Duties

Summary

The General Counsel is one of three statutory officers at the FEC and reports directly to the Commission. The Office of General Counsel (OGC) consists of five organizational units: (1) the Deputy General Counsel - Administration, (2) the Deputy General Counsel - Law, (3) the Enforcement Division, (4) the Litigation Division and (5) the Policy Division.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

As a General Counsel, EX-0905-V, your work assignments include:

• Providing executive management and direction of all administrative and technical aspects of the FEC's legal programs, including strategic planning, administrative law, evaluation of statutory and judicial developments, decisions about precedent actions, and policy formulation that impact the entire range of federal campaign finance activities.
• Meeting with Senior Staff to set major agency-wide policy and review program achievements based on recommendations from staff, program managers, program administrators, task forces, and others.
• Developing, conceiving, planning, and implementing policies and programs within the Office of General Counsel.
• Managing resources, developing long-range plans and priorities, developing strategic operational goals, evaluating program effectiveness, and identifying opportunities for increasing process or program efficiency for the Office of General Counsel.
• Serving as legal counsel to the Commission, providing legal opinions, advice and guidance on agency operations and campaign finance law matters, including enforcement of the Federal Election Campaign Act and implementing regulations, rulemakings and the Administrative Procedure Act, advisory opinions, Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act, and employment law.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Supervisory status
Yes

Promotion Potential
00

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen or national.
• You must be able to pass a background investigation.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service (see Legal and regulatory guidance below).
• This position serves at the pleasure of the Commission.
• Direct Deposit of Pay is required.
• You must meet qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.
• This is a Non-Bargaining Unit Position.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the Basic Requirements, the Technical Qualifications, and the Executive and Managerial Qualifications described below. A copy of your transcripts must be provided with your application.

Basic Requirements:
A. Law degree (J.D or LL.B.) from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association.
And
B. Bar Membership: Be an active member in good standing of a state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or territory of the United States.

Technical Qualifications: (Your resume must include evidence of the following experience, including dates.)
You must have 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience working as a practicing attorney in any of the following duty areas: compliance, litigation, investigations, civil or criminal law enforcement, regulations/policy, or other similar areas. At least one year of this experience must be comparable in scope and responsibility to the Senior Level (SL). This must include activities such as: (1) Managing all administrative and/or technical aspects of a legal program, such as managing resources, developing long-range plans, developing strategic operational goals, and evaluating program effectiveness; (2) Directing the full range of legal affairs for an organization including legal policy, enforcement, litigation, advisory services, and complaints examination; and (3) Analyzing complex legal issues having to do with campaign finance law, including regulatory and/or constitutional issues.

Executive and Managerial Qualifications:
Please respond to the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) in a narrative format. You may use the Challenge-Context-Action-Result (CCAR) Model to describe your accomplishments.

Challenge: Describe a specific problem or goal. Context: Describe the individuals and groups you worked with, and/or the environment in which you worked, to address a particular challenge (e.g., clients, co-workers, members of Congress, shrinking budget, low morale). Action: Discuss the specific actions you took to address a challenge. Result: Give specific examples of measures/outcomes that had some impact on the organization. These accomplishments demonstrate the quality and effectiveness of your leadership skills.

ECQ 1 - Leading Change: The ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment.
ECQ 2 - Leading People: The ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts.
ECQ 3 - Results Driven: The ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks.
ECQ 4 - Business Acumen: The ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically.
ECQ 5 - Building Coalitions: The ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, State and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals.

In addition, you must provide a cover letter describing your experience with the competencies identified below:

Leadership: Ability to influence, motivate, and challenge others, as well as adapt leadership style to a variety of situations. Providing direction in the development of legal initiatives and related policies. Legal, Government and Jurisprudence: Ability to advise senior leadership on the impact of new or revised statutes, rules, and regulations. Proficiency in orally arguing or briefing. Drafting, reviewing, and developing written commentary or opinions on legislative changes and/or new legislation. Oral Communication: Expresses ideas and facts to individuals or groups effectively; makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others; facilitates an open exchange of ideas. Written Communication: Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner for the intended audience.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website.
Part-time or unpaid experience: Credit will be given for appropriate unpaid and or part-time work. You must clearly identify the duties and responsibilities in each position held and the total number of hours per week.
Volunteer or unpaid experience: Refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service Programs (i.e., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student and social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge and skills that can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Education

Are you using your education to qualify? You must provide transcripts or other documentation to support your educational claims. Unless otherwise stated: (1) 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.

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, click here . You must provide translated transcripts.

Additional information

FEC offers competitive salaries and an attractive benefits package, including: health, dental, vision, life, and long-term care insurance; retirement plan; Thrift Savings Plan [similar to a 401(k)]; Flexible Spending Account; Employee Assistance Program; personal leave days; and paid federal holidays. Other benefits may include: flexible work schedules; telework; or transportation subsidies.

If you receive a tentative offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application, prior to entry on duty. False statements on any part of the application may result in withdrawal of offer of employment, dismissal after beginning work, fine, or imprisonment.

Veterans: There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Federal Election Commission considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. Although the "point" system is not used, per se, applicants eligible to claim 10-point preference must submit Standard Form (SF) 15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference , and submit the supporting documentation required by that form.

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 .

Additional selections may be made from this announcement.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Once the announcement closes, we will conduct a review of your application package to verify your eligibility and qualifications. If you are found qualified, your application will move forward to additional phases of the review process which will determine the best qualified candidates. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

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

You will be evaluated on the quality and extent of your total accomplishments, experience, and education.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Not Required

Drug test required
No

Position sensitivity and risk
High Risk (HR)

Trust determination process
Credentialing , Suitability/Fitness

Required Documents

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

Your Resume format is at your discretion but must show that you possess the Technical Qualifications. You resume should also include the following: listing hours worked per week, dates of employment (month/year) and duties performed for each position held.

Cover Letter which addresses the competencies identified in the Qualifications section above. Please limit your cover letter to 2 pages. Narrative Responses to the Executive and Management Core Qualifications listed above. Unofficial law school transcripts to verify you meet the educational requirements of this position. All applicants are required to submit unofficial law school transcripts prior to the closing of this announcement. If selected for this position you will be required to submit official law school transcripts upon entry into duty.

Copy of Bar Membership card/license.

Failure to submit any of the above-mentioned required documents may result in loss of consideration due to an incomplete application package. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents have been submitted.

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.