Duties

Summary

The U.S. International Trade Commission is a great place to work, and we aren't the only ones who think so. We were rated #1 in the 2019 Partnership for Public Service's Best Places to Work Index for small agencies and received the highest employee satisfaction score across the Federal Government. Our Office of Operations was ranked the #3 Best Place to Work among 420 agency subcomponents of any size.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

Individuals who previously applied to Announcement EX-20-026-RJ need not reapply to this announcement. Prior applications will be considered.

This position is located in the Office of the General Counsel. The incumbent serves as an Attorney Advisor within the Administrative Law practice group.

As an Attorney-Advisor for Administrative Law, you will provide oral and written legal advice and legal-sufficiency reviews for the Chair, the Commissioners, the Chief of Staff, all agency-wide management committees, individual senior managers, supervisors, and other Commission staff on a wide variety of administrative-law matters that are generally applicable to Executive Branch agencies, including interpretation and application of statutes, executive orders, regulations, guidance, and precedent in the following areas: federal procurement/government contracts; federal appropriations law; the budget-formulation process and procedures; fiscal law; federal information law, including the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Privacy Act, the Government in the Sunshine Act, and the Paperwork Reduction Act; rulemaking; external reporting requirements; federal civilian personnel law (e.g., Office of Personnel Management regulations, employment law, federal-sector labor relations); and administrative litigation before Federal courts or administrative agencies, such as the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Merit System Protection Board (MSPB), or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

In addition to the administrative-law areas described in the paragraph above, you will be responsible for: the development or legal-sufficiency review of agency internal rules (e.g., policy directives, handbooks, forms); identification of agency interests, legal risks and liabilities, and other issues relevant to advice requests; the provision of sound and thorough legal research; and the ability to timely and effectively respond to complex legal questions in a clear and concise manner.

You may be asked to provide advice on the Commission's organic statute as it relates to the Commission's structure, the Chairman's or Vice Chairman's authority, the Commissioners' terms of office, and other related administrative matters.

You may also be asked to advise on procedural aspects of new, existing, or revised programmatic statutes that the Commission administers (e.g., the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act).

You may be called upon to represent the Commission in Federal district or appellate courts, and in administrative hearings before agencies such as the GAO, the MSPB, and the EEOC.

You must be able to identify and assess the impact of new government-wide mandates or quickly evolving situations, such as COVID-19 or lapses in appropriations, and adjust work priorities to timely address them.

You will be expected to possess broad legal experience related to the administration of federal Executive Branch agencies; excellent oral and written communication skills, including adherence to plain-language principles; and well-developed interpersonal skills that will enable you to develop collaborative client relationships.

You will work under the supervision of the Assistant General Counsel for Administrative Law.

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
15

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• U.S. citizenship required
• Ability to obtain and maintain a background investigation
• You are required to serve a two-year trial period.
• Graduation from an American Bar Association-accredited law school
• You will be required to submit proof of your active Bar membership (e.g., Bar card, certificate of good standing, attorney-directory listing, signed certification by the applicant).
• You may be required to submit a Financial Disclosure Statement.

Qualifications

In addition to the specialized experience and educational requirements above, applicants must currently be a member in good standing of the Bar of a state or territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

You will be required to submit proof of your Bar membership as part of your application package to show that you meet this requirement. Any offer is contingent on receipt of a letter or certificate of good standing for each bar of which the applicant is an active member dated within 30 days of any offer.

Applicants must meet all of the qualification requirements, including education and any selective placement factors described below by the closing date of this announcement. Education may only be substituted in accordance with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook. Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order to be credited towards qualifications. Applicants must have the general and specialized experience outlined below that provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position.

To qualify at the GS-13 level, applicants must have at least three years of experience that have provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of the position. This experience must consist of the following: one year of general experience, which is defined as professional legal experience of a broad, general nature, not requiring specialization or expertise in a specific area or type of law AND two years of specialized experience which is defined as professional legal experience in areas such as: federal procurement/government contracts; federal appropriations law; the federal-agency budget-formulation process and procedures; fiscal law; federal information law (including the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Privacy Act, the Government in the Sunshine Act, and the Paperwork Reduction Act); rulemaking; external reporting requirements; federal civilian personnel law (e.g., Office of Personnel Management regulations, employment law, federal-sector labor relations); and Federal administrative litigation.

To qualify at the GS-14 level, applicants must have at least four years of experience that have provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of the position. This experience must consist of the following: one year of general experience, which is defined as professional legal experience of a broad, general nature, not requiring specialization or expertise in a specific area or type of law AND three years of specialized experience which is defined as professional legal experience in areas such as: federal procurement/government contracts; federal appropriations law; the federal-agency budget-formulation process and procedures; fiscal law; federal information law (including the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Privacy Act, the Government in the Sunshine Act, and the Paperwork Reduction Act); rulemaking; external reporting requirements; federal civilian personnel law (e.g., Office of Personnel Management regulations, employment law, federal-sector labor relations); and Federal administrative litigation.

To qualify at the GS-15 level, applicants must have at least five years of experience that have provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of the position. This experience must consist of the following: one year of general experience, which is defined as professional legal experience of a broad, general nature, not requiring specialization or expertise in a specific area or type of law AND four years of specialized experience which is defined as professional legal experience in areas such as: federal procurement/government contracts; federal appropriations law; the federal-agency budget-formulation process and procedures; fiscal law; federal information law (including the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Privacy Act, the Government in the Sunshine Act, and the Paperwork Reduction Act); rulemaking; external reporting requirements; federal civilian personnel law (e.g., Office of Personnel Management regulations, employment law, federal-sector labor relations); and Federal administrative litigation.

Preferred Qualifications :

• Experience providing legal advice to Executive Branch officials on a variety of legal matters of general applicability to agencies.
• Expertise in all aspects of procurement and government contracting, to include experience drafting briefs in a federal-contract bid protests and engaging in all other aspects of a bid protest.
• Experience providing advice to other attorneys.
• Experience conducting legal-sufficiency reviews and risk-assessments of proposed agency actions.
• Demonstrated understanding of and adherence to plain-language principles in written communications.

Education

Education Requirement:
All applicants must possess a first professional law degree: J.D. or LL.B from an American Bar Association Law School, or equivalent training. Equivalent training is training permitted in some states in lieu of attendance at a law school. To be acceptable, this training must be of the kind and nature required by the state in which the bar exam is taken. A copy of your transcript(s) is required to show proof that you meet this requirement. Please see the Required Documents section of the announcement for more specific information.

Submit a copy of your transcript(s) or list of courses with credit hours, major(s) and grade-point average or class ranking. Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. Click on the link for a list of accredited organizations recognized as specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials: http://www.naces.org/members.htm.

Additional information

1. If you are a male applicant who was born after December 31, 1959, you are required to certify that you are registered with the Selective Service or are exempt under Selective Service regulations. For additional information concerning Selective Service requirements, please visit www.sss.gov.

2. Time period to meet qualifications: All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

3. Verification of information: Any information claimed on your resume and in application materials, such as education, credentials and employment history will be verified as part of the security clearance process.

4. Excepted service appointments: This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer rights to permanent Civil Service status.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:

LEGAL KNOWLEDGE

LEGAL ANALYSIS AND REVIEW

ORAL AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

We will evaluate your relevant education and/or work experience as they relate to the competencies, knowledge, skills and abilities mentioned above. If you rate yourself higher than is supported by your application materials, your responses may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this job. Based on the results of this evaluation, you will be placed in one of the following categories:

Best: Placement in this category indicates that you have the type and quality of experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position, including any selective placement factors or appropriate quality ranking factor(s).

Better: Placement in this category indicates that you have the type and quality of experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position.

Good: Placement in this category indicates that you meet the minimum qualifications of the position and are proficient in some, but not all, of the requirements of the position. You may require extensive training or orientation in order to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position.

Candidates in the Best category will be the first ones sent to the hiring manager for interview consideration.

Candidates who clear the first round of interviews may be required to do a writing/analytical exercise. For example, the candidate may be provided a fact pattern, legal question, and applicable law, and then asked to write up an advice recommendation.

Your resume and supporting documentation should contain sufficient information for us to make a valid determination that you fully meet the qualification requirements for this vacancy. We do not make inferences and can only consider the information that you provide to us. Insufficient resumes and application packages will result in loss of consideration.

Your experience and education is also evaluated using an assessment questionnaire, which is available at the following link: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11006097

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Secret

Drug test required
No

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

Trust determination process
Suitability/Fitness

Required Documents

1. Resume: Your resume may be in any written format you choose. To be sufficient, it should contain the required information as specified in the How You Will Be Evaluated section. Insufficient resumes, or resumes that contain inappropriate information, such as privacy information or photographs, will result in an ineligible rating.

2. Self-Assessment Questionnaire: You must submit a completed job-specific self-assessment questionnaire through your Application Manager account.

3. Proof of Bar Membership: You must provide documentation that you are a member of the Bar of a state, territory or commonwealth of the United States or the District of Columbia. If you are made an offer, you must submit a Certificate of Good Standing dated within 30 days of the offer.

4. Transcripts: You must submit a copy of your transcript(s), as specified under the Education section of this announcement. Unofficial transcripts are sufficient for application purposes, provided they show your classes, grades, dates of attendance and award of any degree. If selected, an official/sealed college transcript(s) will be required to verify education prior to employment.

5. Writing Sample: You must submit a legal writing sample that is at least 3, and no more than 10, pages in length. Excerpts of larger documents are acceptable. Samples that have not been edited by others are preferred. You must indicate whether the sample(s) is unedited or the degree to which it has been edited by others. You must also make appropriate redactions.

6. SF-50: If you are a current or former federal employee, you must submit a copy of an SF-50, "Notification of Personnel Action," which documents your highest permanent grade/step/salary held.

7. Performance Appraisal: If you are a current or former federal employee, you must submit a copy of your most recent performance appraisal dated within 18 months. If you do not have one, you must submit an explanatory statement.

8. Veterans' Preference: There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney positions, which are in the excepted service; however, the Commission considers veterans' preference eligibility a positive factor in the hiring of all positions. Applicants eligible for veterans' preference must include such information in their cover letter, or resume, and submit supporting documents (e.g. DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active duty) as part of their application package. Although the point preference system is not used as in the competitive service, applicants eligible to claim a 10-point preference must submit a Standard Form 15 (SF-15), and documentation required for the specific type of preference claimed, as listed on the SF-15. Specific information is available on the Office of Personnel Management website at: http://www.opm.gov.

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.