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Attorney-Advisor

Employer
USAJobs
Location
Washington, D.C
Closing date
Oct 15, 2019
Duties

Summary

This position is located in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Office of Chief Counsel, Adjudications Division (MC-CCA). The position is located in FMCSA's Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Adjudications Division is responsible for providing legal advice and counsel to the Assistant Administrator in enforcement matters.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

As an Attorney-Advisor at the full performance level, you will:
  • Render legal advice and counsel to the Assistant Administrator regarding motor carrier enforcement proceedings, petitions for review of safety ratings, reviews of denials of hazardous materials safety permits, driver disqualification proceedings, and petitions for review of operations out-of-service and record consolidation orders.
  • Analyze legal arguments and evidence submitted and draft legal decisions for signature by the Assistant Administrator relating to motor carrier enforcement actions under 49 CFR part 386; safety fitness determinations under 49 CFR part 385, hazardous materials safety permit proceedings under 49 CFR part 385; driver disqualification proceedings under 49 CFR part 386; and operations out-of-service and record consolidation orders under 49 CFR part 386.
  • Ensure that all proposed decisions are legally supportable and consistent with Agency precedent.
  • Provide summaries and analysis of recommended disposition to Assistant Chief Counsel, Chief Counsel, and Assistant Administrator as directed.
  • Formulate, draft, recommend, and establish legal and policy justifications to support legal decisions.
  • Ensure that all pleadings are properly filed in FMCSA's docket management system and assist with the management of FMCSA's docket management system as requested.
  • Respond to requests for information regarding matters pending before the Assistant Administrator.

The ideal candidate for this position has served as an appellate or trial judicial law clerk, has a background in criminal or civil litigation, demonstrates initiative and an independent work ethic, and has a background in transportation or other administrative law specialty. Experience in civil enforcement proceedings is a plus.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - Some travel is required.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
14

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • You must be a U.S.Citizen and eligible for consideration.
  • Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.
  • This is an Excepted Service position.


CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:
  • SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered for Selective Service.
  • TRIAL PERIOD: This is an Excepted Service position. This job will be filled by an alternative hiring process and is not in the competitive service. Applicants selected for an excepted service position may be subject to a two-year trial period.
  • ETHICS/CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT: All employees are subject to the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, set out in Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 2635, including restrictions on owning financial interests that may conflict with performance of their duties. Some employees, like those involved in contracting or regulating non-Federal entities, are subject to Executive Branch Financial Disclosure requirements set out in Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 263.
  • FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE FORM: This position requires completion of OGE-450, Financial Disclosure Form.


Qualifications

To qualify, your experience should include experience and education equal or equivalent to the following:

GRADE 12 - A law degree (LL.B. or J.D.), be in good standing of a bar and at least 1 year of relevant professional attorney experience.

GRADE 13 - A law degree, bar membership in good standing and at least 2 years of relevant professional attorney experience.

GRADE 14 - A law degree, bar membership in good standing and at least 3 years of relevant professional attorney experience.

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.

For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4

Students enrolled in a qualifying degree program can apply if the anticipated graduation date is within six months of closing date of the announcement. Graduation transcript must be received before start date.

Other applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

MANDATORY EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS:

In order to qualify for this position, candidates must have successfully completed a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have a professional law degree, and must currently be a member in good standing of the bar of a State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia. For new graduates, admission to the bar is required within 14 months after graduation from an accredited law school.

Additional information

TELEWORK: Managers may exercise discretion to allow a limited amount of regular or task-based telework for this position.

EEO STATEMENT: The Department of Transportation (DOT) maintains a model federal work environment that is free of discrimination. DOT ensures equal employment opportunity for employees and applicants for employment, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), genetic information, age, disability, sexual orientation, or protected activity.

This vacancy may be used by any DOT agency to fill similar positions within 90 days.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume/ application does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level

For this announcement, all applicants will be reviewed to determine if they meet the basic qualifications for this position, specifically the educational and specialized experience requirements.

Applicants will not be rated or ranked.

All applications that are verified to meet the basic qualifications will be referred to the selecting official.

The answers you select in the on-line process must be substantiated in your application package. If upon review, it is determined that your described work history, competencies, and/or supporting documents do not support your answer choices, you may not be referred to the selecting official. Please ensure that your work history provides enough details to support your answers.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

ALL Applicants must provide a resume that fully supports the required specialized experience and was created within USA Jobs Resume Builder and respond to the vacancy questions by the closing date of the vacancy.

The following is a list of documents that are only required based on the type of position and consideration for which you are applying. Please review each of the following sections to determine which, if any, additional documents you need to provide with your application.

RESUME - Needs to be created within USA Jobs Resume Builder. It must show relevant experience, education and fully support the required specialized experience.

COMPLETED QUESTIONNAIRE.

PROOF OF BAR MEMBERSHIP.

TRANSCRIPTS - Transcripts are REQUIRED as there is a stated education requirement for the series. The transcripts need not be official, but must show that you meet the stated education requirements, including specific major or class requirements.
  • If you have previously held a government position in the same series as this position, you may be able to provide an SF-50 showing that you have already qualified and worked in the federal service in this series.

WRITING SAMPLE: A writing sample will be required during the interview process.

VETERANS: Your last DD214, Certificate of Release or Discharge From Active Duty, that shows the type of discharge and all dates of active duty is required to verify your eligibility. It need not be official.
  • If you are applying to a vacancy opened to all US Citizens under category rating and wish to be considered as a preference eligible, you need to submit a copy of your DD214.
  • If you are claiming preference eligibility as a disabled veteran, you must submit proof of entitlement of this preference which is normally a valid letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs certifying to the present existence of the service-connected disability and indicating the percentage of your disability. An SF-15 is desired, but not required.
  • If you are applying to a vacancy opened Status and you are requesting consideration under Veteran's Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) ( https://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/shav/#veoa ), you need to provide a copy of your last DD214, which verifies your military service dates, reason for separation, OR certification of separation that shows a discharge date within 120 days of the closing of this announcement, and eligibility for consideration under the Veterans Employment Opportunity Act.

STATUS APPLICANTS: If seeking eligibility consideration as status/agency/DOT employee, you must provide proof of eligibility in the form of an SF-50. Your SF-50 must verify the highest grade held competitively, full performance level of position, and eligibility as a status applicant. Please do not submit an Award SF-50, as these are often incomplete and do not verify grade or status eligibility.

NON COMPETITIVE APPLICANTS: If requesting concurrent consideration for Non-competitive (NC) appointment eligibility, you must provide the appropriate SPECIAL APPOINTING AUTHORITY DOCUMENTS, such as PCS orders (military spouse) describing move & marriage certificate; letter from VA or DD214 describing 100% disability of spouse; letter from State Vocational Office certifying disability (schedule A), etc. For more information, visit military spouse NC appointments or Persons with Disabilities NC appointments.

DISPLACED EMPLOYEES: If requesting consideration under the Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or Interagency CTAP program (ICTAP), you must meet the well qualified standards for this vacancy (meeting minimum requirements for position and scoring at least an 85 or falling in the Gold Category) and provide all of the following documents:
  • your most recent performance appraisal,
  • the proof of eligibility letter from the Agency, and
  • your most current SF-50, displaying current series and grade.

Failure to submit any of the required documents by the closing date of the vacancy will result in your removal from consideration for this position. Please review your application prior to final submission and ensure you have submitted all appropriate documents. Uploading documents to USAJobs does NOT ensure inclusion with your application to our system. You must verify that the documents are in the system with your application prior to final submission.

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.

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