The Legal Assistant position is located in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in the Office of General Counsel (OGC). The mission is to provide legal advice and services to all organizational components of the Department. The General Counsel is, by statute, the Department's Chief Legal Officer.

Duties

This is a bargaining unit position. Work Schedule: Mon - Fri 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Compressed/Flexible Schedule: Available Telework: May be available based on supervisor discretion Duty Location Status: Atlanta, Georgia or San Juan Puerto Rico. Will work from a VA owned or leased space. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Legal Assistant/PD81507A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required Physical Demands: The work is predominantly sedentary, requiring some walking, standing, bending, lifting and carrying light to moderate weight and size items such as books, files and paper. Major Duties Acts as the organization's first point of contact. Provides information and assistance to visitors, claimants, petitioners, and/or their representatives in response to telephone, walk-in, or written inquiries. Serves as timekeeper, including reconciling time/attendance records when needed. Conducts non-complex legal services by following established instructions, checklists, and/or guidance. Maintains accurate and transparent case file information using organization's time and case management system(s) Annotates case files and status records to reflect receipt and due date for response or other required actions. Establishes, maintains, consolidates, and retires files in accordance with organization's policy based on independent determination of use, priority, category and suspense control. Drafts and edits non-legal correspondence related to case processing and litigation such as requests for information, information memoranda summarizing significant case developments, and transmittal correspondence. Reads outgoing correspondence for procedural and grammatical accuracy, conformity with general policy and accuracy of references cited.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job.
• Selectees are subject to a background/suitability investigation.
• Selectees may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• A complete application package, i.e., Resume, Transcripts, etc., as required by job announcement.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Participation in the Seasonal Influenza Prevention Program for VHA Health Care Personnel (HCP) is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs HCP.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Pre-employment physical examination/evaluation may be required.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/28/2023. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-08 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. Provide a copy of your last or most recent SF-50, "Notification of Personnel Action" to indicate your current federal status. You must also submit additional SF-50(s) to clearly demonstrate one year time-in-grade as required in the announcement. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate that you possess one year time-in-grade. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one year time-in-grade. Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized Experience is defined as: Accepts service of legal documents, reviews them for correct form and timeliness Has led training programs and develops legal support resource and training tools designed to share specialized subject knowledge and improve consistencies and effectiveness of legal support services to less experienced administrative support staff. Has served as a program and legal support leader including, but not limited to, leading work of other Legal Assistants, providing guidance and direction to less experienced staff, and providing performance and program feedback related to legal support functions to OGC supervisors, as directed. Responsible for non-complex case assignments, including cases where quality legal service can be delivered by following established instructions, checklists, and/or guidance. Has performed a variety of case and program management tasks independently, including but not limited to, entering and editing confidential and sensitive case information related to all DVA legal servicing needs using the OGC electronic time and case management system(s); preparing and filing case records; establishing, maintaining, and closing case files; entering assignments; establishing and tracking case deadlines and follow ups, annotating case status records; monitoring and updating cases on a regular basis, utilizing various electronic systems in accordance with applicable regulations and policies; processing all actions and routine communications involved in case intake, processing and closing actions; independently handling a variety of written and verbal case communications; scanning/embedding case documentation; developing case schedules for a variety of agency hearings, boards, depositions, trials, or court appearances; and scheduling/tracking attorney/client meetings Per Office of Personnel Management General Schedule Qualification Policies, federal employees are assumed to have gained experience by performing duties and responsibilities appropriate for their official series and grade level as described in their position description. Experience that would not normally be part of the employee's position is creditable when documented by satisfactory evidence (e.g., a memorandum from the manager, human resources director, or official documentation such as SF-52, SF-50 documenting an official detail/assignments, or other comparable documentation). The documentation must indicate whether the employee performed the duties full time or, if part-time, the percentage of times the employee performed the additional duties. To receive credit for experience in your resume that is not within the official series and grade level of your position, you must provide official documentation of such experience as indicated above. 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; religions; 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit OPM's web site at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/alph-ndx.asp.

Education

There is no education substitute or requirement for the GS-08 level.

Contacts

• Address Office of General Counsel 810 Vermont Avenue NW Washington, DC 20420 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]