Duties

Summary

If you are interested in a senior leadership position that directly supports achievement of the administrative and operational aspects of a dynamic, independent federal law enforcement agency, this job is for you!

Bargaining Unit Status: Not Covered

This is NOT a law enforcement position.
Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

As a Deputy Assistant Director for the Office of Legal Services you will:

Serve as the senior legal expert and counsel to the Director and Assistant Directors. Incumbent is the supervisor to a group with a broad scope of responsibilities in areas related to operational and administrative functions associated with pretrial release and supervision. Incumbent has considerable latitude in problem identification, work prioritization, and methodology. Incumbent provides authoritative legal advice and assistance to PSA senior management on implementation of operational and administrative programs.

Perform the full range of administrative and technical supervisory duties, including: assigning work and establishing priorities; evaluating performance objectives in cooperation with subordinates; giving advice, counsel, and/or instruction to subordinates on both work and administrative matters; interviewing and recommending selection of candidates for positions, promotions, and reassignments; and hearing and resolving complaints from subordinates.

Provide leadership to subordinates and legal advice and guidance to senior leadership on a broad spectrum of legal and policy matters including defendant-related subpoena and FOIA responses, public affairs, media requests, and employee-related investigations and administrative matters.

In coordination with the PSA Deputy Assistant Director for Information Technology, administer PSA's privacy program.

In coordination with the CSOSA Designated Agency Ethics Official, facilitate PSA employee compliance with ethics requirements and act as the senior attorney with expertise in the standards of conduct and conflicts of interest program for the Agency.

Coordinate, as necessary, with CSOSA's Office of the General Counsel to address and resolve matters related to PSA's legal, policy and/or regulatory compliance.

Represent the Agency in third-party administrative and quasi-judicial proceedings. Provide expert legal advice on proposed replies to and proceedings of boards, investigating officers, and administrative bodies concerning all employee personnel matters.

Manage the Agency's subpoena response program, ensuring compliance with relevant federal laws governing the release and disclosure of sensitive defendant information.

Review settlement agreements, provide advice and guidance on litigation strategy and administrative proceedings, conduct research, and review and draft legal opinions on a broad spectrum of general pretrial and administrative law matters.

Implement legal policies and procedures for compatibility with other PSA and CSOSA policies, applicable law and regulations. Administer legal programs that support ways to mitigate possible conflicts and to resolve legal issues.

Oversee staff advisement to senior level officials on various legal aspects of pretrial policies, plans and employee-based programs. Oversee staff advisement to pretrial staff concerning aspects of interpretation, applicability and implementation of operational programs in a way that is consistent with pretrial principles, National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies Standards and American Bar Association Standards, applicable statutes and case law.

Provide expert legal advice to the Agency executives in assessing obstacles to data sharing between PSA and partner criminal justice, social service and treatment agencies in the District of Columbia; this involves legal analysis of barriers, suggestions for overcoming barriers, and draft necessary legislation to address complex data issues for multiple agencies.

Oversee staff work that involves providing legal advice in administrative areas, including finance, procurement, human capital management and information technology.

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status
Yes

Promotion Potential
15

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service
• Suitable for Federal employment, determined by a background investigation
• May be required to successfully complete a probationary period, if not already completed
• All applicants are subject to a comprehensive criminal background investigation, and required to submit to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment
• All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choice
• May be required to successfully complete a supervisory probationary period, if not already completed.
• Will be required to complete a Confidential Financial Disclosure Form within 30 days of appointment and annually thereafter.
• Must have a J.D. degree from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association.
• Candidates must be an active member in good standing of a bar association for any state within the United States or the District of Columbia.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, you must meet the education requirement and specialized experience requirement.

Candidates must have a Juris Doctorate degree from an ABA accredited law school.

Specialized Experience for the GS-15 grade level: To qualify at the GS-15 level, you must have at least one year of specialized experience providing authoritative guidance and advice to senior level officials on matters of technical and/or legal significance.

Education

Must have a J.D. degree from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association.

You MUST provide transcripts or other documentation to support your educational claims. Unless otherwise stated: official or unofficial transcripts are acceptable. All materials must be submitted by the closing date of the announcement.

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that 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

1. This position is excluded from provisions of the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP).

2. Selection under this appointment authority does not confer civil service competitive status.

3. If you are a male applicant who was born after 12/31/59 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.

4. Reasonable Accommodation, this agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of this application and hiring process, please notify the agency. The decision on granting reasonable accommodation is made on a case-by-case basis.

5. All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review in our office, in other Federal agency personnel offices, and on OPM's web site at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications.

6. Equal Opportunity Employer: The Pretrial Services Agency is an equal opportunity employer. Selection for this position will be based solely on merit without regard to race, color, religion, age, gender, national origin, political affiliation, disability, sexual orientation, marital or family status or other non-merit based factors.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Your rating will be based on your responses to the job specific information provided in your resume. Your resume must clearly show how you possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities listed below. Failure to demonstrate how you possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities will result in a rating of "Qualified" by the rating panel.

1. Ability to perform legal analyses and render findings and recommendations related to legal research, and draft policy, regulations or legislation in support of criminal justice, pretrial programs and employment-related programs.

2. Ability to perform legal analyses and render findings and recommendations in support of administrative operations for an organization, including financial management, procurement, facilities management, information technology and/or human resources (including employee and labor relations and disability program management).

3. Ability to supervise or lead communication regarding legal concepts (e.g., criminal law and criminal justice programs), federal laws, rules and regulations effectively, both orally and in writing, with a variety of audiences, including governmental representatives and the general public.

Once the application process is completed, your application will be reviewed to ensure you meet the job requirements. You will be evaluated on the extent and quality of your experience, education and training, job- related awards and supervisory appraisal of performance. If you meet the basic qualification requirements, your resume will be forwarded to a panel for rating. Category Rating will be used to evaluate applicants using the following categories to further determine which applicants will be referred to the selecting official for final consideration.

Best Qualified: Applicants possessing a background that demonstrates a superior level on all evaluation criteria.

Well Qualified: Applicants possessing a background that demonstrates a satisfactory level on evaluation criteria.

Qualified: Applicants possessing the specialized experience described above.

Application of Veterans' Preference: There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, Pretrial Services Agency considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. Applicants eligible for veterans' preference are encouraged to include that information in their cover letter or resume and attach supporting documentation (e.g., DD form 214 or other substantiating documents) to their submissions.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Position sensitivity and risk
Moderate Risk (MR)

Trust determination process
Suitability/Fitness

Required Documents

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

1. Your resume listing work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment, duties performed and salary information.
2. Documentation of membership in good standing of a bar association of any state within the United States or the District of Columbia.
3. Other supporting documents:

• Cover Letter, optional
• Law School transcript(s). Transcripts may be official or unofficial and must include the school name, student name, degree and date awarded, if applicable. (Note: If you are selected for the position, official transcript(s) will be required prior to your first day)

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.