Paralegal Specialist

This position is located in the Civil Rights Division. As a Paralegal Specialist, you will perform legal and factual research and other closely related duties in support of attorneys engaged in civil rights cases and matters.

Qualifications

To be eligible at the GS-09 level, you must meet at least ONE of the following conditions, as defined below: Specialized Experience: For the GS-09, you must have one (1) year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service, public or other private sectors that is directly related to the position as listed above and which has equipped the candidate with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience for this position includes ALL of the following: Take notes during attorney proffers and witness interviews and prepare memoranda from those notes: AND Perform legal research to supply information for inclusion in memoranda, briefs, and similar documents. OR Education: Successful completion of a Master's or equivalent graduate degree, or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or LL.B. or J.D., if related. OR Combination of Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed graduate education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements. In order to qualify based on a combination, graduate education must be in excess of one full year. To be eligible at the GS-11 level, you must meet at least ONE of the following conditions, as defined below: Specialized Experience: For the GS-11, you must have one (1) year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service, public or other private sectors that is directly related to the position as listed above and which has equipped the candidate with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience for this position includes ALL of the following: Take notes during attorney proffers and witness interviews and prepare memoranda from those notes; AND Perform legal research to supply information for inclusion in memoranda, briefs, and similar documents; AND Provide guidance and advice to junior paralegals and/or distribute assignments to junior paralegals on behalf of attorneys. OR Education: Successful completion of a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or LL.M., if related. OR Combination of Education and Experience: Combination of successfully completed graduate education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements. In order to qualify based on a combination, graduate education must be in excess of two full years. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees applying for a higher grade must meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. You MUST provide an SF-50, which shows position, type of service appointment, tenure group, grade, duty location, and salary. If your most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year (52 weeks) time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. Consider providing an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade (examples of appropriate SF-50s include: Promotions; Within Grade/Range Increases; and SF-50s dated a year apart within the same grade/position. No award SF-50s will be accepted). Failure to submit the required SF-50 document will result in an ineligible rating under merit promotion procedures. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement and current Federal employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. In order to be rated as qualified for this position, we must be able to determine that you meet the specialized experience requirement - please be sure to include this information in your resume. To be creditable, this experience must have been equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the next lower grade of the position to be filled. Specialized experience is defined as experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, in the Federal service, public or other private sectors, and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. 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. All qualifications and education requirements (if applicable) must be met by the closing date of this announcement and clearly documented in your resume. YOUR RESUME MUST support your responses to the online questionnaire and provide specific details as to how your experience meets the specialized experience as described in the vacancy announcement. If you are using experience to meet all or part of the qualification requirements, please ensure that your resume includes the month and year that you began and ended each position held or that position will not be credited toward meeting the specialized experience requirement. Part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience. Failure to provide details will result in an ineligible rating. Your latest resume submitted for this vacancy announcement will be used to determine qualifications and supersedes previous submissions. Note: Applicants are required to have completed their degree prior to submitting an application. Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)- The ICTAP provides eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your ICTAP eligibility; 2) you apply under the instructions in the 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 proof of eligibility to receive selection priority. Such proof may include a copy of your written notification of ICTAP eligibility or a copy of your separation personnel action form. Additional information about ICTAP eligibility is at: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. 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/.