post-employment prohibitions, which applicants may review at www.oge.gov. In addition, employees must comply with the Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (5 CFR 9401), which, among other things, prohibit an employee or the employee's spouse or minor child from owning or controlling a debt or equity interest in an entity supervised by the Bureau. Regulations also impose restrictions on the outside activities of certain Bureau employees, including examiners and attorneys. Applicants may review the Bureau ethics regulations and a summary of the regulations at www.consumerfinance.gov. Questions regarding these requirements and prohibitions should be directed to the Bureau Ethics Office at EthicsHelp@cfpb.gov.

The locality pay you receive will be determined by your duty location: Washington D.C., or home address if located outside of D.C. locality pay area.

CFPB uses an experience-based process to set pay for employees. Experience is evaluated and credited using the employee's résumé. To ensure that all of your prior work experience (e.g., internships, volunteer work, details, part-time, self-employment, secondary jobs, etc.) is considered and accounted for, please ensure that your résumé covers the following:
  • your entire work history with specific start and end dates (MM-DD-YYYY) provided for each listed position
  • hours worked per week for each position
  • degrees and the dates conferred (MM-YYYY)
Part-time experience will be credited pro-rata based on a 40-hour work week, while work of 32 hours or more will be rounded up to full-time experience. If you have multiple positions that have overlapping start and/or end dates, only 40 hours of experience will be credited for a given work week. Refer to Resume Tips for more information on how to submit a comprehensive résumé. See information on our base pay ranges and salary structure.

Our comprehensive benefits are among the most generous in the federal government. They include:- Challenging and rewarding work benefiting American consumers - Opportunities for development and advancement- Comprehensive Federal health, vision, dental, life, and long-term care insurance programs- Learn more about Federal benefits programs at: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/201706_cfpb_benefits.pdf

How you will be evaluated

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

The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits specific inquiries concerning an applicant's criminal or credit background unless the hiring agency has made a conditional offer of employment to the applicant. An applicant may submit a complaint, or any other information, to the agency within 30 calendar days of the date of alleged non-compliance by contacting: Ana.GuzmanEvans@cfpb.gov
What are criminal history inquiries?

Your application includes your résumé, responses to the online questions, and required supporting documents. Please be sure that your résumé includes detailed information to support your qualifications for this position; failure to provide sufficient evidence in your résumé may result in a "not qualified" determination.

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., résumé, supporting documents), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the online assessments required for this position. In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process.

In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration. Please be sure that your résumé includes detailed information to support your qualifications for this position; failure to provide sufficient evidence in your résumé may result in a "not qualified" determination.

Rating: Your application will be evaluated in the following areas: Analytical Thinking, Written Communication, Legal Knowledge.

Category rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. If qualified, you will be assigned to one of three quality level categories, A (highest quality category), B (middle quality category), or C (minimally qualified category), depending on your responses to the online questions, regarding your experience, education, and training related to this position. Your rating may be lowered if your responses to the online questions are not supported by the education and/or experience described in your application.

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.

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

Your session is about to expire!

Your USAJOBS session will expire due to inactivity in 8 minutes. Any unsaved data will be lost if you allow the session to expire. Click the button below to continue your session.