Legal Administrative Specialist (Litigation Support)

US-Executive-Office-For-U.S.-Attorneys-and-the-Office-of-the-U.S.-Attorneys-; Albuquerque (NM); On-site; USD 40,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

Department of Justice, United States Attorneys' Offices in Albuquerque, NM, seeks qualified applicants for multiple GS-07/09/11 vacancies announced under Merit Staffing procedures. This announcement covers Specialized Experience, Education, and combinations thereof to meet qualification requirements.

Selected candidates perform litigation support tasks, organize case materials, prepare exhibits, assist attorneys, and help manage discovery; the vacancies include ICTAP/CTAP considerations and a

Qualifications

• GS-07: Specialized Experience at least 1 full year equivalent to GS-05 level; Education: 1 full year of graduate education or bachelor's with superior achievement; Combining Education and Experience as 100% qualification.
• GS-09: Specialized Experience at least 1 full year equivalent to GS-07 level; Education: master's or 2 years of grad education or LL.B./J.D. if related; Combining Education and Experience: 100%.
• GS-11: Specialized Experience at least 1 full year equivalent to GS-09 level; Education: Ph.D. or 3 years grad education or LL.M.; Combining Education and Experience: 100%.

Responsibilities

• Assist with organizing case information and discovery materials.
• Prepare exhibits, trial notebooks, witness lists, and trial presentations.
• Verify citations and assist attorneys in court preparation.
• Conduct basic legal research using databases and public information.
• Manage discovery and use technology to organize digital evidence.

Job description

For more information on the Department of Justice and the United States Attorneys' Offices, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/.

As needed, additional positions may be filled using this announcement.

This position is also being announced to applicants eligible to apply through Merit Staffing procedures under 27-NM-13097627-MS. GS-07: To be eligible at the GS-07 level, you must meet at least ONE of the following conditions, as defined below: Specialized Experience, Education, OR a combination of Education and Experience.

GS-07:

• Specialized Experience: One (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 level in Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as assisting with organizing case information, preparing discovery productions, including scanning, and coding documents and creating CDs; assisting attorneys in preparing for court such as preparing exhibits, compiling trial notebooks and compiling witness and exhibit lists; verifying citations; assisting in the use of technology to organize digital evidence; preparing, drafting and editing a variety of legal and trial-related documents.
• Education: Successful completion of one (1) full year of progressively higher level graduate education (18 semester hours or the number of units your school uses to describe one graduate year of academic study) in related field (e.g., Criminal Justice, Computer Science, Law, IT) leading to a master's degree OR bachelor's degree with superior academic achievement. Superior academic achievement is as follows: standing in the upper third of your graduating class or major subdivision OR membership in one of the national scholastic honor Societies; OR Grade Point Average. Applicants must have a grade point average of: (a) 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on their official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or (b) 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.
• Combining Education and Experience: A combination of experience and graduate level education can be used if, when combined, are equivalent to 100% of the qualification requirement. (Only graduate education in excess of one full year is creditable.)

GS-09:

• Specialized Experience: One (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level in Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as performing routine litigation support assignments such as assisting with organizing case information (i.e., scanning and creating CDs); assisting attorneys in preparing for court such as preparing exhibits, compiling trial notebooks, compiling witness and exhibit lists and preparing computerized trial presentations and exhibits; verifying citations; conducting research, analysis and evaluation of data in response to requests; using automated legal research tools such as Westlaw, Lexis, as well as public information databases to perform basic research of case-specific legal matters; preparing a variety of legal documents; and managing discovery.
• Education: one of the following types of education in a related field (e.g., Information Technology, Computer Science, Law, Criminal Justice): Master's or equivalent graduate degree; OR 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree; or LL.B. or J.D., if related. Education at the graduate level must be in an accredited college or university and must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the duties of the position.
• Combining Education and Experience: A combination of experience and graduate level education can be used if, when combined, are equivalent to 100% of the qualification requirement. (Only graduate education in excess of one full year is creditable.)

GS-11:

• Specialized Experience: At least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level in federal service. Specialized experience is defined as performing the following types of duties: participating in trial preparation and presentations; working with attorneys and legal support staff to recommend effective strategy to meet litigation needs; identifying and utilizing software packages such as databases spreadsheets and word processing applications to present evidence; managing a variety of computer hardware for trial use; customizing databases and programs to meet individual user needs; preparing demonstrative exhibits required for litigation; organizing and managing case specific discovery.
• Education: One of the following types of education in a related field (e.g. Information Technology, Computer Science, Criminal Justice, Law): Ph.D., or equivalent doctoral degree in a related field; OR 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree; OR LL.M., if related. Education must be in an accredited college or university and must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the duties of the position.
• Combining Education and Experience: A combination of specialized experience as described in A and education as described in B which when combined equal 100% of the requirements. (Only graduate level education in excess of the first two years can be used in this calculation.)

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)- The ICTAP provides eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your ICTAP eligibility; 2) you apply under the instructions in the announcement; and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and receive a score of 85 or better on established ranking criteria. You must provide proof of eligibility to receive selection priority. Such proof may include a copy of your written notification of ICTAP eligibility or a copy of your separation personnel action form. Additional information about ICTAP eligibility is at: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)-

The CTAP provides eligible surplus and displaced competitive service employees in the Department of Justice with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your Department of Justice component has notified you in writing that you are a surplus or displaced employee eligible for CTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your CTAP eligibility, 2) you apply under the instructions in this announcement, and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and receive a score of 85 or better on established ranking criteria. You must provide a copy of your written notification of CTAP eligibility with your application. Additional information about CTAP eligibility is at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.