About the Position: This is a permanent position with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Office of Counsel, Huntsville Engineering and Support Center, Redstone Arsenal AL. This is an excepted service position without time limitation and will not be filled by a competitive appointment. Service in this position may be fully creditable toward civil service retirement. Any selected applicant who is in the competitive service will be taken out of the competitive service.

Duties

Provides environmental law legal support to the Environmental and Munitions Center of Expertise (EM-CX) in the performance of its mission responsibilities and ensures EM-CX Director priorities are reflected. Serves as subject matter expert in the USACE legal services organization on laws and regulations affecting execution of programs using Environmental Services Cooperative Agreements (ESCAs) and Grants for environmental remediation projects. Provides legal support assisting with legal issues on complex and unique questions of law involving environmental or contract issues on environmental work without legal precedent. Provides legal support to the Office of the Chief Counsel in generating clarifying guidance on requirements for counsel review and oversight of environmental restoration program documentation. Assists with instruction of Environmental PROSPECT courses and other EM-CX sponsored training involving environmental programs. Provides legal direction on program execution and coordinates directly on program legal requirements including administration of grants and cooperative agreements and related disputed actions with HQ USACE, DoD programs and legal decision makers. Provides advice on government contracts related to environmental restoration programs and the EM-CX mission, including acquisition planning, solicitation and selection, award and administration, dispute resolution and closeout. Provides legal review and guidance to the Grants Officers on ESCAs, Grants, other cooperative agreements and provides legal review and support to the DSMOA and NALEMP programs when needed.

Requirements

• Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
• This position requires you to submit a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE450) upon entry, and annually thereafter.
• This position requires you to maintain active bar membership, in good standing (as defined by the pertinent bar) of the bar of the highest court of a State, U.S. territory, the District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: US Citizens The minimum qualification requirements must be met before applicants are eligible for further consideration: Bar membership: Applicant must currently be a member in good standing of the bar of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Professional Legal Experience: For GS-14 equivalent - Applicant must have three or more years of professional legal experience, acquired after being admitted to the bar, commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the position. Graduation from an ABA-Accredited Law School in the top 25% of the class or an advanced law degree such as an LLM may substitute for one year of the required professional legal experience. NOTE: ALL APPLICANTS SHOULD ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES, IN NARRATIVE FORM: a. Legal advice on complex issues. Ability to provide advice on general matters to include interpretation of authorizing and appropriations legislation and administrative law matters. Ability to perform research and analysis, obtaining and evaluating expert information or testimony, and issues involving extremely complex and difficult legal questions in the drafting of agreements and memoranda, and in the interpretation of multiple overlapping or conflicting statutory authorities. Ability to conduct factual legal research in connection with complex policy issues related to federal environmental law, contract law, grants and cooperative agreements, project authorizations, and employee and labor relations cases. Ability to work independently in investigating the facts, researching legal precedents, defining the legal and factual issues and drafting necessary legal documents. b. Represent office. Ability to represent the Center at hearings, meetings, negotiations, conferences, presentations, administrative litigation, or other forums with municipal, state, or other federal agencies and stakeholders from other sectors (e.g., private, non-profit). c. Legal advice on miscellaneous legal issues. Ability to advise Center Commander and Center Staff on miscellaneous matters within the USACE mission, such as ethics, conferences, and administrative authorities. TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT: If currently employed as an attorney by the Federal Government you must have completed 1 year at the next lower level (GS-13) within 30 days of the closing date of the announcement or previously served at the same or higher grade as the position being filled.

Education

An applicant must have successfully completed a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have the first professional law degree (LLB or JD).

Only degrees from an accredited college or university recognized by the Department of Education are acceptable to meet positive education requirements or to substitute education for experience. For additional information, please go to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and U.S. Department of Education websites at - http://www.opm.gov/qualifications and http://www.ed.gov//admins/finaid/accred/index.html.Foreign education must be evaluated for U.S. equivalency in order to be considered for this position. Please include this information in your resume.

Contacts

• Address RA-W2V6AA US ARMY ENGINEER AND SUPPORT CENTER DO NOT MAIL Huntsville, AL 35807 US
• Name: Army Applicant Help Desk