US Agency for International Development
The Office of the General Counsel (GC) provides legal advice, counsel, and services to the Agency and ensures that USAID programs are administered in accordance with legislative authorities and legal requirements. GC serves as the Agency’s chief legal officer and is the principal advisor to the administrator on Agency-wide legal and policy matters. GC also advises on legal matters concerning the operation and administration of USAID programs, and on matters relating to legislation.
Duties
- Providing legal advice, guidance and opinions to the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer and other agency officials regarding Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access (DEIA) legal and policy matters.
- Providing legal advice, guidance, and opinions to the Chief Human Capital Officer and subordinate staff within the Office of Human Capital and Talent Management (HCTM) on a day-to-day basis regarding all phases of personnel operations.
- Providing legal advice and guidance on the administration and implementation of the Civil Service Reform Act.
- Representing the Office of the General Counsel in discussions or correspondence with personnel or their attorneys on legal problems regarding their employment with USAID, such as terminations for cause, disciplinary actions.
- Representing the Agency in all administrative hearings before the Foreign Service Grievance Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and other administrative fora.
- Representing the Agency with the Department of Justice (DoJ) on personnel matters which involve USAID or in which USAID is a party to a suit.
Conditions of Employment
- United States Citizenship is required.
- Relevant experience (see Qualifications below).
- Must be able to obtain and maintain a security clearance.
- Males born after 12/31/1959, must be registered with the Selective Service.
- You may be required to serve a one-year probationary period.
- You must be a member in good standing of the bar of a state, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, or a territory of the United States.
- Be duly licensed and authorized to practice as an attorney under the laws of any State, territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, and be an active member of the bar in good standing.
- A J.D. or LL.M. degree from an ABA-accredited law school
Qualifications
GS-14: At least three (3) years of post J.D. or LL.M. legal experience, to include experience: a) Rendering legal advice on matters pertaining to personnel operations, administrative law and government ethics laws; b) Representing an organization in discussions with employees or their legal representation regarding such topics as employment discrimination, terminations for cause, disciplinary actions, administrative matters, grievances, and legal interpretation of applicable employment and ethics statutes; c) Independently preparing the necessary legal analysis and documents, such as pleading and briefs, for submission to Administrative Judges and panels involving personnel matters; d) Conducting complex litigation as the principal attorney including independently exercising responsibility for the development and presentation of the case.
GS-15: At least five (5) years of post J.D. or LL.M. legal experience, to include experience: a) Independently rendering legal advice on matters pertaining to personnel operations, administrative law and government ethics laws; b) Representing an organization in discussions with employees or their legal representation regarding such topics as employment discrimination, terminations for cause, disciplinary actions, administrative matters, grievances, and legal interpretation of applicable employment and ethics statutes; c) Independently preparing the necessary legal analysis and documents, such as pleading and briefs, for submission to Administrative Judges and panels involving personnel matters; d) Conducting highly complex litigation as the principal attorney including independently exercising responsibility for the development and presentation of the case.
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, relevant to the duties of the position to be filled, including volunteer experience.
CTAP/ICTAP candidates will be referred to the selecting official if they are found well qualified. Well-qualified means an eligible employee who possesses the knowledge, skills, and abilities which clearly exceed the minimum requirements of the position. A well-qualified employee must meet the qualification and eligibility requirements of the position, including any medical qualifications, suitability, and minimum education and experience requirements, meet all selective factors (where applicable); meet quality ranking factors and are assigned to the Silver Category or higher Category; be physically qualified with reasonable accommodation to perform the essential duties of the position; meet any special qualifying U.S. OPM-approved conditions; AND be able to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position upon entry without additional training.
A well-qualified candidate will not necessarily meet the definition of highly or best qualified when evaluated against other candidates who apply for a particular position. In the absence of selective and quality ranking factors, selecting officials will document the job-related reason(s) for qualification determinations.
How to apply
The following instructions outline our application process. You must complete this online application process and submit any applicable required documents by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. If applying online poses an extreme hardship, you must contact the human resources office no later than two business days before the closing date of this vacancy announcement. Our Office will provide an alternative application method upon approval of the hardship notification. After the advertisement has closed, we will not grant requests to apply via alternative plans.
Please note, we must receive all required documents by the closing date via online or alternative methods. We will determine your eligibility and qualifications based solely on the material received by the closing date.
Step 1 – Review the Job Announcement (https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11582145) Before you apply, we suggest you review the entire job announcement. Pay close attention to the Major Duties section and the How You Will Be Evaluated section, where you will see the areas upon which an HR Specialist or Subject Matter Expert will evaluate your application and a link for previewing online questions.
Step 2 – Create or Upload a resume with USAJOBS (www.usajobs.gov) Create or upload a resume in USAJOBS. You may wish to customize your resume to ensure it supports your responses to the online questions and addresses the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section of the job announcement. For resume tips, click here.-Although you must enter your Social Security Number (SSN) for USAJOBS, we will only see the last four digits for identification purposes.
Step 3 – Apply Online Click the “Apply Online” button on this announcement and then select the resume you wish to submit with your application. You will be redirected to the Department of the Treasury’s CareerConnector website to complete the application process.
Step 4 – Answer the Online Questions and Submit Your Online Application If this is your first time on Treasury’s CareerConnector website, the system will prompt you to register by answering questions about your eligibility for Federal employment. Select “Take me to the assessment” and click on the “Next” button to answer the job-specific questions. The system will save these responses and take you back to the main screen so that you can answer the job-specific questions. You must answer all the questions and click the “Finish” button.
Step 5 – Review and Confirm Your Submission You will now have the option to upload a document or print fax cover sheets for documents (see Step 6 for details). Once you click “Done,” you will see a summary of your application for your review, and you may also print a copy for your records. When you click “Finish” at the bottom of the page, our system will then direct you back to USAJOBS, where you can confirm that you correctly submitted your application, and you can track your application status.
Step 6 – Submit Documents You can submit any applicable required or optional documents (see below) by document upload, fax, or e-mail. Whichever method you choose, please include the job announcement number with your records. To protect your privacy, we encourage you to remove your SSN from any documents that you submit.
Document Upload: You may upload documents in one of two ways:
- Once you finish answering the questions in the job announcement, the system will prompt you to upload your document(s) to your application. You will be given a choice to either upload the document as part of the application process or select a copy that you’ve already loaded on USAJOBS. Or
- You can upload a document to an existing application by logging into your USAJOBS account profile. Click on “My Applications” and search for the vacancy. Once you’ve located the vacancy, click on the vacancy and select “Apply Online.” Move through your existing application to the Documents page and select upload to add a document to your application. Be sure to review your complete application for confirmation that you uploaded the document.