Legal Administrative Specialist

As needed, additional positions may be filled using this announcement.

About the Role

At the full performance level, you will support civil and criminal litigation teams by performing litigation support duties necessary to process electronic discovery and prepare it for review and production, using a variety of litigation support software applications and methods requiring analysis of needs to determine appropriate methods. If selected, you will receive formal and/or on-the-job training as needed.

Responsibilities

• Providing guidance to litigation teams on strategies and appropriate software tools for effectively organizing, storing, preserving, collecting, processing, reviewing, producing, and presenting electronic case materials.
• Using specialized software applications to perform processing on various types of electronically stored information for purposes of discovery by consulting with litigation teams to understand case needs and technical requirements to develop a processing plan to best suit those needs.
• Designing, building, and maintaining document review databases, to include creating, modifying, importing, and exporting load files by consulting with litigation teams to understand case needs and technical requirements, and designing document review databases to best suit those needs. Providing guidance and training to teams on database functions.
• Generating electronic discovery productions (e.g., Bates-numbered images and searchable text or industry standard load files) that comply with court orders and meet the technical needs of litigation teams.
• Providing technical assistance to litigation teams presenting or filing electronic evidence or exhibits in legal proceedings, including creating electronic versions of exhibits, loading exhibits into courtroom presentation software, setting up courtroom presentation equipment, and assisting with the creation of demonstrative exhibits and audio or video clips.
• Providing customer support services, including troubleshooting, user assistance, and training, to litigation teams relating to their use of litigation support software applications.

Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress.

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 and eligibility requirements within 30 days after the closing date of this announcement and before placement in the position.

Qualifications

GS-11: To be eligible at the GS-11 level, you must meet at least ONE of the following conditions, as defined below: Specialized Experience, Education, OR a combination of Education and Experience.

Specialized Experience: One full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 level in the Federal service or equivalent paid/nonpaid experience in the private or public sector. Specialized Experience is defined as experience in a legal environment independently performing routine litigation support assignments in support of discovery, which require knowledge of a variety of methods and software applications to perform the processing, review, and/or production of commonly found Electronically Stored Information (ESI). Examples of specialized experiences include:

• Consulting with litigation team members to understand requirements for completing litigation support assignments and determining the appropriate technology (such as Everlaw, LAW Pre-Discovery, or Nuix) and method to process commonly-found electronic file formats (PDF, MS Office, emails, etc.);
• Loading processed discovery into databases and generating electronic discovery productions in support of investigations and litigations;
• Customizing and maintaining evidence databases using industry standard document review software (such as Everlaw, iPro Eclipse, or Relativity); or
• Independently providing customer support and training to case team members on using technology to organize, review, produce, and/or present case information.

Education: One of the following types of education in a related field (e.g., Criminal Justice, Paralegal Sciences, Law): a Ph.D. or equivalent doctorate degree; OR 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree. Education at the graduate level must be in an accredited college or university and must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the duties of the position.

Combining 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 2 full years.

Additional Information

• 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. To receive selection priority, you must: 1) be within your CTAP eligibility, 2) apply under the instructions in this announcement, and 3) be 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.
• Education: All academic degrees and coursework must be completed at a college or university that has obtained accreditation or pre-accreditation status from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence by submitting proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency with your application materials.
• Payment of relocation expenses will not be authorized.

Benefits

The Department of Justice offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes, in part, paid vacation; sick leave; holidays; telework; life insurance; health benefits; and participation in the Federal Employees Retirement System.