Duties

Summary

The Pathways Internship Program provides students enrolled in educational institutions with paid opportunities to work in federal agencies, gain valuable on-the-job experience, and explore careers while still in school. The program provides meaningful developmental work with the objective of preparing the student for placement into the agency's permanent workforce

This position is located in the DoD Office of Inspector General, Office of General Counsel.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

• As a Student Trainee (Legal), your typical work assignments may include the following:
• Assist in drafting and commenting on (1) proposed legislation/regulations, (2) congressional testimony, (3) litigation materials, and (4) legal opinions, as well as assist in the process of formulating OGC legal policy.
• This includes assisting with aspects of research projects and reports spanning several weeks' time that may include documenting findings and proposing preferred or alternative courses of action, to assignments of lesser scope but more
• immediate applicability to the ongoing work of the OGC/OIG such as background research on various topics; legal research and opinion writing; and gathering legislative histories and surveys of Congressional testimony on a particular topic.
• Draw upon basic legal knowledge of the subject at hand, uses basic research and analytical techniques, and employs verbal and writing skills as appropriate for each assignment.
• Assist in preparing briefing papers, position papers, replies to Congressional inquiries, and back-up information for issues anticipated in hearings on legislation.
• Perform research within OGC to obtain requisite information, or obtains such information and data from sources outside of OGC.

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
9

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service
• Suitability for Federal employment , determined by background investigation
• If you have not previously successfully completed a probationary period with the Federal Government in a similar position (i.e., Supervisory), you will be required to serve a two year probationary period.
• Incumbent is required to submit to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment and is subject to random drug testing for the duration of service with Department of Defense (DoD) OIG.
• The position is full time during the Summer of 2021, and upon successful completion, may be extended on a part-time basis for the 2021-22 school year (not to exceed Spring 2022), subject to available funding.
• Position has been designated as Noncritical Sensitive. Incumbent is required to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance.
• The incumbent must adhere to the DoD Standards of Conduct.

Qualifications

To be eligible for this program, applicants must:

(1) be enrolled or accepted for enrollment in a JD, LL.B, or LL.M at a qualifying educational institution on a full or half-time basis;

(2) have a minimum cumulative (overall) GPA of 3.0 out of 4.0; and

(3) be in good academic standing. Applicants must be U.S. citizens enrolled in an accredited law school with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, and remain enrolled during the term of the internship.

Students must have law review, law journal, or moot court experience or prior professional legal work experience, including internships/externships (paid or unpaid) at a law firm, government agency (federal, state, municipality), judicial entity, or legislative body.

Students must have basic legal research (e.g. Lexis-Nexis and/or Westlaw) and citation experience, as demonstrated in the submitted writing sample.

Students must have knowledge of basic legal principles/case precedents in fields such as contracts, criminal law, property, torts, civil and criminal procedure, and remedies.

Students must submit all application materials (cover letter, resume, transcript, and writing sample) with no obvious grammatical errors. Candidates must submit a writing sample that identifies a legal issue; states and cites the legal standard(s); identifies facts; and applies the legal standard to the facts.

Education

ARE YOU USING YOUR EDUCATION TO QUALIFY? You MUST provide transcripts or other documentation to support your educational claims. Unless otherwise stated: (1) official or unofficial transcripts are acceptable, or (2) you may submit a list with all of your courses, grades, semester, year, and credit for the course. All materials must be submitted by the closing date of the announcement.

PASS/FAIL COURSES: If more than 10 percent of your undergraduate course work (credit hours) were taken on a pass/fail basis, your claim of superior academic achievement must be based upon class standing or membership in an honor society.

GRADUATE EDUCATION: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis. If you cannot obtain your graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study.

FOREIGN 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

As a Legal Intern, you will execute a wide variety of assignments involving substantial opportunities to enhance research and legal writing skills, as well as learn about the professional role/duties of an attorney within a Federal Government agency, while working in close association with members of OGC. These opportunities will include performing assignments with each of the subject matter areas within OGC; i.e, (1) Audit/Audit Policy, (2) Criminal Law/Criminal Policy. (3) Fiscal Law, (4) Administrative Investigations, (5) Internal Investigations, (6) Evaluations, (7) Personnel, (8) Ethics.

If you are rated amongst the best qualified group of candidates, your personal, educational, and work experience, will be evaluated against your responses to the questionnaire. You will be assessed to the extent to which you possess the competencies listed in the "Qualifications" section above and ultimately placed into one of three quality category levels: Best Qualified, Highly Qualified, and Qualified. Applicants will receive further consideration in accordance with category rating procedures.

Best-Qualified: This highest category will be used for those candidates who possess the type and quality of experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position, including all selective placement factors and appropriate quality ranking factor(s), as determined by the job analysis.

Highly-Qualified: This higher category will be used for those candidates who possess the type and quality of experience that exceed the minimum qualifications of the position, as determined by the job analysis.

Qualified: This lowest category will be used for those candidates that meet the minimum qualifications of the position and are proficient in some, but not all, of the requirements of the position. Candidates may require extensive training and/or orientation in order to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position.

Military retirees seeking to enter civil service in the Department of Defense now require a waiver if they are within 180 days following their official date of retirement (5 United States Code 3326.)

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 résumé and supporting documentation will be used to determine if you meet the qualifications listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified, your résumé 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.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics):

• Analysis
• Computer Skills
• Researching
• Written Communication

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Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Secret

Drug test required
Yes

Position sensitivity and risk
Noncritical-Sensitive (NCS)/Moderate Risk

Trust determination process
National security

Required Documents

You must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• Resume showing relevant experience and education (cover letter optional). Resume should include the following: where you worked, job title, duties and accomplishments, employer's name and address, supervisor's name and phone number, starting and end dates (Mo/Yr), hours per week, salary, graduation date, to include both month and year;
• Unofficial transcript. You must submit a letter from the registrar confirming your continued enrollment and/or a list of currently registered classes printed from your universities online system to prove current enrollment. Applicants who fail to provide transcripts and degree completion dates in their resume will be marked as insufficient and will not receive consideration for this position. If selected, an official transcript will be required prior to your entrance on duty;
• Completed Assessment Questionnaire;
• Writing Sample of reasonable length (not more than ten pages) to demonstrate research, analytical and writing skills. Writing Sample must be a legal writing sample that reflects your work.
• Cover Letter
• To claim veterans' preference, submit a DD-214 indicating the most recent dates of service, character of service and type of discharge. To claim 10% or more disability, submit a VA certification letter in addition to a DD-214 (If selected, a completed and signed SF-15 will be required prior to your entrance on duty). Future military retirees can submit a "Statement of Service" only if retirement DD 214 or proof of transitional leave is not yet available. The "Statement of Service" must be signed by, or by direction of, the adjutant, personnel officer, or commander of your unit or higher headquarters and must indicate when your terminal leave will begin, your rank, dates of active duty service, the type of discharge and character of service (i.e. honorable). (IF APPLICABLE)

Other Supporting Documents.

• If you are requesting a reasonable accommodation to the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, submit documentation to support your request, including the Reasonable Accommodation Request Form found here .
• Pathway Agreement: Incumbents must complete a Pathway Participants Agreement upon appointment.

WARNING: Failure to submit a complete application package including any required documentation by 11:59 PM (EST)
01/25/2021, or at the time of application for announcements with an extended closing date, may result in an ineligible rating and loss of consideration. To verify that your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, select Application Status and More Information. The Details page will display the status of your application. It is the applicant's responsibility to verify that information entered, uploaded, or faxed is received, legible and accurate. HR will not modify answers submitted by an applicant.

Submission of a resume alone is NOT a complete application. This position may require the completion of additional form/s and/or supplemental materials. Failure to provide the required information and/or materials will result in your application not being considered for employment. All documentation must be received by the closing date of this announcement.

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.