Clarification from the agency

This vacancy announcement is open to candidates who live in the Washington, DC commuting area and/or current employees of the federal Judiciary (AO or U.S. Courts) nationwide. This position is designated as confidential or policy-determining under the Administrative Office (AO) Personnel Act, Section 3(a)(5)(B) and, as such, is not covered by the AO's personnel regulations developed under the AO Personnel Act of 1990.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO), Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) is seeking an experienced, professional Paralegal Specialist to join its team. OLA works with the Judicial Conference of the United States (JCUS) and its committees to develop policy positions on legislative issues, promotes legislative initiatives, identifies and monitors congressional activity impacting the Judiciary, and develops and coordinates responses to policy and legislative inquiries from Congress.

The Paralegal Specialist provides a wide range of legislative, program, and administrative support services; conducts legislative and legal research; identifies issues and analyzes legislation, laws, press articles, and other materials; prioritizes multiple assignments; and works effectively in a fast-paced, high priority, deadline-driven environment. This position reports to the Supervisory Administrative Analyst in the OLA.

The incumbent must be able to maintain a work schedule outside of core hours to support attorneys and OLA's response to congressional developments, including working late evenings and weekends to complete time-sensitive projects.

The duties of this position include, but are not limited to:

1. Compiling and preparing a daily summary of items of interest from the Congressional Record.
2. Analyzing the impact of legislative proposals on the Judiciary and performing online research using Congress.gov, Westlaw, LexisNexis, or other congressional and legal research services and databases.
3. Performing data entry, searching, and managing OLA databases.
4. Analyzing, evaluating, and maintaining congressional materials of judicial relevance.
5. Conducting and summarizing policy research, including searching for and extracting information from reports, documents, publications, recordings, and other materials.
6. Tracking congressional activity through an established system.
7. Compiling and organizing correspondence, bills, memoranda, and other materials to create legislative histories.
8. Managing OLA intranet website content.
9. Performing administrative tasks, including receiving telephone calls and visitors and making appropriate referrals; preparing and formatting letters, memoranda, congressional testimony and other documents; and reviewing and distributing incoming mail.
10. Attending or monitoring congressional hearings and markups and providing written and oral reports of proceedings.
11. Maintaining working relationships with staff of the AO, the federal courts, congressional committees, and key agencies in the executive branch.
12. Composing and reviewing complex and sensitive correspondence or other written materials.

Conditions of employment

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

1. All information is subject to verification. Applicants are advised that false answers or omissions of information on application materials or inability to meet the following conditions may be grounds for non-selection, withdrawal of an offer of employment, or dismissal after being employed.
2. Selection for this position is contingent upon completion of OF-306, Declaration of Federal Employment during the pre-employment process and proof of U.S. citizenship for competitive status positions or conversion to a competitive status position with the AO. If non-citizens are considered for hire into a temporary or any other position with non-competitive status or when it is confirmed by the AO Human Resources Office there are no qualified U.S. citizens for a competitive status position (unless prohibited by a law or statue), non-citizens must provide proof of authorization to work in the U.S. and proof of entitlement to receive compensation. Additional information on the employment of non-citizens can be found at USAJOBS Help Center | Employment of non-citizens/. For a list of documents that may be used to provide proof of citizenship or authorization to work in the United States, please refer to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.
3. All new AO employees will be required to complete an FBI fingerprint-based national criminal database and records check, and pass a public trust suitability check.
4. New employees to the AO will be required to successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights/responsibilities, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/.
5. All new AO employees are required to identify a financial institution for direct deposit of pay before appointment.
6. You will be required to serve a trial period if selected for a first-time appointment to the Federal government, transferring from another Federal agency, or serving as a first-time supervisor. Failure to successfully complete the trial period may result in termination of employment.
7. If appointed to a temporary position, management may have the discretion of converting the position to permanent depending upon funding and staffing allocation.

Qualifications

Applicants must have demonstrated experience as listed below. This requirement is according to the AO Classification, Compensation, and Recruitment Systems which include interpretive guidance and reference to the OPM Operating Manual for Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions.

Specialized Experience: Applicants must have at least one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience which is in or directly related to the line of work of this position. Specialized experience must demonstrate experience in ALL areas defined:

• Capitol Hill experience

How you will be evaluated

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

We will review your resume and supporting documentation and compare this information to your responses on the occupational questionnaire to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications for this job. If you meet the minimum qualifications for this job, we will evaluate your application package, to assess the quality, depth, and complexity of your accomplishments, experience, and education as they relate to the requirements listed in this vacancy announcement.

You should be aware that your ratings are subject to evaluation and verification. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume and/or narrative responses, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Failure to submit the mandatory narrative responses will result in not receiving full consideration and/or rating credit. Deliberate attempts to falsify information may be grounds for not selecting you, withdrawing an offer of employment, or dismissal after being employed.