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The Department of Commerce's Office of General Counsel, Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) is seeking an Attorney Advisor with exceptional analytical, organizational and interpersonal communication skills to join our outstanding team of international technical assistance attorneys.
Please read this Public Notice in its entirety prior to submitting your application for consideration.
02/22/2023 to 03/22/2023
$112,015 - $145,617 per year
GS 13
FEW vacancies in the following location:
No
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
No
Permanent
Full-time
Competitive
14
No
No
OS-OGC-PNF-11848633
708062500
Applications will be accepted from all U.S. Citizens.
CLDP Attorney-Advisors are the primary implementers for the Office of General Counsel's international development programs. In this position, you will consult with other agencies of the U.S. government and foreign government officials, and representatives of the private sector, assess development needs, and design and implement assistance programs. The applicant's role as an Attorney-Advisor will include designing, implementing, and evaluating technical assistance and capacity-building programs that promote U.S. policy goals and meet the host countries' economic development needs. The primary geographical focus of the programming will be Europe & Eurasia, specifically the Western Balkans and South Caucasus.
The attorney's work will require travel to countries throughout Eastern and Southeast Europe & Eurasia Incumbent usually works as part of a team addressing a broad range of legal issues. Typically, the incumbent would assess the political, economic and legal environment in the countries to which CLDP intends to provide assistance by conducting legal research, determining what facts or legal issues are relevant, and determining, in conjunction with their supervisor, legal conclusions based upon the facts and the relevant legal authorities. Performs a variety of legal duties such as assessing the political, economic and legal environment in the work with US and host country government officials and legal communities to identify assistance requirements and interests; to negotiate funding agreements with organizations from which CLDP is receiving funds, as well as persons and organizations to which it is providing funds; to establish and monitor compliance with budgets; to plan and carry out assistance activities that are cost effective, appropriate to the need of our hosts, and lead to the accomplishment of our programmatic objectives; and to evaluate and prepare financial and programmatic reports with respect to individual events, the status of CLDP programs and objectives and the utilization of funds provided to and by CLDP.
The attorney in this position may also be required to perform other duties as assigned.
Conditions of Employment
Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/
Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government.
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.
To qualify at the GS-13, applicants must have acquired the amounts of skills and experience indicated below:
- Fluency in Albanian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bosnian-Serbo-Croatian (BSC), Georgian, or Russian preferred but not required.
- Prior experience and familiarity with the countries of Eastern Europe and Eurasia, particularly the Western Balkans and South Caucasus, is preferred.
- Prior experience working in government, international development, civil society organizations, law firms or with foreign governments or international organizations is desirable.
- Familiarity with commercial law topics such as trade, capital markets and finance, customs, intellectual property, telecommunications, economic competition, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, public procurement, regulatory development, legislation, transparency, ethics and anti-corruption, corporate governance, privatization, etc. also strongly preferred.
Applicants must possess a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree or equivalent from an accredited law school. Official or unofficial transcripts must be submitted with your application package.
This position does not confer non-competitive conversion to the competitive service. Acceptance of an excepted service appointment from applicants in the competitive service will require a written statement of understanding when voluntarily leaving the competitive service.
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Applicants will be rated based on their education, experience, demonstrated legal research and writing abilities, and performance during the interview process. Basis for evaluation: If eligible and meeting basic qualifications, your application package will be evaluated in conjunction with your resume and supporting documents for the required knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) to successfully perform the duties of this position:
Please be advised that Department of Commerce Attorney positions are in the Excepted Service. As such, these positions are not covered by the usual civil service hiring procedures. You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications stated herein. We will perform an initial review of applications to determine basic eligibility and minimum qualifications for the position and numeric scores will not be assigned.
There are no numerical rating systems through which to apply veterans' preference; however, the Office of the General Counsel favorably considers veterans preference eligibility in hiring. Applicants eligible for veterans' preference are encouraged to include that information in their cover letter or resume. If selected, additional information may be required.
As a new or existing federal employee, you and your family may have access to a range of benefits. Your benefits depend on the type of position you have - whether you're a permanent, part-time, temporary or an intermittent employee. You may be eligible for the following benefits, however, check with your agency to make sure you're eligible under their policies.
A complete application consists of the following:
Failure to provide documents, if selected, may result in lost consideration.
Please DO NOT put your SSN on pages within your application package. Privacy Act - Privacy Act Notice (PL 93-579): The information requested here is used to determine qualifications for employment and is authorized under Title 5 U.S.C. 3302 and 3361.
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
To be considered, please send an email with the subject line "Attorney Advisor Application: Last Name, First Name" to Nicolette Mena at nmena@doc.gov with the following attachments.
Once your application is received we will conduct an evaluation of your qualifications and determine your eligibility. You will only be contacted if you are found eligible and if you are selected for an interview. Applicants selected for interviews may be requested to provide a legal writing sample.
Applying to this announcement certifies that you give permission for OGC to share your application with others in OGC for similar positions.
By submitting your application, you are certifying the accuracy of the information contained in your application. If you make a false statement in any part of your application, you may not be hired; you may be terminated after you begin work; or, you may be fined or jailed.
After making a tentative job offer, we will conduct a suitability/security background investigation.
You will be required to submit official documentation prior to appointment. The agency will then verify the information provided on your application (i.e., degree, veterans' preference, disability, etc.).
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
This job originated on www.usajobs.gov. For the full announcement and to apply, visit www.usajobs.gov/job/708062500. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.