Duties

The Assistant General Counsel for Legal Services is part of the management team of GAO's Office of the General Counsel (OGC). The Legal Services Assistant General Counsel reports to the group's Managing Associate General Counsel and collaborates with OGC's other Assistant General Counsels and with managers from across GAO. The Legal Services Assistant General Counsel is responsible for all aspects of Legal Services' diverse portfolio (described in more detail below). The Assistant General Counsel's management responsibilities include:

• Leading the team of Legal Services attorneys in addressing novel, complex, and far-reaching legal questions;
• Assigning and ensuring the quality and timeliness of Legal Services attorneys' work on multiple projects simultaneously, with a high degree of independence and agility and an ability to prioritize and multi-task;
• Providing direct legal support as necessary to maintain responsiveness to internal clients or address issues of unusual complexity or sensitivity;
• Advising and collaborating with the Managing Associate General Counsel (MAGC) for Legal Services on high-profile and significant legal matters.
• Mentoring and supporting the professional development of the group's attorneys, who may range in their level of experience, and creating and maintaining an inclusive work environment;
• Monitoring the attorneys' performance, including setting expectations, providing regular feedback, conducting annual performance appraisals, and managing performance challenges;
• Building and sustaining constructive, collaborative relationships with staff and leadership across a broad range of GAO Offices including the Human Capital Office, Labor-Management Relations, and the Office of General Counsel; and
• Exercising strong organizational and time-management skills, interpersonal skills, conflict management skills, and sound professional judgment.

The work of the Legal Services attorneys includes:

• Continuously formulating and providing comprehensive and actionable legal counsel and risk mitigation strategies to internal clients to produce high-quality results in areas such as human capital management (e.g., hiring/pay/benefits, performance management, employee conduct, Reasonable Accommodations, workers compensation), personnel and information security, privacy, records management, and infrastructure operations.
• Ensuring compliance with personnel-related laws, rules and regulations, including applicable provisions of title 5 of the U.S. Code, the GAO Personnel Act of 1980, and anti-discrimination statutes such as Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
• Advising GAO's Labor-Management Relations group and others concerning all aspects of the administration of GAO's labor-management relations program, including interpretation and application of negotiated agreements and serving on negotiation teams.
• Representing GAO as defense counsel in administrative litigation before the GAO Personnel Appeals Board (PAB) covering a wide range of personnel and labor matters ( e.g ., prohibited personnel practice and discrimination claims, bargaining impasses, negotiability petitions, and unfair labor practice charges). The PAB is an independent entity that performs the combined functions of its executive branch counterparts: the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; the Federal Labor Relations Authority; the Merit Systems Protection Board; and the Office of Special Counsel.
• Coordinating and directing GAO's response to investigations of GAO management by the GAO Personnel Appeals Board's Office of General Counsel, including preparing witnesses for investigatory interviews and responding to document and information requests.
• Preparing GAO's responses to third party subpoenas and requests for agency records.
• Drafting clearly written, legally sound, and persuasive legal analysis and advice covering all aspects of Legal Services' portfolio.
• Reviewing for legal sufficiency all internal GAO rules regarding its personnel system.
• Performing other duties as necessary to respond to novel and complex questions concerning GAO's personnel system, and to support GAO's efforts in carrying out its mission.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service
• Suitability for Federal employment, as determined by a background investigation
• Completion of a two-year probationary period unless you previously completed a trial period at GAO after October 1, 1980.
• Completion of a financial disclosure statement is required.
• A Supervisory probationary period may be required.

Qualifications

You must meet the minimum qualification requirements by the closing date of this job opportunity announcement

1. Must have a J.D. degree from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association.
2. Must be an active member in good standing of a bar of a state, a territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
3. Candidates must have a minimum of four years (208 weeks) of legal experience working with and applying the laws, policies, and regulations related to the duties of the position.

Education

See Qualification section.

FOREIGN EDUCATION: Education completed outside of the United States must be deemed equivalent to that gained in conventional/accredited U.S. education programs to be acceptable for Federal employment. Most foreign education is not accredited by an accrediting body that is recognized by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html

Additional information

This position is not in a bargaining unit.

Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service (see https://www.sss.gov/RegVer/wfRegistration.aspx )

Based on the staffing needs, additional selections may be made through this vacancy announcement.

VETERANS' PREFERENCE: There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, GAO considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. Applicants eligible for veterans' preference must include that information in their cover letter or resume and attach supporting documentation (e.g., the DD 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty and other supporting documentation) to their submissions. Although the "point" system is not used, per se, applicants eligible to claim 10-point preference must submit Standard Form (SF) 15, Application for 10-Point Veterans' Preference, and submit the supporting documentation required for the specific type of preference claimed (visit the OPM website, www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/SF15.pdf for a copy of SF 15 which lists the types of 10-point preferences and the required supporting document(s)). Applicants should note that SF 15 requires supporting documentation associated with service-connected disabilities or receipt of nonservice-connected disability pensions to be dated 1991 or later except in the case of service members submitting official statements or retirement orders from a branch of the Armed Forces showing that his or her retirement was due to a permanent service-connected disability or that he/she was transferred to the permanent disability retired list (the statement or retirement orders must indicate that the disability is 10% or more.

TRAVEL & RELOCATION EXPENSES: Travel and relocation expenses related to this hiring process will not be paid.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION: GAO provides reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. To request an accommodation, please email ReasonableAccommodations@gao.gov.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office's policy is to provide equal employment opportunity for all regardless of race, religion, color, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, or gender identity.