PARALEGAL SPECIALIST

Summary

This position is part of the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The incumbent will be responsible for serving the Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (LC), the Office of Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (OCJCS/LC), military judge advocates, and civilian attorneys assigned to the OCJCS/LC.

Duties

As a PARALEGAL SPECIALIST at the GS-0950-11 some of your typical work assignments may include: Acts as the research, review, and document development paralegal to LC, the Principal Deputy Legal Counsel, Chief, International and Administrative Law, OCJCS/LC Senior Ethics Attorney, and supports OCJCS/LC attorneys by providing extensive, detailed legal research, and writing in complex areas of Ethics and Standards of Conduct and administrative law. Prepares legal memos, summaries, and proposals of significant content, depth, and complexity for LC, the Principal Deputy Legal Counsel, Branch Chiefs, OCJCS/LC Senior Ethics Attorney, and OCJCS/LC military and civilian attorneys review and approval. Serves as the paralegal to LC, the Principal Deputy Legal Counsel, Branch Chiefs, OCJCS/LC Senior Ethics Attorney, and supports OCJCS/LC military and civilian attorneys in the development, design, management, maintenance, and oversight of the OCJCS/LC ethics and standards of conduct program. Receives, analyzes, provides technical reviews of Public Financial Disclosure Reports (OGE 278e's) in the Integrity mandatory electronic filing system, and Confidential Financial Disclosure Reports (OGE 450's) in the Financial Disclosure Management (FDM) mandatory electronic filing system. Monitors changes in law and regulation pertaining to ethics and standards of conduct, and supports LC, the Principal Deputy Legal Counsel, Branch Chiefs, and OCJCS/LC Senior Ethics Attorney in the development and execution of the OCJCS/LC annual ethics training program. Serves as the OCJCS/LC Law Office Manager for legal research including LexisNexis as well as the Assistant Security Manager. Acts as an official, unbiased witness to attest to the identity and signature of JS personnel entitled to notary and other legal assistance services. Directly supports OCJCS/LC attorneys and JS Directorates for negotiation and reporting of international agreements with the JS, Combatant Commands, and as required throughout Department of War (DoW).

Qualifications

You may qualify at the GS-11, if you fulfill the following qualifications: A. One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service: Providing law office administrative support including customer, client, and co-worker support, preparing legal memos, summaries, and assessments of significant content, depth, and complexity for military and civilian attorneys review and approval; Applying Administrative Law, including Investigations, Military Justice, Civilian Personnel Law, Equal Employment Opportunity issues, Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act, litigation support and associated discovery, Claims, International Agreements, Memorandums of Agreement and Memorandums of Understanding, and Legislative Affairs; Understanding the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) financial disclosure program including Public Financial Disclosure Reports (OGE 278e's) in the Integrity mandatory electronic filing system, and Confidential Financial Disclosure Reports (OGE 450's) in the Financial Disclosure Management (FDM) mandatory electronic filing system, supporting senior officials, General and Flag Officers and Senior Executive Service (SES) personnel regarding potential for disqualification for conflicts of interest, divestiture of personal financial interests, and other corrective actions; Accepting gifts offered to the federal government, analyzing gift requests and determining appropriate legal basis for acceptance or rejection, drafting gift acceptance documents, and providing written briefs of the legal and policy basis for gift acceptance and/or rejection; Recognizing Official Tasker Support and demonstrating knowledge of Department of War (DoW) policies, processes, and procedures in the execution and management of official tasking management systems including the ETMS2 (Enterprise Task Management Software Solution) system ensuring proper handling, marking, and protection of classified information, controlled unclassified information, and other sensitive information protected by law, such as the Privacy Act and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. OR B. 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 C. You have some specialized experience as described in A, but less than one year; and you have more than one year but less than two years of education as described in B. You have computed the percentage of the requirements that you meet, and the total is at least 100%. (To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond the first year by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.) 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. This announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

Education

ARE YOU USING YOUR EDUCATION TO QUALIFY? You MUST provide transcripts or other documentation to support your educational claims. All materials must be submitted by the closing date of the announcement. GRADUATE EDUCATION: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours that your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis. If you cannot obtain your graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study. Foreign education may be qualifying if a private organization specializing in interpreting foreign education programs has deemed the foreign education equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program or a U.S. accredited college or university has given full credit for the foreign courses. Unofficial transcripts from U.S. Department of Education accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions listing your name, the name of the school, the date and degree awarded, and the list of classes and credits earned are acceptable for the application process. If selected, official transcripts are required before a firm job offer is made. A photocopy of your degree/diploma is not acceptable. When relying on foreign education, submit transcripts and a copy of the equivalency evaluation results letter with a course-by-course listing. Documents must be in English or include an English translation. The hiring employer for this position does not evaluate degrees from foreign colleges or universities. For further information, visit: Foreign Education

How You Will Be Evaluated

To apply for this position, you must complete the online application and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on the closing date to receive consideration. To begin, click Apply Online to access an online application. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account or you may need to create a new account. You will be taken to an online application. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation, and submit the application. NOTE: Resumes up to a total of two pages will be accepted. Resumes exceeding two pages will be removed from consideration. You will receive an email notification when your application has been received for the announcement. To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account, https://www.usajobs.gov, select the Application Status link and then select the More Information link for this position. The Application Status page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and your responses submitted to the online application. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process. To preview the questionnaire, please go to https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13028100. To review the status of an application through USAJOBS: 1. Log into your USAJOBS account 2. Click Application Status within your profile to expand your application 3. Locate the job announcement and click the more information link under the Status column for this position. You will be routed to Application Manager. The Details tab displays by default. The Details tab displays comprehensive information about the selected Application Package including: assessment(s) and the status, supporting documents and their status, correspondence sent to you by the hiring agency, and your application processing status. To fax supporting documents you are unable to upload, complete this cover page http://staffing.opm.gov/pdf/usascover.pdf . Fax your documents to 1-478-757-3144. You are highly encouraged to submit your application package and complete your assessment questionnaire on-line. Please review the General Application Information and Definitions at: https://www.dla.mil/Portals/104/Documents/Careers/downloads/DoDGenAppInfo%2012-1-2020.pdf?ver=ECNbdsHtGilTd3OENN4A0Q%3d%3d

Required Documents

The documents you are required to submit vary based on the authority you are using to apply (i.e., applying as a veteran, applying as a current permanent Federal employee, applying as a reinstatement, etc.). Your complete application includes your COMPLETE resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further. The following documents are REQUIRED 1. Resume: All applicants are required to submit a resume limited to two (2) pages showing all relevant experience. Your resume must address your qualifications for the position, and it may not exceed two (2) pages. Your 2-page (or less) resume must be in PDF format, with no smaller than a 0.5" margin and no smaller than a 10-point font. If you submit a resume that exceeds the two-page limit and/or does not meet the margin or font limitations stated herein, you will immediately be deemed ineligible for this position and will be removed from further consideration. Must include the work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment, and duties performed. The resume and required supporting documentation should provide the minimum qualifications and relevant experience for the announced position. If multiple resumes are submitted by an applicant, only the last resume submitted will be reviewed for qualifications and referred for selection consideration, if eligible. The resume must not be more than 5MB and should be saved and uploaded as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a font like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Additional guidance on writing a federal resume can be found at: USAJOBS Help Center - How do I write a resume for a federal job? The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. 2. Transcripts: College transcript (s), required if qualifying based on education. We accept unofficial transcripts, as long as they contain your name, the name of the school, the date and degree that was awarded, and the list of classes and credits earned. 3. SF50 All current and former civilian Federal employees must submit a copy of your MOST RECENT SF50 (Notification of Personnel Action) showing your tenure, grade and step, salary, and type of position occupied (i.e., Excepted or Competitive); or similar Notification of Personnel Action documentation, i.e., Transcript of Service, Form 1150, etc. This is also a requirement to verify your Time in Grade (TIG). 4. Veteran's Documents: If applying using veteran's preference or under a Veteran's hiring authority you must submit the following documents: DD214 showing character of service, SF-15 Form and VA letter showing final percentage, or certification of expected discharge or release from active duty. PLEASE REVIEW THE BELOW LINK FOR OTHER SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS needed for proof of eligibility: https://www.dla.mil/Portals/104/Documents/Careers/downloads/DODCustomersRequiredSupportingDocumentation.pdf

How to Apply

To apply for this position, you must complete the online application and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on the closing date to receive consideration. To begin, click Apply Online to access an online application. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account or you may need to create a new account. You will be taken to an online application. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation, and submit the application. NOTE: Resumes up to a total of two pages will be accepted. Resumes exceeding two pages will be removed from consideration. You will receive an email notification when your application has been received for the announcement. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted th...

You may qualify at the GS-11, if you fulfill the following qualifications: A. One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service: Providing law office administrative support including customer, client, and co-worker support, preparing legal memos, summaries, and assessments of significant content, depth, and complexity for military and civilian attorneys review and approval; Applying Administrative Law, including Investigations, Military Justice, Civilian Personnel Law, Equal Employment Opportunity issues, Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act, litigation support and associated discovery, Claims, International Agreements, Memorandums of Agreement and Memorandums of Understanding, and Legislative Affairs; Understanding the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) financial disclosure program including Public Financial Disclosure Reports (OGE 278e's) in the Integrity mandatory electronic filing system, and Confidential Financial Disclosure Reports (OGE 450's) in the Financial Disclosure Management (FDM) mandatory electronic filing system, supporting senior officials, General and Flag Officers and Senior Executive Service (SES) personnel regarding potential for disqualification for conflicts of interest, divestiture of personal financial interests, and other corrective actions; Accepting gifts offered to the federal government, analyzing gift requests and determining appropriate legal basis for acceptance or rejection, drafting gift acceptance documents, and providing written briefs of the legal and policy basis for gift acceptance and/or rejection; Recognizing Official Tasker Support and demonstrating knowledge of Department of War (DoW) policies, processes, and procedures in the execution and management of official tasking management systems including the ETMS2 (Enterprise Task Management Software Solution) system ensuring proper handling, marking, and protection of classified information, controlled unclassified information, and other sensitive information protected by law, such as the Privacy Act and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. OR B. 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 C. You have some specialized experience as described in A, but less than one year; and you have more than one year but less than two years of education as described in B. You have computed the percentage of the requirements that you meet, and the total is at least 100%. (To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond the first year by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.) 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. This announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.