Duties

This position is located in the Office of the General Counsel. The incumbent serves as an Attorney Advisor within the Administrative Law practice group under the supervision of the Assistant General Counsel for Administrative Law.

As an Attorney-Advisor for Administrative Law, you will provide oral and written legal advice and legal-sufficiency reviews for the Chairman, the Commissioners, the Chief of Staff, agency-wide management committees, individual senior managers, supervisors, and other Commission staff on a wide variety of administrative-law matters that are generally applicable to Executive Branch agencies, including interpretation and application of statutes, executive orders, regulations, guidance, and precedent in the following areas: federal procurement/government contracts; federal appropriations law/fiscal law; the budget-formulation process and procedures; federal information law, including the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Privacy Act, the Government in the Sunshine Act, and the Paperwork Reduction Act; rulemaking; external mandates reporting requirements; federal civilian personnel law (e.g., Office of Personnel Management regulations, employment law, federal-sector labor relations); government ethics/Standards of Ethical Conduct for Executive Branch Employees; and administrative litigation before Federal courts or administrative agencies, such as the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Merit System Protection Board (MSPB), or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

In addition to the administrative-law areas described in the paragraph above, you will be responsible for: the development or legal-sufficiency review of agency internal rules (e.g., policy directives, handbooks, forms); identification of agency interests, legal risks and liabilities, and other issues relevant to advice requests; the provision of sound and thorough legal research; and the ability to timely and effectively respond to complex legal questions in a clear and concise manner.

You may be asked to provide advice on the Commission's organic statute as it relates to the Commission's structure, the Chairman's or Vice Chairman's authority, the Commissioners' terms of office, and other related administrative matters.

You may also be asked to advise on procedural aspects of new, existing, or revised programmatic statutes that the Commission administers (e.g., the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act, American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act).

You may be called upon to represent the Commission in Federal district or appellate courts, and in administrative hearings before agencies such as the GAO, the MSPB, or the EEOC.

You must be able to identify and assess the impact of new government-wide mandates or quickly evolving situations, such as COVID-19 or lapses in appropriations, and adjust work priorities to timely address them.

You will be expected to possess broad legal experience related to the administration of federal Executive Branch agencies; excellent oral and written communication skills, including adherence to plain-language principles; and well-developed interpersonal skills that will enable you to develop collaborative client relationships.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• U.S. citizenship required.
• You are required to serve a two year trial period.
• Graduation from an American Bar Association-accredited law school.
• Bar membership that is current and in good standing.
• You will be required to submit a Financial Disclosure Statement.
• Must be able to obtain/maintain a secret security clearance.

Qualifications

In additional to the specialized experience and educational requirements above, applicants must currently be a member in good standing of the Bar of a state or territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

You will be required to submit proof of your Bar membership as part of your application package to show that you meet this requirement. Any offer is contingent on receipt of a letter or certificate of good standing for each bar of which the applicant is an active member dated within 30 days of any offer.

Applicants must meet all of the qualification requirements, including education and any selective placement factors described below by the closing date of this announcement. Education may only be substituted in accordance with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook. Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order to be credited towards qualifications. Applicants must have the general and specialized experience outlined below which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position.

To qualify at the GS-13 level, applicants must have at least three years of experience which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position. This experience must consist of the following: one year of general experience which is defined as professional legal experience of a broad, general nature, not requiring specialization or expertise in a specific area or type of law AND two years of specialized experience which is defined as professional legal experience in areas such as: federal procurement/government contracts;, fiscal law; information law; civilian personnel law; laws of general application to Federal agencies and Federal administrative litigation.

To qualify at the GS-14 level, applicants must have at least four years of experience which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position. This experience must consist of the following: one year of general experience which is defined as professional legal experience of a broad, general nature, not requiring specialization or expertise in a specific area or type of law AND three years of specialized experience which is defined as professional legal experience in areas such as: federal procurement/government contracts; fiscal law; civilian personnel law; laws of general application to Federal agencies and the Privacy Act; and Federal administrative litigation..

To qualify at the GS-15 level, applicants must have at least five years of experience which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position. This experience must consist of the following: one year of general experience which is defined as professional legal experience of a broad, general nature, not requiring specialization or expertise in a specific area or type of law AND four years of specialized experience which is defined as professional legal experience in areas such as: federal procurement/government contracts; fiscal law; civilian personnel law; laws of general application to Federal agencies and Federal administrative litigation.

Education

Education Requirement:
All applicants must possess a first professional law degree: J.D. or LL.B from an American Bar Association Law School, or equivalent training. Equivalent training is training permitted in some states in lieu of attendance at a law school. To be acceptable, this training must be of the kind and nature required by the state in which the bar exam is taken. A copy of your transcript(s) is required to show proof that you meet this requirement. Please see the Required Documents section of the announcement for more specific information.

Submit a copy of your transcript(s) or list of courses with credit hours, major(s) and grade-point average or class ranking. Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. Click on the link for a list of accredited organizations recognized as specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials: http://www.naces.org/members.htm.

Additional information

1. If you are a male applicant who was born after December 31, 1959, you are required to certify that you are registered with the Selective Service or are exempt under Selective Service regulations. For additional information concerning Selective Service requirements, please visit www.sss.gov.

2. Time period to meet qualifications: All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

3. Verification of information: Any information claimed on your resume and in application materials, such as education, credentials and employment history will be verified as part of the security clearance process.

4. Excepted service appointments: This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer rights to permanent Civil Service status.