Job opening: Legal Assistant

Salary: $39 576 - 63 733 per year

Published at: Nov 21 2024

Employment Type: Full-time

Located in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in various offices throughout the Office of General Counsel (OGC), the Legal Assistant performs administrative and legal support to colleagues and supervisors on assigned work, and routinely provides direct legal services on case and/or program assignments. OGC provides 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.

Duties

NOTE: Selectee must report onsite to nearest OGC office. Major duties include, but are not limited to the following: Provides information and assistance to visitors, claimants, petitioners, and/or their representatives in response to telephone, walk-in, or written inquiries Acts as the OGC organizational unit first point of contact Greets and directs visitors to the appropriate staff member after ascertaining reason for visit and apprising staff member of the same Accepts service of legal documents, reviewing for correct form and timeliness Annotates case files and status records to reflect receipt and due date for response or other required actions Performs a variety of case and program management tasks with minimal oversight Plans work independently and resolves factual and legal problems pertaining to client's cases Recommends various options that are available to client Refers clients to attorneys as needed for specific legal advice, or to supervisor for those issues that are controversial Receives, screens and distributes incoming mail for assigned OGC organizational unit Embeds communications in the OGC electronic time and case management system(s) Determines which items can be handled personally, handled by other staff, and those which require the attention of OGC managers due to the sensitive nature Responds to administrative inquiries from client facilities and departments, and if needed, obtains clarification from originating senders Searches files in response to requests for information, communicates status of information requests, and provides the information from files/records or refers the request to the appropriate office Serves as timekeeper, including reconciling time/attendance records when needed Transmits documents and communications; Receives, scans, and uploads incoming mail Conducts non-complex legal services by following established instructions, checklists, and/or guidance Enters assignments, edits confidential information, and scans case documentation into the OGC electronic time and case management system Establishes maintains, and closes case files, taskers, and assignments Drafts non-complex and routine communications and form/templated documents Coordinates with OGC staff to ensure end product meets agency requirements Reads outgoing correspondence for procedural and grammatical accuracy, conformity with general policy and accuracy of references cited and Ensures copies of the correspondence are maintained in the office files or in the appropriate legal case file Establishes, maintains, consolidates, and retires files in accordance with OGC's policy based on independent determination of use, priority, category and suspense control Exercises good judgment in safeguarding confidential information Follows agency data management and data security policies Utilizes appropriate technology for organizing, maintaining, managing and safeguarding VA information Maintains accurate and transparent case file information using OGC's time and case management system(s) Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday 8:00 am -4:30 pm Compressed/Flexible: Available Telework: Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: PD19318A, PD19317A, and PD19319A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
You may be required to serve a probationary period
Subject to background/security investigation
Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/03/2024. 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. Candidates may be advanced without time restriction to positions up to GS-5 if the position to be filled is no more than two grades above the highest grade the employee held within the preceding 52 weeks under his or her latest non-temporary competitive appointment. For a GS-05 position you must have held at least a GS-03. For a GS-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05 level. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06 level. 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. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: 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. See the Required Document section below for more information regarding the SF-50s needed to verify time-in-grade. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-05 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-4 level) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Acting as an organizational unit's first point of contact, appropriately directing visitors; serving as timekeeper; reviewing outgoing correspondence for procedural and grammatical accuracy. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have four (4) years of education above high school level obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond the first 60 semester hours (i.e., beyond the second year). GS-06 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-5 level) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Responding to administrative inquiries, obtaining clarification when needed; performing program management tasks with minimal oversight; maintaining accurate case files and retiring files in accordance with policy. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute graduate level education for the required experience only in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position. GS-07 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-6 level) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: obtaining information from files, or other sources; conducting factual and legal research in legal and non-legal databases and providing requested information to attorneys; aiding in the preparation and organization of evidence for production as discovery and for use in trial; managing paper and electronic discovery and evidence; independently compiling trial notebooks, assembling jury instructions, and compiling witness and exhibit lists; and coding and indexing discovery documents using legal case management software. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute graduate level education for the required experience only in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service Technical Competence Writing Analytical Thinking 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. Physical Requirements: The work is predominantly sedentary, requiring some walking, standing, bending, lifting and carrying light to moderate weight and size items such as books, files and paper. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

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

NOTE: Graduate education or an internship meets the specialized experience required above GS-5 only in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position. One full year of graduate education meets the requirements for GS-7. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. 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. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.