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

Duties

If selected for this position, you will serve as a senior legal assistant directly and independently providing a wide variety of technical assistance services related to complex immigration investigations and prosecutions for Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) for the Northern District of New York. The incumbent will act as a legal assistance subject matter expert on immigration litigation activities and provide training, guidance, and technical assistance to other legal support staff. Typical work assignments will include: Legal Support - Providing substantive assistance in complex immigration litigative matters, such as illegal entry, harboring and smuggling, human trafficking, and practitioner application fraud. Guiding other legal support staff in specific immigration tasks and job techniques and sharing work samples, reference materials, and policy guidance. Processing immigration cases and legal matters varying in complexity by applying specialized legal processes, regulations, and procedures. Researching records, references, and/or historical material, evaluating, and coordinating information to establish the facts and issues. Reviewing incoming materials to determine the need for correspondence and legal documents such as motions, orders, pleadings, and subpoenas. Preparing a wide variety of voluminous and complex legal documents, based on applicable rules/regulations and information from legal reference files, office records, and other sources. Composing original letters, such as transmittal of pleadings and notices to attorneys representing defendants, following independent fact-finding initiatives to gather appropriate information. Assisting in the preparation of legal actions such as indictments, criminal complaints, search warrants, judgments, applications, notices, affidavits, summonses, grand jury subpoenas, rules to show cause, proofs of claim, and satisfaction of judgment. Legal Research - Assisting with conducting factual research using computerized databases and other sources. Conducting non-complex research of legislation, statutes, regulations, and court cases related to immigration. Compiling and indexing bibliographies of source material and verifying citations and statutory references contained in briefs and legal documents. Preparation/Management of Evidence and Discovery - Assisting in the preparation and organization of evidence for production as discovery and use in trial following unique electronic and internet-related evidence and legal processes. Preparing trial exhibits such as statistical charts, graphs, and timelines to be presented in court using trial presentation software. Assisting during investigations and trials with compiling and assembling witness binders, trial notebooks, jury instructions, and witness and exhibit lists. Providing automated litigation assistance to attorneys in trial preparation and courtroom presentations. Case Management - Tracking case status and contributing to status reports summarizing legal issues, factual issues, and case developments. Managing and retaining paper/electronic documents and evidence, correspondence, briefs, witness interviews, and other documentary materials in a manner that will facilitate effective retrieval. Tracking filing, hearing, and trial dates, and scheduling conferences and interviews. Coordinating with victim/witness specialists to ensure adherence to victims' rights and services guidelines and responsibilities. Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progresses.

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.
• Time-in-Grade: Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements within 30 days after the closing date of this announcement.
• You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days after the closing date of this announcement and before placement in the position.

Qualifications

To be qualified at the GS-08 level, you must have at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to work at the GS-07 level in Federal service, which has equipped you with the competencies to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience is defined as experience performing the following types of duties: providing direct and substantive trial support to attorneys by preparing complaints, motions, subpoenas, orders, or other hearing and/or trial documents accurately and in proper format; providing training, guidance, and technical assistance to other legal support staff; using web-based legal resources and platforms for obtaining and verifying citations and statutory references contained in legal documents; locating and analyzing legal reference sources and procedures/methods to prepare reports on pertinent statutes, court decisions, legal opinions, and other legal documents; conducting independent fact-finding initiatives to gather pertinent information; independently communicating complex and non-standard information in written format; assisting with discovery, hearing, or trial preparation by performing duties such as compiling and assembling witness binders, trial notebooks, jury instructions, and witness and exhibit lists; and using a wide range of automated software applications and legal and non-legal databases to produce complex and non-routine legal-related reports and documents, conduct factual research, develop tables of contents and indices to briefs, and prepare courtroom presentations. To be qualified, you must type at least 40 words per minute on a 5-minute sample with three of fewer errors. (A typing test may later be required). 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

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Contacts

• Address Northern District of New York 100 South Clinton Street Syracuse, NY 13261 US
• Name: Maria Farrell
• Phone: 3154480963
• Email: [email protected]