Paralegal Specialist

Description:

This position is located in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of the General Counsel (OGC), General Law Division (GLD), Administrative Law Branch (ADLAW).

The primary purpose of this position is to provide d ay-to-day paralegal and administrative support to the Administrative Law Branch attorneys.

Non-BU : This is a non-bargaining unit position.

Requirements:

Applicants must demonstrate that they meet the Minimum Qualification requirements as noted below.

GS-11 Minimum Qualifications . Applicants must demonstrate they meet the specialized experience requirement, education substitution OR a combination of the two.

Specialized Experience:
For the GS-11, applicants must demonstrate one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility at the GS-09 grade level in the federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors) performing the following duties:

• Conduct legal research and analysis of statues, precedents, legislative history, and/or agency rules and regulations to prepare digests of case decisions and/or evaluate the applicability of precedents.
• Support attorneys in representing the interests of an organization.
• Assist in the formulation of departmental legal positions and office processes.
• Draft technical and non-technical documents in multiple areas of the law (i.e., litigation documents, litigation hold requests, discovery requests, declarations, interrogatories, legal memoranda and/or legal summaries).

NOTE: Your resume must explicitly indicate how you meet this requirement, otherwise you will be found ineligible.

OR
Have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or completed at least three full academic years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or LL.M. if related, from an accredited college or university that provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the work. (NOTE: You must include copies of your transcript(s) with your application to verify eligibility).

OR
Have a combination of specialized experience (less than one year) and graduate education (beyond 2 years of graduate education), that when combined equals 100% of the qualification requirement. Note: Only graduate education in excess of two years (generally 36 semester hours) may be used in this calculation. You must submit a copy of your college transcripts (official or unofficial) and your resume must explicitly indicate how you meet the experience to support this claim.

All qualifications and eligibility requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

Time-in-grade: Current General Schedule (GS) federal employees, and those that have served in GS positions within the last 52 weeks, must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade, or a combination of the next lower grade level and an equivalent band in the federal service by the closing of this announcement.

Note: Current or former Federal employees MUST submit a copy of their SF-50 Form which shows competitive service appointment ("position occupied" block 34 on the SF-50 should show a "1"), tenure group (block 24 should show a 1 or 2), grade, and salary. If you are applying for a higher grade, please provide the SF-50 Form which shows the length of time you have been in your current/highest grade ( examples of appropriate SF-50s include promotions, With-in Grade/Range Increases, and SF-50s dated a year apart within the same grade/job ). If you have promotion potential in your current position, please provide proof. Employees applying with an interchange agreement must provide proof of their permanent appointment. IF YOU DO NOT SUBMIT ALL OF THE REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE CONSIDERATION AS A STATUS CANDIDATE.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional, philanthropic, religious, spiritual, community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Background Investigation: To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo and successfully pass a background investigation for Public Trust clearance as a condition of placement in this Non-Sensitive position. This review may include financial issues such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs.