Clarification from the agency

This vacancy announcement is open to the public. This position allows for situational and recurring telework, but does not qualify for full-time or remote telework.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO), Office of the General Counsel (OGC) is seeking an experienced Assistant General Counsel to provide analysis and legal advice on federal fiscal operations and on laws and regulations governing Judiciary program operations, including the transactions in the courts, probation and pretrial offices, and federal public defender organizations.

The incumbent must have excellent legal research and analytical skills and the ability to write clearly and succinctly. The incumbent must effectively identify and resolve problems; plan, organize, and work under demanding circumstances and time constraints; and communicate with AO management, judges, senior court personnel, and executive and legislative branch employees.

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

1. Researching and providing analysis and legal advice on AO programs and court operations with a focus on fiscal law, regulations, and policies, including fiscal resource administration, complex court fiscal transactions, interagency transactions, expenditures involving travel and relocation, probation and pretrial services, defender services, and compliance issues.
2. Responding to inquiries from judges, court executives, AO program office personnel and other judiciary officials on regulatory and fiscal issues, including proper expenditure of funds for Judiciary programs.
3. Reviewing and authoring pertinent sections of judiciary policies, manuals, and guides.
4. Analyzing and advising on proposed legislation, judiciary regulations, policies, and similar material related to judiciary operations and fiscal law.
5. Advising on issues related to fraud, waste, and abuse and Government Accountability Office audits.

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.

Bar Membership: Applicants must currently be an active member in good standing of the bar of a state, territory, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or a federal court of general jurisdiction. Applicants are responsible for citing minimum qualifications such as J.D. and bar membership information (institution name, state(s) for bar, and dates) on their respective resumes. Failure to supply details will constitute an incomplete application. All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Post J.D. Experience: Applicants must also possess at least 3 years of post J.D. experience.

Specialized Experience: Subsequent to graduation from law school, 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 below:

• Applying knowledge of federal laws and regulations to government operations.
• Providing legal advice on federal fiscal operations or compliance issues.

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.