Paralegal Specialist

About the role

If selected, you will serve as a Paralegal Specialist in the Civil Division of the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) for the Western District of Washington. You will be responsible for providing substantive legal support to Assistant United States Attorney's (AUSAs) in a variety of litigative activities related to defensive litigation, such as immigration, Federal employment, torts, constitutional law and challenges to agency actions.

Responsibilities

At the full performance level, typical work assignments will include:

• Independently performing extensive and thorough legal research into legislative history, precedent cases, decisions, and opinions that may be applicable to particular legal matters;
• Organizing and preparing research material, determining pertinent information, reconciling conflicting facts, making sound interpretations, and preparing initial summaries;
• Drafting initial and legal administrative briefs, USAO motions, oppositions to defense motions, and correspondence for AUSA review;
• Verifying citations and statutory references against original sources;
• Coordinating production of administrative records and responses to requests for discovery;
• Examining and evaluating information in case files, following agency standards regarding case litigation worthiness and appropriate titles of law.

Initially, litigation casework will consist predominantly or exclusively of immigration matters. However, as workload and office needs allow, there may be opportunities to work on or transition to non-immigration civil defensive practice areas. 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.

Qualifications

To be eligible at the GS-9 level, you must meet at least ONE of the following conditions: Specialized Experience, Education, OR a Combination of Education and Experience.

• Specialized Experience: One full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-7 level. Specialized experience is defined as experience performing paralegal or legal work which demonstrates a basic knowledge of legal research and the ability to interpret legal decisions.
• Education: One of the following types of education in a related field (e.g., Criminal Justice, Law): a Master's or equivalent graduate degree (such as an LL.B. or J.D.); OR 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree.
• Combining Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed graduate education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements.

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.