Duties

Summary

THIS IS A NATIONAL GUARD TITLE 32 EXCEPTED SERVICE POSITION.

This is an indefinite position.

This National Guard position is for a ATTORNEY-ADVISOR (GENERAL), Position Description Number D0291P01 and is part of the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, JFHQ, Maryland National Guard.

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Responsibilities

As an Attorney-Advisor (General), GS-0905-12, you are responsible for the effective management and accomplishment of the day to day legal workload necessary to provide legal services and support to the Adjutant General, staff elements of both the Army and Air National Guard and subordinate units, as well as the United States Property and Fiscal Officer for the State and his staff. Provides professional legal advice and opinions, both written and oral, on issues arising from federal laws and regulations or concerning the federal mission of the National Guard. Serves as litigation point of contact for the State. Prepares litigation reports, briefs, pleadings and other papers associated with civil litigation involving the National Guard. Upon designation by the U.S. Department of Justice, or, in appropriate cases, when designated by the Office of Legal Adviser, National Guard Bureau, may appear as counsel for the National Guard or National Guard officials or employees in civil litigation. Acts as the State Adjutant General's representative in third-party proceedings under the Federal Labor-Management Relations Statute. Reviews technician collective bargaining agreements for legal sufficiency. Upon designation by the State Adjutant General, may participate in collective bargaining as a member of the management negotiating team. Serves as claims officer for the State. Prepares claims reports for the processing of claims by the appropriate claims office. Upon designation by the State Adjutant General, participates as Staff Judge Advocate to the Convening Authority in State National Guard courts-martial and as legal adviser or counsel in administrative board proceedings. Reviews Reports of Survey, Line of Duty determinations and similar administrative proceedings for legal sufficiency. Reviews contracts, procurement actions and real property matters involving federal funds for legal sufficiency. Upon designation by the State Adjutant General, participates in negotiations involving contracts, acquisitions, and real property matters. Drafts contracts, agreements and real property documents. Prepares and presents legal training for judge advocates and for other personnel as required.

Acts as legal assistance officer for members of the National Guard of the State by providing the following:
i. Domestic relations. Advises on legal and practical meaning and effects of divorce, legal separations, annulment, custody. Refers to appropriate agencies as necessary.
ii. Wills and estates. Provides legal advice and counseling on wills and estates. Drafts and executes wills and codicils. Advises on estate planning to include minor tax considerations and non-trusts under applicable state statues, or refers to private attorneys as necessary.
iii. Nonsupport and indebtedness. Advises and counsels on effect and procedures, to include garnishment rules, repossession procedures, default judgments, adverse personnel actions. Refers to appropriate agencies as necessary.
iv. Landlord-Tenant relations and customer affairs. Advises and counsels on tenant's rights; eviction procedures; the legal effect and meaning of leases, offers to purchase, sales contracts and customer's rights in dealing with merchants and lenders; credit reporting agencies; etc. Prepares correspondence and legal instruments. Provides advice on rights accorded by Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act and other statutory provisions.
v. General. Prepares complex powers of attorney and other instruments, advises on immigration/naturalization procedures, insurance matters, general contracts, personal property law. Provides for client referrals to private attorneys as appropriate.

Coordinates activities with part-time judge advocates to insure effective utilization of part-time JAG officers. Performs other professional legal and military duties as required.

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
12

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

-NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERSHIP IS REQUIRED. If you are not sure you are eligible for military membership, please contact a National Guard recruiter prior to applying for this position.
-This is an excepted service position that requires membership in a compatible military assignment in the employing state's National Guard, required prior to the effective date of placement.
-Selectee will be required to wear the military uniform.
-Acceptance of an excepted service position constitutes concurrence with these requirements as a condition of employment.
-Males born after 31 December 1959 must be registered for Selective Service.
-Federal employment suitability as determined by a background investigation.
-May be required to successfully complete a probationary period.
-Participation in direct deposit is mandatory.

This is a Financial Management Level Certified position IAW the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2012, Public Law 112-81, subtitle F-financial management, Section 1599d. Incumbent shall comply with the requirements of this certification program.

As an Officer in the Army National Guard JAG Corps, must have completed the 14-week Judge Advocate General Basic Course.

This is an indefinite position. Indefinite employment does not confer permanent tenure and is covered under tenure group 3. Indefinite technicians serve at the will of the appointing officer and may be separated any time, after a 30 day written memorandum is issued by the HRO.

Qualifications

Military Grades: Officer

GENERAL EXPERIENCE : All series personnel must be competent at the next higher level before being eligible for that level. An applicant must have a validated understanding of the basic principles and concepts of the occupational series and grade.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE : Defined as specified experiences that prepared the applicant to successfully perform the Judge Advocate duties and responsibilities, with the required competency level, as defined by the applicable position description. Each applicant must have the education and validated understanding of the basic principles and concepts of the occupational series and grade for dual status technician appointment to the GS-0905 Attorney-Adviser program positions.

Must have at least 12 months work experiences as a professional Attorney Advisor. Knowledgeable of the Army National Guard and Air National Guard mission requirements. Competent in providing legal interpretation and guidance to managers and senior leaders on United States Code Title 32 § 709, National Guard Program. Able to recognize and identify complex constitutional, state-federal, and military-civilian jurisidictional issues frequently associated with the organization and administration of theTitle 32 National Guard, and articulate them in the appropriate forum or context. Competent in providing legal interpretation and guidance to managers and senior leaders on 10 United States Code, and the state equivalent to the federal Uniform Code of Military Justice. Experienced in conducting legal research in connection with cases pending administrative hearings, trials before courts of original jurisdiction, or arguments in appellate courts. Experienced in addressing legal questions referred by administrative officials of the employing agency, such as questions concerning the interpretation and application of statutes, rules, and regulations as they pertain to contracts, claims, or other legal instruments involving private business, state, local, national, or foreign governments. Experienced in addressing questions regarding the effects of provisions of proposed legislation or proposed changes in agency policies or regulations. Experienced in researching and providing legal advice in all functional areas of Administrative, Labor, Medical and Physical Disability, and Ethics Law. Additionally, capable of providing legal assistance in accordance with prescribed instructions and within legal guidelines. Experienced in planning, coordinating, and formulating litigation strategies. Experienced in addressing complex and difficult legal questions and factual issues requiring extensive research, analysis and evaluation of available precedents. Experienced in dealing with issues in the functional areas and demonstrated abilities to quickly identify both the legal and judgmental issues. As a subject matter expert, experienced in determining the facts and recommending effective solutions with minimal guidance or supervision. Experienced in developing and providing solutions to conflicting or contradictory DoD regulations, directives, and policies, and other NGB or state legal guidance. Experienced in addressing and resolving complex and difficult legal case problems, legal questions, or issues involved in the drafting of interpretation or application of legislation, regulations, contracts, decisions, or opinions requiring a solution. Experienced in preparing memoranda of reports that outlined and analyzed the factual and legal issues. Experiences involved preparing legal documents or advisory opinions, participated in contract negations, and examined documents for legal sufficiency. Skilled as a legal litigator and experienced in preparing litigation reports, briefs, pleadings, and other papers associated with civil litigations. Experienced in addressing Federal LaborManagement relations and skilled as a participating collective bargaining member of the management negotiating team. Skilled as the subject-matter expert in the complex and constantly evolving area of Medical and Physical Disability and Domestics Operations Law; conducted legal research, investigation and negotiation, and provided legal advice, opinions, recommendations and legal memoranda. Experienced in reviewing programs that requires analysis of interrelated issues of effectiveness, efficiency, productivity, and developing recommendations to resolve issues and problems. Competent in developing recommendations for overall detailed plans, goals, and objectives for implementation and evaluation of the legal program. Experienced in addressing issues, problems or concepts and skilled in observations and analysis projections. Experiences may have included addressing difficult and sensitive issues based on variations in the nature of the processes evaluated, the diverse missions of the units assigned, and resource limitations. Experienced in compiling, reconciling, and correlating data from a various sources, separate service programs, and integral record systems. Experienced in researching, crosschecking information, and interpreting data to obtain accurate and relevant information. Experienced and skilled in collecting information, documenting data to substantiate and validate findings, facts, or violations of government policies, procedures, and instructions. Skilled in negotiating with those who resist responding or cooperating, due to such issues as organizational conflict, competing objectives, or limited resources. Skilled in influencing managers or other staff officials to accept and implement findings or recommendations. Competent to meet with senior military and civilian leadership, high-ranking managers to include Adjutants General, commanders, other staff judge advocates, or other external agencies such as, representatives of the local community and private support organizations, state and local government authorities, or attorneys on an ad-hoc basis.

Quality of Experience: Qualifications are not based solely on time. Qualification factors include experiences in previous Series GS0905, Attorney-Advisor, program positions. A candidate's competencies are evaluated on the basis of duties performed rather than strictly on the rank of the individual; however, established compatibility criteria, awarding requirements for military skills, and military skill training schools are always followed. The applicant's total military service experiences, military and civilian performance records, resume, training certificates, and educational accomplishments must show possession of the competencies needed to fully perform GS-0905 work. The applicant's record of experience, training, and education must show possession of the competencies needed to fully perform the duties of the applicable position description's duties and responsibilities. The applicant must qualify for awarding of the established compatibility criteria that includes the military skill assignment, military rank, and military unit of assignment. The applicant's experience levels, training background, and education must demonstrate a comprehensive competency needed to perform the dual status Series GS-0905 position at its designated grade-level.

Other Qualification Requirements: As an Officer in the Army National Guard JAG Corps, must have completed the 14-week Judge Advocate General Basic Course.

Education

For entry into the Army National Guard JAG Corps/ Attorney-Adviser, it is mandatory to have a Bachelor of Laws or Juris Doctor degree in law issued by an an ABA- accredited law school; and, must be admitted to practice law in the highest court of any U.S. state, commonwealth, territory or the District of Columbia.

You must provide transcripts or other documentation to support your Educational claims. To receive credit for Education, you must provide documentation of proof that you meet the Education requirements for this position.

Additional information

If you are a male applicant who was born after 12/31/1959 and are required to register under the Military Selective Service Act, the Defense Authorization Act of 1986 requires that you be registered or you are not eligible for appointment in this agency ( https://www.sss.gov/RegVer/wfRegistration.aspx ).

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application .

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Once the announcement has closed, your resume and supporting documentation will be used to determine if you meet the qualifications listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified, your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses on the assessment questionnaire to determine your level of experience. If you rate yourself higher than is supported by your application package, your responses may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this position. If you are found to be among the top qualified candidates, you will be referred to the selecting official for employment consideration.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Secret

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

To apply for this position, you must submit a complete Application Package which includes:

1. Your resume showing work schedule, hours worked per week, dates (including Month and Year, e.g., 02/2017, Feb 2017, etc.) of employment and duties performed.

2. Other supporting documents: Transcripts supporting educational claims.

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.