What are the responsibilities and job description for the Paralegal Specialist, position at Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)?

Summary

This position is located in the Professional Liability Unit (PLU) of the Legal Division. PLU investigates and litigates professional liability claims and pursues entry of restitution and forfeiture orders in criminal actions related to failed financial institutions.

Additional selections may be made from this vacancy announcement to fill identical vacancies that occur subsequent to this announcement.

This job is open to

Internal to an agency

Current federal employees of this agency.

Clarification from the agency

This position is open to current FDIC permanent employees with competitive status eligibility.

Duties

Serves as a paralegal specialist to managers and attorneys in litigative case management.

Prepares cases for court presentation by collecting and organizing exhibits.

Conducts analyses of data and information and prepares graphs and tables to illustrate results in court.

Responds to discovery requests by searching electronically stored information (ESI)using eDiscovery software applications, such as Relativity and Clearwell, to locate, recover, and organize potentially responsive ESI in connection with investigatory and litigation case work.

Encodes substantive case materials for entry into computer databases.

Using established databases, performs data searches, report design, and other data tracking and retrieval assignments in support of litigation.

Drafts correspondence, memoranda, motions, discovery, and legal documents. Creates and revises Table of Contents and Table of Authorities for briefs where necessary in conformance with proper Court rules and Bluebook rules.

Reviews citations of legal authorities and confirms whether the cited authority supports the stated proposition; conforms basic and complex legal citations to Bluebook system of citation and court rules; locates and retrieves copies of cited cases and other legal authorities from various digital sources.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

Completion Of Financial Disclosure May Be Required.

Minimum Background Investigation (MBI) required.

Qualifications

Qualifying experience may be obtained in the private or public sector. 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. Additional qualifications information can be found here.

Specialized Experience : To qualify, applicants must have completed at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the 07 grade level or above in the Federal service. For this position, Specialized Experience is defined as experience drafting legal documents and correspondence; and searching and reviewing legal case files, references, records and / or electronic databases for information in support of developing a legal case.

Have a Master's or equivalent doctoral degree; or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree; or LL,B, or J,D, if related.

A qualifying combination of Specialized Experience and Education.

Applicants must have met the qualification requirements (including selective placement factors - if any) for this position within 30 calendar days of the closing date of this announcement.

Education

See requirements stated under QUALIFICATIONS.

Additional information

Selectee(s) for this position will be required to report to their duty station office two days per week.

If selected, you may be required to serve a probationary or trial period as applicable to appointment type.

To read about your rights and responsibilities as an applicant for Federal employment, click here.

Benefits

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

In addition to the regular benefits offered by Federal agencies, the FDIC offers additional benefits to its employees. These benefits, some at minimal cost, are some of the best and most competitive in both the private and public sectors.

To find out more, click here.

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Your resume and the online assessment questionnaire will be reviewed, to determine whether you meet the qualification requirements outlined in this announcement. Therefore, it is imperative that your resume contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make the qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is / was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level.

Your resume will also be evaluated to measure your responses to the assessment questions. If you rated yourself higher on the questionnaire than what is supported by your resume, your overall qualifications assessment may be adversely affected.

Top ranked candidates will be referred to the selecting official for further review and consideration.

The competencies / knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) you will be assessed on are listed below.

Knowledge of the litigation process, court rules and procedures.

Ability to determine the need for the preparation of legal documents in support of litigation activities.

Knowledge of automated legal research tools, support technology, and research services to obtain, prepare, and present case supporting information.

Ability to locate, log, index, file and retrieve materials to develop a system for purposes of discovery and supporting case exhibit lists.

Ability to use spreadsheet programs (e.g., excel) to develop, monitor, maintain and analyze information in databases and reports.

Ability to use current software (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook), and SharePoint to draft, format, customize, upload documents, input data, monitor, and maintain electronic databases and case files.

Ability to prepare legal documents, correspondence, and memoranda.

Knowledge of systems of citation used in legal documents.

You do not need to respond separately to these KSAs. Your answers to the online questionnaire and resume will serve as responses to the KSAs.

You may preview questions for this vacancy.

Benefits

To find out more, click here.

Required Documents

As a new or existing federal employee, you and your family may have access to a range of benefits. Your benefits depend on the type of position you have - whether you're a permanent, part-time, temporary or an intermittent employee. You may be eligible for the following benefits, however, check with your agency to make sure you're eligible under their policies.

Failure to provide all of the required documentation as stated in this vacancy announcement, may result in an ineligible determination or may affect your consideration status. Please review the following to determine your eligibility and which document(s) is required to complete your application :

FDIC EMPLOYEES : If you want to be considered non-competitively include a copy of your SF-50. The SF-50 must show the highest grade level or full performance level applicant has attained competitively on a permanent basis, and grade must be equivalent or higher than the grade for which applying.

EDUCATION DOCUMENTS : If you are using education to meet all or part of the qualification requirements, submit a copy of your college transcript (an unofficial transcript is acceptable). Education must be from accredited institutions. For a listing of accredited educational institutions, click here. An official transcript will be required if you are selected. If you attended more than one university and need to send multiple transcripts, please upload / fax all transcripts as one document.

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. For more information, click here.

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.

How to Apply

To begin, click the "Apply" button and follow the prompts. If you haven't already, register and establish a USAJOBS account. After you register online, click the "Apply" button to complete the online assessment questionnaire, and submit all required documents. Please be sure to click "Submit Application" to complete the application process. You must apply online.

Applicants requesting an exception from the online process must contact the Human Resources Specialist or point of contact listed in this announcement prior to 12 : 00 noon local time on the closing date.

To return to your saved application, log in to your USAJOBS account and click on "Applications" tab. Click on the "Position Title," and then select "Update Application" or "Additional Application Information" to continue.

You have until 11 : 59 p.m. ET (Eastern Time) on the closing date of this announcement to complete the application process.

Please ensure you have completed the application process by verifying the status of your application on-line to reflect : "Received". Failure to complete the application process will result in an incomplete application and you will not be considered for the position.

Agency contact information

Elaine Livingstone

Phone

781-794-5776

1-800-925-4618

elivingstone@fdic.gov

Address

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

FDIC Human Resources Branch

Braintree, Massachusetts 02184

United States

Next steps

You may check the status of your application on-line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through USAJOBS by signing in and selecting " Application Status. " Thank you for your interest in working for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The Fair Chance Act prohibits inquiries concerning an applicant's criminal history information unless the hiring agency has made a conditional (tentative) offer of employment to the applicant. An applicant may submit a complaint, or any other information, to the agency within 30 calendar days of the date of alleged non-compliance by contacting the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Human Resources Staffing Policy and Accountability team at FairChanceAct@fdic.gov

For more information go to FDIC Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act.

Fair and Transparent

The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.

Criminal history inquiries

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy

Financial suitability

New employee probationary period

Privacy Act

Reasonable accommodation policy

Selective Service

Signature and false statements

Social security number request

Required Documents