Job opening: Attorney-Adviser
Salary: $139 395 - 181 216 per year
Published at: Sep 30 2024
Employment Type: Full-time
With an emphasis on high ethical standards, excellence in public service and the delivery of superlative advice and counsel, DOI Solicitor's Office performs the legal work for the U.S. Department of the Interior and manages the Departmental Ethics Office & Departmental FOIA Office. With more than five hundred total employees, more than four hundred of which are licensed attorneys, the Office strives to provide sound legal services to fulfill the Department's diverse and wide-ranging mission.
Duties
This position is located within the Office of the Secretary of the Interior, Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Departmental Ethics Office, Branch of Policy and Compliance located in Washington, D.C.
At the full performance level GS-14 the major duties of this position include, but are not limited to the following:
1. Serving as a legal adviser for the Department and advising on all legal issues pertaining to Government ethics, including criminal conflict of interest laws, Executive Branch Standards of Conduct and the Hatch Act.
2. Working with the Deputy Director for Ethics Law and Policy to develop ethics policies, best practices, standard operating procedures, advisories, and other ethics program guidance materials, including for the tracking of ethics program metrics and benchmarking.
3. Assisting with the development of responses to requests from the public, Congress, and the Office of Inspector General about the work of the Departmental Ethics Office.
4. Writing opinions for the Designated Agency Ethics Official as appropriate in response to requests from current or former Office of the Secretary and Office of the Solicitor career and political employees.
5. Reviewing public and confidential financial disclosure reports, providing cautionary guidance, and recommending appropriate action.
6. Coordinating advice and guidance provided to Department employees with the Office of Government Ethics, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, the Office of Special Counsel, the Office of White House Counsel, and other agencies' ethics officials as necessary.
7. Ensuring that information regarding possible violations of law is referred to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) as required, referring other matters for OIG investigations as appropriate and providing technical assistance to the OIG in the analysis of potential ethics violations.
8. Recommending possible disciplinary or remedial actions to program officials arising out of OIG reports of investigation.
Salary Information: First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the lower salary range of the grade level.
GS-14: $139,395 (Step 1) - $181,216 (Step 10) per annum
This position is in the excepted service and not subject to competitive service procedures.
Merit promotion procedures do not apply.
This vacancy may be used to fill additional positions as vacancies become available.
Qualifications
Basic Qualification Requirements
Applicants must be law school graduates with LL.B. or J.D. degrees AND applicants must be an active member in good standing of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico bar.
Applicants must also meet one of the following:
possess at least 1-year of professional legal experience following law school graduation; OR
have a second professional law degree; OR
meet any of the criteria indicated below:
academic standing in top one-third of law school graduating class;
graduation with academic honors;
significant participation on the law school's law review;
significant participation in the law school's moot court competition;
significant participation in a clinical legal aid program;
significant summer law office clerk experience; OR
other equivalent evidence of clearly superior achievement.
GS-14: In addition to meeting the basic qualification requirements described above, applicants must also have the following additional years of professional legal experience for the grade level indicated:
GS-14 = 3 ½ years
In order to better assess your qualifications for this position, when preparing your resume and cover letter please be sure to address any experience you may have or familiarity with the following areas of legal work: researching and writing legal memoranda and opinions and providing legal advice or recommendations to clients and/or senior attorneys. In addition, please address your experience in or familiarity with the following subject matter areas and legal authorities: ethics law; Federal administrative law issues, such as matters arising under the Administrative Procedure Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, and appropriations law.
Candidates should have excellent oral communication, writing, research and analysis skills, and the ability to work effectively with other people, and exercise sound judgment.
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; religious; 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.
Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualification Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions and is available at OPM's website:https://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/num-ndx.asp
All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.
Education
Education: If this position requires specific educational course work to qualify, or you are qualifying based in whole or part on education, you are required to provide transcripts as proof of meeting the requirements.
Foreign Education: Education completed in colleges or universities outside the United States may be used to meet the specific educational requirements as stated above. You must provide acceptable documentation that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit:
http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4
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