Job opening: Paralegal Specialist
Salary: $47 369 - 75 321 per year
Published at: Aug 17 2023
Employment Type: Full-time
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 23-KS-11959443-MS.
Duties
If selected for this position, you will join a well-respected team that is responsible for the enforcement of criminal and civil judgments within the Financial Litigation Program Unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Kansas. Typical work assignments will include, but are not limited to:
Perform basic legal research, evaluation, and analysis or a variety of legal topics and points of law;
Organize and prepare research material and determines information that is pertinent to the case;
Prepare draft on a variety of legal documents, e.g., complaints, motions, orders, answers, pleadings, and subpoenas;
Monitor the progress of pending cases and initiate action to ensure that legal pleadings, forms, reports, correspondence, and other documents are prepared and submitted within established deadlines;
Conducting interviews and communicating with debtors;
Communicating with other United States Attorney's Office divisions, employers, court personnel, and agency employees;
Preparing and maintaining a variety of legal documents to enforce civil and criminal judgments;
Processing debt collection claims;
Creating and maintaining accurate debt collection files and computer records for each debt assigned;
Making recommendations and preparing documents for appropriate enforcement remedies, payment plans, debt compromise proposals, write-offs of both civil and criminal judgments;
Serving as a contact person for Financial Litigation Program Unit cases.
Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress.
Requirements
- You must be a U.S. Citizen or National
- Initial appointment is conditioned upon a satisfactory pre-employment adjudication. This includes fingerprint, credit and tax checks, and drug testing. Continued employment is subject to a favorable adjudication of a background investigation
- You must be registered for Selective Service, if applicable
- If selected, you may be required to complete a one year probationary period.
- You must meet all qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.
Qualifications
GS-7: To be eligible at the GS-7 level, you must meet at least ONE of the following conditions, as defined below: Specialized Experience, Education, OR a Combination of Education and Experience.
Specialized Experience: One full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-5 level. Specialized experience is defined as experience performing paralegal or legal work, which demonstrates a basic knowledge of legal research and the ability to interpret legal decisions. Examples of specialized experience includes the following: drafting a variety of legal documents and correspondences; assisting in trial preparation by compiling, organizing and indexing various evidentiary exhibits; reviewing legal documents to extract information related to specific issues; verifying citations and statutory references contained in legal documents; and utilizing various computerized database programs to organize documents.
Education: Successful completion of one (1) full year of graduate education (18 semester hours or the number of units your school uses to describe one graduate year of academic study) leading to a master's degree or higher in a related field (e.g., Criminal Justice, Law); OR a completed Bachelor's degree or equivalent with superior academic achievement as defined by the Office of Personnel Management's Qualification Standards; which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do paralegal specialist work.
Combining Education and Experience: Combination of successfully completed graduate education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements.
GS-9: To be eligible at the GS-9 level, you must meet at least ONE of the following conditions, as defined below: Specialized Experience, Education, OR a combination of Education and Experience.
Specialized Experience: One full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-7 level. Specialized experience is defined as experience performing paralegal or legal work in the area of financial litigation which demonstrates a knowledge of legal research and the ability to interpret legal decisions. Examples of specialized experience may include the following: examining and processing a variety of legal documents; conducting research, analysis and evaluation of data in response to complex or sensitive requests; drafting briefs, pleadings, litigation recommendations, or other legal documents and correspondence; using a variety of electronic or manual filing systems to acquire and store information; documenting findings and preparing recommendations; searching and reviewing legal references, case files, and other sources for information and data required by attorneys or court personnel.
Education: One of the following types of education in a closely related field (e.g., Criminal Justice, Law): a Master's or equivalent graduate degree (such as an LL.B. or J.D.); OR 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree.
Combining Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed graduate education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements. In order to qualify based on a combination, graduate education must be in excess of 1 full year.
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/.
Education
All academic degrees and coursework must be completed at a college or university that has obtained accreditation or pre-accreditation status from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools that meet this criteria, see
http://www.ed.gov
OR
Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the above education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to timely provide such evidence by submitting proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency with your application materials. More information may be found at
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html. All documentation must be in English or include an English translation.
Contacts
- Address District of Kansas
301 N. Main, Suite 1200
Wichita, KS 67202
US
- Name: Amy Ayala
- Phone: (316) 269-6481
- Email: [email protected]
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