Legal Assistant (Office Automation)

Duties

• Examines, prepares, and processes a variety of legal documents, e.g., complaints, motions, orders, answers, pleadings, subpoenas, etc.
• Provides assistance to attorneys in trial preparation and exhibits.
• Maintains calendar(s) of assigned attorney(s), tracks filings, hearings, and trial dates, schedules appointments, conferences and interviews.
• Provides reminders of commitments and court appearances.
• Arranges travel including but not limited to, scheduling flights, hotel reservations, and rental car.
• Produces a variety of written legal documents and materials using a wide range of office software applications.
• Provides automation litigation assistance to attorneys in trial preparation and courtroom presentations.

Requirements

• Conditions of employment: 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.
• Time-in-Grade: Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements within 30 days after the closing date of this announcement.
• Type of Appointment: To be eligible at the GS-06 level, you must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 level. Specialized experience is defined as experience reviewing legal documents such as complaints, motions, orders, answers, pleadings, subpoenas, and libels for completeness of information; retrieving and assembling information for hearing and/or trial use; researching a variety of legal sources to obtain and/or verify information; and using automated software to produce legal related reports, documents, correspondence and related materials.
• To be eligible at the GS-07 level, you must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-06 level. Specialized experience is defined as experience providing assistance to attorneys by preparing complaints, motions, subpoenas, orders, or other hearing and/or trial documents accurately and in proper format; verifying citations and statutory references contained in legal documents; assisting with discovery, hearing or trial preparation by performing duties such as compiling trial notebooks, assembling jury instructions, and compiling witness and exhibit lists; and using automated software to produce legal related reports and documents, including developing tables of contents and indices to briefs.
• 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/.
• Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA): VEOA allows eligible veterans to apply and compete for positions announced under merit promotion procedures when the hiring agency is recruiting from outside its own workforce. To be eligible for a VEOA appointment, a veteran must be honorably separated and either a preference eligible or have substantially completed three (3) or more years of continuous active military service. If you are applying for a Merit Promotion announcement and wish to be considered under VEOA, you must submit a copy of the Member Copy 4 of your DD-214, in addition to any other required documents listed on this announcement.
• Special Employment Consideration: Persons with disabilities, veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more, certain other veterans, spouses of certain members of the armed forces, and returning Peace Corps volunteers are examples of individuals who are potentially eligible for non-competitive appointments. For further information, click on the links provided below.

Qualifications

• Education: This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Benefits

• The salary range listed above is $45,409 to $65,599 per annum for Albany and Macon, Georgia locations and $48,019 to $69,371 per annum for Columbus, Georgia.
• Payment of relocation expenses will not be authorized.
• 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.