Duties

Summary

JOB DESCRIPTION: Paralegal Specialists provide legal support to enable the Office of the General Counsel to provide timely, accurate, and practical legal advice and services. They conduct legal research and analysis and prepare memos, briefs, case summaries, and other legal documents. They also collaborate with attorneys and interact with clients to ascertain facts, analyze issues, prepare opinions, and facilitate

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Responsibilities

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), Office of General Counsel (OGC) is seeking highly qualified Paralegal Specialists. NGA OGC provides timely, accurate, and practical legal advice and representation to ensure NGA accomplishes its mission in compliance with applicable laws. A Pay Band 4 Paralegal in NGA OGC assists in the evaluation, development, and litigation of cases by performing the following duties: * Examines and evaluates information in case files, for case litigation worthiness and appropriate titles of law. * Determines the need for additional information, independent surveys, evidence, and witnesses, and plans a comprehensive approach to obtain this information. * Through on-side visits, interviews, and review of records on operations, looks for and evaluates the relevance and worth of evidence. * Selects, summarizes, and compiles comparative data to examine and evaluate respondent's deficiencies in order to provide evidence of illegal practices or patterns. * Reviews economic trends and forecasts at the national and regional level to evaluate the impact of successful prosecution and potential remedial provisions of ongoing investigations and litigation. * Identifies types of record keeping systems and types of records maintained which would be relevant. Gathers, sorts, and interprets data from various record systems including computer information systems. * Interviews potential witnesses for information and prepares witnesses for court appearances. * Develops statistics and tabulations, such as standard deviations, regression analyses, and weighting, to provide leads and supportive data for case litigation. Prepares charts, graphs, and tables to illustrate results. * Analyzes data, develops recommendations and justifications for the attorney(s) who will take the matter to court. Continues to work with the attorney(s) during the progress of the case, obtaining and developing further evidence and exhibits, providing administrative assistance, and maintaining custody of exhibits, documents, and files. * May appear in court as a witness to testify concerning exhibits prepared supporting plaintiff's case. The selectee(s) must possess a service-oriented attitude towards clients; maintain a proactive perspective toward the practice of law; have the highest standards of professionalism; and thrive in a collegial work environment where everyone's views are respected and valued. NGA is a national intelligence agency and a Department of Defense combat support agency whose mission is to provide geospatial intelligence to military forces as well as in support of national policy decision makers. It is a fast-paced, mission-oriented, technologically advanced work environment that is essential to the security of the nation.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - Occasional Travel Required

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
4

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• US Citizenship is required.
• Designated or Random Drug Testing required.
• Security Investigation

SPECIAL INFO:
As a condition of employment at NGA, persons being considered for employment must meet NGA fitness for employment standards.

- U.S. Citizenship Required
- Security Clearance (Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information)
- Polygraph Test Required
- Position Subject to Drug Testing
- Two Year Probationary Period
- Direct Deposit Required

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
You must be able to obtain and retain a Top Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information. In addition, you are subject to a Counterintelligence Polygraph examination in order to maintain access to Top Secret information. All employees are subject to a periodic examination on a random basis in order to determine continued eligibility. Refusal to take the examination may result in denial of access to Top Secret information, SAP, and/or unescorted access to SCIFs.

Employees with SCI access and who are under NGA cognizance are required to submit a Security Financial Disclosure Report, SF-714, on an annual basis in order to determine continued eligibility. Failure to comply may negatively impact continued access to Top Secret information, Information Systems, SAP, and/or unescorted access to SCIFs.

NGA utilizes all processes and procedures of the Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS). Non-executive NGA employees are assigned to five distinct pay bands based on the type and scope of work performed. The employee's base salary is established within their assigned pay band based on their unique qualifications. A performance pay process is conducted each year to determine a potential base pay salary increase and/or bonus. An employee's annual performance evaluation is a key factor in the performance pay process. Employees on term or temporary appointments are not eligible to apply for internal assignment opportunity notices.

This position is a DCIPS position in the Excepted Service under 10 U.S.C. 1601. DoD Components with DCIPS positions apply Veterans' Preference to preference eligible candidates as defined by Section 2108 of Title 5 USC, in accordance with the procedures provided in DoD Instruction 1400.25, Volume 2005, DCIPS Employment and Placement. If you are an external applicant claiming veterans' preference, as defined by Section 2108 of Title 5 U.S.C., you must self-identify your eligibility in our ERecruit application.

Qualifications

MANDATORY QUALIFICATION CRITERIA: For this particular job, applicants must meet all competencies reflected under the Mandatory Qualification Criteria to include education (if required). Online resumes must demonstrate qualification by providing specific examples and associated results, in response to the announcement's mandatory criteria specified in this vacancy announcement:

1. Applicant must have experience in a legal environment. 2. Demonstrated ability to evaluate pertinent facts; research, analyze and evaluate case files for litigation worthiness and appropriate titles of law. 3. Understanding and/or exposure to one of the following: support for government acquisition and intellectual property, personnel and employment law, Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) matters, Government ethics matters, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and/or Privacy Act matters. EDUCATION REQUIREMENT: Paralegal program certificate.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATION CRITERIA: In addition to the mandatory qualifications, experience in the following is desired:

1. Paralegal certified. 2. Experience applying critical thinking to complex problem identification, analysis and resolution to provide superior legal research and legal writing. 3. Experience providing paralegal services in support of the U.S. Military, Intelligence Community, Department of Defense, or other U.S. Government agencies. 4. Outstanding communication skills, orally and in writing. 5. Adept at dealing with ambiguity by adapting to new demands or information and handling situations with multiple variables and unknowns, especially where there is little judicial precedent or case law.

Education

Additional information

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Applicants are not required to submit a cover letter. The entire cover letter cannot exceed the specified limits provided in the Cover Letter field (3,000 characters). Pages exceeding this limit will not be considered. THE COVER LETTER IS RECOMMENDED BUT IS NOT REQUIRED FOR EMPLOYMENT CONSIDERATION WITH THE NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL-INTELLIGENCE AGENCY.

APPLICANT EVALUATION PROCESS: Applicants will be evaluated for this job opportunity in three stages: 1) All applicants will be evaluated using the Mandatory Qualification Criteria, 2) Qualified applicants will then be evaluated by an expert or panel of experts using a combination of qualification criteria to determine the best-qualified candidates, 3) Best-qualified applicants may then be further evaluated through an interview process. Military retiree applicants, if selected, may be impacted by the 180-day appointment restrictions of DODI 1402.01. HD personnel will provide additional information if applicable. Applicants are encouraged to carefully review the Assignment Description, Additional Information Provided By the Selecting Official, and the Qualification Requirements; and then construct their resumes to highlight their most relevant and significant experience and education for this job opportunity. This description should include examples that detail the level and complexity of the performed work. Applicants are encouraged to provide any education information referenced in the announcement. If education is listed as a mandatory requirement, only degrees obtained from an institution accredited by an accrediting organization recognized by the Secretary, US Department of Education will be accepted. As a condition of employment at NGA, persons being considered for employment must meet NGA fitness for employment standards. In accordance with section 9902(h) of title 5, United States Code, annuitants reemployed in the Department of Defense shall receive full annuity and salary upon appointment. They shall not be eligible for retirement contributions, participation in the Thrift Savings Plan, or a supplemental or redetermined annuity for the reemployment period. Discontinued service retirement annuitants (i.e., retired under section 8336(d)(1) or 8414(b)(1)(A) of title 5, United States Code) appointed to the Department of Defense may elect to be subject to retirement provisions of the new appointment as appropriate. (See DoD Instruction 1400.25, Volume 300, at http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives.) All candidates will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, disability, or sexual orientation. NGA provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. Applications will only be accepted online. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify us at recruitment@nga.mil. The decision on granting reasonable accommodation will be on a case-by-case basis.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Sensitive Compartmented Information

Drug test required
Yes

Required Documents

None

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

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.