Duties

Summary

The Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, is looking for enthusiastic individuals to join the General Legal Services (GLS) team and gain valuable experience specializing in labor and employment law.

We are hiring for our Atlanta (Area Counsel office) and our Washington, DC (Ethics and General Government Law Branch).

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

The mission of the Office of Chief Counsel, General Legal Services, is to serve our clients and customers by providing the highest quality legal advice and representation with integrity and professionalism, supporting the missions of the IRS and the Office of Chief Counsel. Because of its tax-related mission, the Office of Chief Counsel requires fingerprinting, tax verification, and a background investigation as part of the pre-employment process.

GLS Area Counsel Offices provide legal advice and represent the IRS and Office of Chief Counsel in litigation on various federal labor and employment issues involving personnel, discrimination (EEOC), and labor-management relations before fora such as the Merit Systems Protection Board, Federal Labor Relations Authority, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and in arbitration. They provide litigation support to the Department of Justice with respect to these labor and personnel issues, Bivens suits, and other miscellaneous non-tax suits filed in their geographic area.

The Ethics and General Government Law Branch provides legal support to the Office of the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service and to the Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, performing assignments which include: Providing ethics advisory opinions and advice; providing other legal services related to the administration of the Ethics in Government Act, including ethics training and briefings, and reviewing financial disclosure reports of Service and Chief Counsel employees who are required to file such reports; providing advisory opinions to agency officials on non-tax laws, regulations, and decisions governing the management of federal agencies with respect to matters such as appropriations and fiscal law, delegations of authority, records and property management, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, intellectual property, and a wide range of other general government issues.

The Office of Associate Chief Counsel, General Legal Services employs approximately 65 attorneys nationwide in 6 Area Counsel Offices and 3 Program Branches in the D.C. National Office.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - Limited travel may be required.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
14

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Please refer to conditions of employment.
• Print preview to review the entire announcement before applying.

Your application includes your resume, transcript, writing sample, responses to the online questions, and required supporting documents (if applicable). If you are using your GPA to qualify, you must include supporting documentation that confirms your GPA (for example, a transcript). If you are using your class ranking to qualify, you must include supporting documentation that confirms your class rank (for example, a document from your school showing your class rank, transcript, etc).

Please be sure that your package includes any necessary documentation to support your qualifications for this position, as failure to provide sufficient evidence in your resume may result in a "not qualified" determination.

Only applicants who are attending law school or have attended law school are eligible to apply for this position. If you do not meet this criteria, your application will not be accepted.

Qualifications

Eligibility is limited to candidates who graduate from law school between Oct. 1, 2021 and Sept. 30, 2022 ("graduation date requirement") and recent graduates who began participating in eligibility preserving activities within 9 months of graduation. Eligibility preserving activities are full-time activities starting after graduation that preserve eligibility for the Program. They include judicial clerkships, relevant graduate programs, or qualifying legal fellowships. To qualify, fellowships must have a formal sponsor (e.g., a non-profit, bar association, corporation, school), an established legal mission, a fixed duration, and be publicly advertised as a fellowship at the time the candidate applied. Fellowships that require fellows to seek other employment and terminate upon permanent legal employment do not qualify. Gaps between eligibility preserving activities cannot exceed 120 days. Participation must be active through at least Dec. 1 of the application year. Graduates who received their J.D. prior to Oct. 1, 2018 ("eligibility cut-off date") are ineligible.

If you are not a licensed attorney when you join the Program, you will be hired as a Law Clerk. Upon admission to the bar, and satisfactory interim employment, you will be eligible for conversion to an Attorney position. You must be admitted to practice law within 14 months of your appointment.

The Office of Chief Counsel, General Legal Services is currently teleworking with the option to report to the workplace, as needed, and with prior approval. If you are offered an attorney position, you must move to either the Atlanta, GA or the Washington, DC commuting area prior to starting this position.

Required Qualifications:

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement:

Class Rank Requirement:

J.D.s: Top 25% class rank or minimum GPA of 3.35 is required (if the school does not provide class rank or GPA at the time a selection is made, a minimum LSAT of 160 is required), or

LL.M's (including those in combined J.D./LL.M. programs) who have completed any LL.M. coursework: must satisfy the J.D. class rank requirement above or have a minimum GPA of 3.25 in the LL.M. program (if the LL.M. program does not provide GPA or rank, a minimum LSAT of 160 is required);

Must attend an ABA accredited law school; and

Must be a U.S. citizen.

Attributes of an Ideal Candidate:

• Special high-level recognition for academic excellence in law school, such as selection to Order of the Coif or receipt of the American Jurisprudence Award in related courses; or top grades in classes related to the position to be filled;
• Evidence of background or experience in the position to be filled, such as taking relevant law school classes, participation in law school clinics and/or internship or work experience related to subject matter areas relevant to the position to be filled;
• Work or achievement in the law school's law review or other recognized law journal;
• Winning a moot court or mock trial competition or membership on a moot court or mock trial team.

Education

You must have graduated with a J.D. or a LL.M. from an ABA-accredited law school before you begin the Honors Program position.

Visit our Careers Website at https://www.jobs.irs.gov/counsel

Additional information

• We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies. Positions may be filled in one or more of the cities indicated in the announcement.
• Relocation expenses are not authorized.
• A one-year trial period is required.
• Need to execute an employment tenure commitment, generally for a 3 year period.
• Must successfully complete a background investigation.
• Complete a Declaration for Federal Employment to determine your suitability for Federal employment, at the time requested by the agency.
• If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, please certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so.
• Have your salary sent to a financial institution of your choice by Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer.
• Go through a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) process that requires two forms of identification from the Form I-9 . Federal law requires verification of the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires in the U.S.
• Obtain and use a Government-issued charge card for business-related travel.
• Undergo an income tax verification.
• The employment of any candidate, including a current employee or a new hire, selected for this position may be conditional upon classification and/or audit of federal tax returns. This audit may include up to two years of returns.
• This is a non-bargaining unit position.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Rating: Your application will be evaluated using the requirements in the qualifications section.

Referral: Veterans' preference is applied after applicants are assessed. Preference-eligibles will be listed at the top of the referral list and considered before non-preference-eligibles. All other candidates will be listed below those with preference. If you are among the top qualified candidates, you may be required to participate in a selection interview. We will not reimburse costs related to the interview, such as travel to and from the interview site.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

Complete application packages include:

• A resume
• An official or unofficial transcript from your law school (an official copy will be required if you are selected)
• An unedited writing sample (5-10 pages in length)
• Supporting documentation as applicable (If you rely on your class ranking to meet the required qualifications, then you must upload class ranking documentation from your school.

Please note that if you do not provide all required information as specified in this announcement, you may not be considered for this position (or may not receive the special consideration for which you may be eligible). All applicants are required to submit a resume either by creating one in USAJOBS or uploading one of their own choosing. (Cover letters are optional.) To receive full credit for relevant experience, please list the month/year and number of hours worked for experience listed on your resume. We suggest that you preview the online questions, as you may need to customize your resume to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions. Please view resume tips .

VETERANS' PREFERENCE DOCUMENTATION: There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Office of Chief Counsel considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. If you are claiming veterans' preference, you must submit a copy of your Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, DD-214 (Member 4 copy), or other official documentation from a branch of the Armed Forces or the Department of Veterans Affairs showing dates of service and type of discharge. Ten-point preference eligibles must also submit an Application for 10-point Veteran Preference, SF-15 , along with the required documentation listed on the back of the SF-15 form. For more information on veterans' preference, view FedsHireVets

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.