What are the responsibilities and job description for the General Attorney position at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers?
Duties
- Your work will be performed under the general supervision of the managing counsel.
- You will review extremely complex legal issues to include instruments, assemblies, or the preparation of legal opinions on complex questions relating to state and federal laws and regulations.
- You will act as an official legal representative of the office to which assigned in contacts with municipal, state, and federal agencies, other federal agencies, and private stakeholders.
- You will be required to address extremely complex and difficult legal questions affecting the organization missions.
- You will render legal advice to all elements of the Command in response to inquiries on numerous types of miscellaneous problems arising from day-to-day operations.
- You shall keep your supervisor informed on all opinions.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
- Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
- This position may require temporary duty (TDY) business travel up to 10% of the time.
- You will be required to File a Confidential Financial Disclosure Statement.
Qualifications
In order to qualify, you must meet the education and experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document.
QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: The following minimum qualification requirements must be met before applicants are eligible for further consideration:
Education Requirements: Position requires the possession of a professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.) and, for assignment within the Department of Defense, OGC, or DLSA, active membership in the bar of the highest court of a State, U.S. commonwealth, U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia. The Military Departments may also extend the requirement for active bar membership to assignment of civilian attorneys within their respective DepartmentsOnly degrees from an accredited college or university recognized by the Department of Education are acceptable to meet positive education requirements or to substitute education for experience. For additional information, please go to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and U.S. Department of Education websites at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications and http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html.
Thus, an applicant must have successfully completed a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have the first professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.). As indicated below, a law school transcript must be submitted with your application materials. An unofficial transcript will suffice for the application, although an official transcript may be required if accepted into the position.
Foreign education must be evaluated for U.S. equivalence in order to be considered for this position. Please include this information in your resume.
Statement of Good Standing/Bar Membership: Applicant must currently be a member in good standing of the bar of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. As noted below, proof of such membership and good standing must be submitted with your application materials.
Experience:
GS-12 Attorneys performing duties in GS-12 or equivalent-level positions are expected to perform with some independence, even when working on the most complex or difficult matters. Thus, preference is given to applicants with professional legal experience, acquired after being admitted to the bar, commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the position. An advanced law degree such as an LL.M. may substitute for professional legal experience.
GS-13 Attorneys performing duties at the GS-13 or equivalent-level positions are expected to perform with substantial independence, even when working on the most complex or difficult matters. Thus, the applicant must have 2 years of professional legal experience, acquired after being admitted to the bar, commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the position. Graduation from an ABA-Accredited Law School in the top 25% of the class or an advanced law degree such as an LL.M. may substitute for one year of the required professional legal experience.
Time in Grade Requirement: If currently employed as an attorney by the Federal Government must have completed 1 year at the next lower level within 30 days of the closing date of the announcement, or previously served at the same or higher grade as the position being filled.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Your application package will be evaluated to ensure your experience, knowledge, skills, training and/or education meet the qualification requirements stated in this vacancy announcement.
- Quality of experience relates to how closely or to what extent an applicant's background and regency of experience and education clearly reflect that you possess the following required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA's) to successfully perform the duties of this position.
- The following KSA's must be addressed in your resume. Failure to do so may result in an ineligible rating or affect your overall rating.
Knowledge, skills and ability interpreting federal laws, regulations, policies and procedures related to the providing advice and related legal reviews on personnel and employment law, federal real estate, general law and litigation, regulatory and environmental law, and federal contract law.
Knowledge, skill and ability to provide legal representation before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the Federal Labor Relations Agency (FLRA), the Equal Employment Opportunity commission (EEOC), the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA), and other administrative tribunals, and providing support to the DOJ when they are the attorney of record in court cases.
Ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing, and to provide clear and convincing legal advice and opinions on a wide variety of matters to the District Counsel, District Commander, senior staff, other government members, and contractors.
Ability to deal with individuals and groups of varied technical and professional backgrounds.
Writing Sample: Applicants must submit a writing sample. Examples of writing skills may be demonstrated by legal briefs, memoranda, or letters. These examples should total no more than ten pages in length. Extracts of selected sections of larger documents are acceptable. If the writing sample is not public, please redact personal information or use pseudonyms.
Education
FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/
Additional information
- Male applicants born after December 31, 1959, must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration.
- You will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.
- One year trial/probationary period may be required.
- Direct Deposit of Pay is required.
- This position requires you to submit a Public Financial Disclosure Report (OGE 278) or a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE450) upon entry, and annually thereafter.
- Selection is subject to restrictions resulting from Department of Defense referral system for displaced employees.
- If you have retired from federal service and you are interested in employment as a reemployed annuitant, see the information in the Reemployed Annuitant information sheet.
- This is a Career Field 51 Attorney position.
- Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
- Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
- When you perform a Civilian Permanent Change of Station (PCS) with the government, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers the majority of your entitlements to be taxable. Visit https://www.dfas.mil/civilianemployees/civrelo/Civilian-Moving-Expenses-Tax-Deduction/ for more information.
- Permanent Change of Station (PCS) allowances may be authorized, subject to the provisions of the Joint Travel Regulations and an agency determination that a PCS move is in the Government Interest.
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.
Review our benefits
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.
Once the announcement has closed, a review of your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine whether you meet the qualification requirements listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified, your resume and supporting documentation will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your level of experience. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully when applying, errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.
You should list any relevant performance appraisals and incentive awards in your resume as that information may be taken into consideration during the selection process. If selected, you may be required to provide supporting documentation.
Basis for Rating: Qualified candidates will be assigned to one of three quality categories: Best Qualified, Highly Qualified and Qualified. Veteran preference eligibles are listed ahead of non-preference eligibles within each quality category.
- Best Qualified. Candidates in this category possess exceptional skills and experience to exceed well above the minimum requirements for the announced position.
- Highly Qualified. Candidates in this category possess good skills and experience above the minimum requirements for the announced position.
- Qualified. Candidates in this category meet the minimum experience requirements for the announced position.
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.
Review our benefits
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.
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.
The documents you are required to submit vary based on whether or not you are eligible for preference in federal employment. A complete description of preference categories and the associated required documents is in the Applicant Checklist for Public Announcements.
As described above, your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.
1. Your resume:- Your resume may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.
- If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you may not be considered for this vacancy.
- For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete and you may not receive consideration for this position.
- For additional information see: What to include in your resume.
- Unofficial transcripts are acceptable as long as official transcripts are submitted prior to entry on duty
- Statement of good standing from the bar of any state, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Territory of the United States, or District of Columbia dates within 90 days of the closing date of the announcement
- Applicants must submit a writing sample. Examples of writing skills may be demonstrated by legal briefs, memoranda, or letters. These examples should total no more than ten pages in length. Extracts of selected sections of larger documents are acceptable.
5. Other supporting documents:- Cover Letter, optional
- Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable
- Time-in-grade documentation: If you are applying for a higher grade and your SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you meet the one year time-in-grade requirement so you will need to provide an SF-50 which clearly demonstrates you meet the time-in-grade requirements (examples of appropriate SF-50s include Promotions, Within-grade Grade/Range Increases, and SF-50s with an effective date more than one year old).
NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.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 apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section above.
The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 06/13/2024 to receive consideration- To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application (https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12421718).
- Follow the prompts to select your resume and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
- After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.
- You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.
- It is your responsibility to verify that your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. Uploaded documents may take up to one hour to clear the virus scan.
- Additional information on how to complete the online application process and submit your online application may be found on the USA Staffing Applicant Resource Center.
Agency contact information
Army Applicant Help Desk
Website
https://portal.chra.army.mil/hr_public?id=app_inq
Address
RK-W2SU04 US ARMY ENGINEER DISTRICT LITTLE ROCK
DO NOT MAIL
Little Rock, AR 72203
USNext steps
If you provided an email address, you will receive an email message acknowledging receipt of your application. Your application package will be used to determine your eligibility, qualifications, and quality ranking for this position. If you are determined to be ineligible or not qualified, your application will receive no further consideration.
Fair and Transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
- Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy
- Criminal history inquiries
- Reasonable accommodation policy
- Financial suitability
- Selective Service
- New employee probationary period
- Signature and false statements
- Privacy Act
- Social security number request
Required Documents
The documents you are required to submit vary based on whether or not you are eligible for preference in federal employment. A complete description of preference categories and the associated required documents is in the Applicant Checklist for Public Announcements.
As described above, your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.
1. Your resume:
- Your resume may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.
- If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you may not be considered for this vacancy.
- For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete and you may not receive consideration for this position.
- For additional information see: What to include in your resume.
- Unofficial transcripts are acceptable as long as official transcripts are submitted prior to entry on duty
- Statement of good standing from the bar of any state, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Territory of the United States, or District of Columbia dates within 90 days of the closing date of the announcement
- Applicants must submit a writing sample. Examples of writing skills may be demonstrated by legal briefs, memoranda, or letters. These examples should total no more than ten pages in length. Extracts of selected sections of larger documents are acceptable.
5. Other supporting documents:
- Cover Letter, optional
- Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable
- Time-in-grade documentation: If you are applying for a higher grade and your SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you meet the one year time-in-grade requirement so you will need to provide an SF-50 which clearly demonstrates you meet the time-in-grade requirements (examples of appropriate SF-50s include Promotions, Within-grade Grade/Range Increases, and SF-50s with an effective date more than one year old).
NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.
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.
This job is open to
The public
U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.
Clarification from the agency
US Citizens
