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

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, 10/11/2023. 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-05 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-04. For a GS-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. 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. AND Selective Placement Factor: This position includes a skill, knowledge, ability or other worker characteristic basic to -and essential for- satisfactory performance of the job. Selective Placement Factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represent minimum requirements for a position. Applicants who do not meet it are ineligible for further consideration. Evidence of the Selective Placement Factor must be reflected in your resume. The Selective Placement Factor for this position is: Experience utilizing Microsoft Office programs and other electronic systems to gather, review, input, update, access, organize, process, and maintain information. AND You may qualify based on your education/experience/combination as described below. GS-05 Education: You must possess 4 years of education above high school. OR Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as experience providing administrative support such as performing intake duties, routing and processing information and/or processing and reviewing documents, that may include legal documents or other administrative records/documents; Skill in analytical abilities sufficient in identifying and obtaining necessary case/program information and applying it to relevant facts and established procedures; Experience preparing and drafting professional communications.. OR Combination of Education and Specialized Experience: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at the GS-05 level. To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned (when substituting, you cannot use the first 60 semester hours that you earned). Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-05. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e. 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position. GS-06 Specialized Experience (SE): You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-05) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as: Experience providing administrative support such as performing intake duties, serving as a first point of contact for internal and external customers, routing and processing information and/or processing and reviewing documents, that may include legal documents or other administrative records/documents; Skill in analytical abilities sufficient in identifying and obtaining necessary case/program information and applying it to relevant facts and established procedures; Experience preparing and drafting professional communications, such as legal documents and non-routine correspondence. GS-07 Specialized Experience (SE): You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-06) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as: Experience preparing and drafting professional communications, such as legal documents and non-routine correspondence, with little to no supervision; Experience utilizing electronic systems to gather, review, input, update, access, organize, process, and to maintain information for use in litigation and/or to accomplish time or case management functions; Knowledge and experience of various legal documents and processes and the ability to apply established instructions, rules, regulations, precedents and procedures pertaining to legal activities; Ability to use good communication skills, tact, and diplomacy when dealing with different individuals or organizations concerning a variety of situations; Knowledge of administrative concepts, principles and practice to independently and efficiently execute the full range of legal or administrative support duties in the workplace; Experience with non-adversarial problem-solving approaches/skills sufficient to resolve difficult problems that may arise in the workplace; Maintains accurate and transparent case file information; Compiles data and information from various sources to facilitate case development. 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

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

There is an education substitute for the GS-05 level only

PLEASE NOTE: 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 (particularly positions with a positive education requirement). Therefore, applicants must report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants can verify accreditation at the following website: http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html. All education claimed by applicants will be verified by the appointing agency accordingly. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education.

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]