Job opening: Law Clerk (Tax) - Honors Attorney Program (2025)
Salary: $72 553 - 140 713 per year
Published at: Jul 15 2024
Employment Type: Full-time
Office of Chief Counsel, IRS, seeks enthusiastic individuals to serve taxpayers fairly and with integrity by providing correct and impartial interpretation of the internal revenue laws and the highest quality legal advice and representation for the IRS. Please click "Learn more about this agency" to find out more about Chief Counsel's various offices, to view some of the workplace attributes that Chief Counsel's workforce rates most favorably, and to hear from employees themselves.
Duties
The IRS Office of Chief Counsel's Honors Program is a highly competitive program available primarily to third-year law students, eligible recently graduated law students, and graduating or recently graduated Tax LL.M. students. The program offers entry level positions that provide the opportunity to acquire significant training and experience in tax law. The positions are open to individuals each year who have superior academic qualifications or relevant experience to the work of the Office of Chief Counsel.
Appointments will be made to a Law Clerk at the GS-11 or GS-12 for 14-months.
Participants may be converted to an entry level Attorney position after admittance to a State Bar and demonstration of satisfactory employment during the interim period of 14 months from original appointment.
If admitted to a State Bar prior to entry on duty as a Law Clerk, a General Attorney (Tax) GS-11/12/13 (with promotion potential to the GS-14) offer may be extended.
As a Law Clerk/Attorney with the Office of Chief Counsel, you will work for one of several major Counsel organizations, based on your particular interest, qualifications, and the staffing needs of the Office. Whether you are in a field office or National Office position, you will receive substantial training and responsibility. The following link describes our legal divisions Legal Divisions | IRS Careers.
We are recruiting for both our National Office and our Field Office Divisions throughout the country. Current openings are detailed below:
National Office
National Office Divisions located in Washington, D.C. include Corporate (CORP), Financial Institutions & Products (FIP), Income Tax & Accounting (ITA), International (INTL), Passthroughs & Special Industries (PSI), Procedure & Administration (P&A), Employee Benefits, Exempt Organizations, and Employment Taxes (EEE).
Field Office Divisions
We are currently recruiting for our Large Business and International Division and our Small Business/Self Employed Division in the following cities: Atlanta, GA; Austin, TX; Baltimore, MD; Birmingham, AL; Boston, MA; Buffalo, NY; Chicago, IL; Cincinnati, OH; Cleveland, OH; Detroit, MI; East Hartford, CT; Farmers Branch (Dallas), TX; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Greensboro, NC; Honolulu, HI; Houston, TX; Indianapolis, IN; Jacksonville, FL; Kansas City, MO; Laguna Niguel, CA; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles, CA; Louisville, KY; Miami, FL; Milwaukee, WI; Nashville, TN; New Orleans, LA; New York (Manhattan), NY; Newark, NJ; Oklahoma City, OK; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Pittsburgh, PA; Portland, OR; Richmond, VA; Sacramento, CA; Saint Louis, MO; Saint Paul, MN; Saint Petersburg (Tampa), FL; Salt Lake City, UT; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; Thousand Oaks, CA; Washington, DC; Westbury (Long Island), NY.
Candidates who select Large Business and International or Small Business/Self-Employed will automatically receive consideration for both business units.
We are currently recruiting for our Criminal Tax Division in the following cities: East Hartford, CT; Indianapolis, IN; Los Angeles, CA; Saint Louis, MO; Saint Paul, MN; Washington, DC.
We are currently recruiting for our Tax Exempt & Government Entities Division in the following cities: Baltimore, MD; Chicago, IL; Denver, CO; East Hartford, CT; Farmers Branch (Dallas), TX; Greensboro, NC; Jacksonville, FL; Los Angeles, CA; New York (Manhattan), NY; Seattle, WA; Thousand Oaks, CA; Washington, DC; Westbury (Long Island), NY.
Target Start Date: August - September 2025
Requirements
- Refer to "Additional Information."
- Click "Print Preview" to review the entire announcement before applying.
- Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
Qualifications
Who May Apply:
Law School Students and Recent Law School Graduates who are eligible for participation in the IRS Chief Counsel Honors Program
Third-year law students who will graduate from an ABA accredited law school by the graduation requirement date, between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025; OR
Students pursuing a Tax LL.M. who will graduate from an ABA accredited law school by thegraduation requirement date, between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025,OR
Recent Tax LL.M. graduates from an ABA accredited law school who within 9 months of graduating law school began participating in eligibility preserving activities.
Eligibility preserving activities include Judicial clerkships, tax or accounting related graduate programs (including Tax LL.M. program, or qualifying legal fellowships. Additional information on eligibility preserving activities is detailed at the end of this section.
Applicants Admitted to a State Bar:
Applicants who have already been accepted into the State Bar are not eligible to apply to the Honors Program (Law Clerk) announcement and must apply to the Honors General Attorney (Tax) for consideration: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/799726800.
To qualify for this position of Honors Program Law Clerk, you must meet the qualification requirements listed below by the closing of this announcement:
Basic Requirements for Honors Program Law Clerk:
Must attend a law school accredited by the American Bar Association.
To qualify for the Law Clerk at the GS-11 grade level, you must be a third-year law student AND meet one of the following by the closing date of the announcement:
A class ranking in the top 25% of J.D. program, OR
A J.D. cumulative GPA of 3.35 or higher, OR
If the school does not provide either class ranks or GPAs, a minimum LSAT of 160 is required.
To qualify for the Law Clerk at the GS-12 grade level, you must be a LL.M. candidate/graduate AND meet one of the following by the closing date of the announcement:
A class ranking in the top 25% of J.D. program AND/OR a J.D. cumulative GPA of 3.35 or higher, OR
A class ranking in the top 25% of your class in the LL.M. program AND/OR a LL.M. cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher, OR
If neither J.D. nor LL.M. program has class ranks or GPAs, a minimum LSAT of 160 is required.
Note: See "Required Documents" section for GPA/Class Rank/LSAT supporting documents.
Attributes of an Ideal Candidate are as follows:
Special high-level recognition for academic excellence in law school, such as selection to Order of the Coif or receipt of the American Jurisprudence Award in related courses; or top grades in tax or related course work (e.g., "A" grades in tax courses),
Evidence of background or experience in the position to be filled, such as taking relevant law school classes (e.g., tax law, bankruptcy/debtor creditor law, administrative law) or relevant legal or tax experience (e.g., tax legal experience) or relevant tax volunteer experience (e.g., VITA, Tax Clinic),
Work or achievement in the law school's law review or other recognized law journal,
Winning a moot court or mock trial competition or membership on a moot court or mock trial team.
Eligibility Preserving Activities are defined as:
Full-time activities starting after law school graduation that can preserve a law school graduate's eligibility for the Honors Program. The following are eligibility preserving activities: judicial clerkships, tax or accounting-related graduate programs (including Tax LL.M. programs) or qualifying legal fellowships. Qualifying legal fellowships must have a formal sponsor (e.g., a public service organization, a foundation, a bar association, a corporation, a law school, etc.), an established legal mission (e.g., purpose, type of work), and be publicly advertised as a fellowship at the time the candidate applied to the fellowship.
Breaks between consecutive eligibility preserving activities cannot exceed 120 days.
Participation in the eligibility preserving activity must be active through at least December 1, 2024 (may run later).
Law school graduates who received their J.D. prior to October 1, 2021 are ineligible.
Education
All applicants must be attending or graduated from an ABA-accredited law school.
A college or university degree generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools which meet these criteria, please refer to
Department of Education Accreditation page.
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. If you are qualifying based on foreign education, you must submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. For further information, visit:
https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.
Contacts
- Address Office of Chief Counsel, IRS
Staffing and Classification Branch
1111 Constitution Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20224
US
- Name: Corri Munro
- Phone: 469-801-1028
- Email: [email protected]