Clarification from the agency

All United States Citizens and Nationals

AUSAs in the Civil Division work on a diverse range of defensive matters, including personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death, and other tort actions; employment discrimination actions; immigration matters; prisoner litigation; and actions challenging governmental policies, activities, and decisions. Civil AUSAs also handle affirmative investigations and cases involving fraud, immigration, forfeiture, and other areas. Day to day responsibilities include working with client agencies and investigators to gather information, conducting legal research, engaging in motion practice, preparing and answering discovery requests, defending and taking depositions, retaining and working with experts, negotiating settlements, trying cases, and briefing and arguing appeals.

The successful candidate will be primarily responsible for representing the United States of America, Federal agencies, and Federal employees in a wide variety of civil defensive litigation. The caseload may include defending immigration cases; employment discrimination cases; medical malpractice, premises liability, and other tort litigation; statutory and constitutional challenges to government programs; Administrative Procedure Act cases; FOIA and Privacy Act cases; and Bivens civil rights suits.

Although this position is primarily focused on civil defensive litigation, the successful candidate may also be assigned affirmative civil cases. This area includes False Claims Act actions involving healthcare fraud and fraud on pandemic-era programs.

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

Security Requirements: Initial appointment is conditioned upon a satisfactory preemployment adjudication. This includes fingerprint, credit and tax checks, and drug testing. In addition, continued employment is subject to a favorable adjudication of a background investigation.

Residency Requirements: Assistant United States Attorneys generally must reside in the district to which he or she is appointed or within 25 miles thereof. See 28 U.S.C. 545 for district-specific information.

Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. See www.sss.gov.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a United States Citizen or National.
• Initial appointment is conditioned upon a satisfactory preemployment 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.
• J.D. degree and active member of the bar (any U.S. jurisdiction) required.
• Must reside in the district to which appointed or within 25 miles thereof. See 28 U.S.C. 545 for district specific information.

Qualifications

Required qualifications: Applicants must possess a J.D. degree (or equivalent), be an active member of the bar (any U.S. jurisdiction) and have a minimum of 2 years post-J.D. (or equivalent) legal or other relevant experience is required and possess superior oral and written communication skills as well as strong interpersonal skills, exhibit good judgment and function with minimal guidance in a highly demanding environment.

Preferred Qualifications: Strong advocacy skills, academic credentials, superior legal research and writing skills, quick analytical ability to accurately and precisely articulate critical case related issues, good interpersonal skills, the ability to work in a supportive and professional team environment with client agencies, support staff, and other attorneys, and sound legal and ethical judgment.

You must meet all qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Evaluation Method: Once your complete application package is received, it will be reviewed to ensure you meet all job requirements. An attorney interview panel will then review all qualified applicants and make recommendations for invitation to interview. You will be notified if selected for an interview.

The Occupational Questionnaire will take you approximately 20 minutes to complete.

Veterans' Preference: There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of Justice considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. Applicants eligible for veterans' preference must indicate their preference in response to the appropriate question in their assessment questionnaire (it is also recommended that information is included in their cover letter or resume) and they must submit supporting documentation (e.g., DD 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty and other supporting documentation) which verifies their eligibility for preference. Although the "point" system is not used, per se, applicants eligible to claim 10-point preference must submit Standard Form (SF) 15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference, and submit the supporting documentation required for the specific type of preference claimed (visit the OPM website, http://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf15.pdf for a copy of SF 15, which lists the types of 10-point preferences and the required supporting document(s). Applicants should note that SF 15 requires supporting documentation associated with service-connected disabilities or receipt of nonservice-connected disability pensions to be dated 1991 or later except in the case of service members submitting official statements or retirement orders from a branch of the Armed Forces showing that retirement was due to a permanent service-connected disability or that they were transferred to the permanent disability retired list (the statement or retirement orders must indicate that the disability is 10% or more).

Reasonable Accommodations: This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify the agency. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.

- Required: Your responses to the Online Occupational Questionnaire (This is completed automatically during the apply online process)
- Required: Your resume cannot exceed two pages - you will be deemed ineligible and receive no further consideration if your resume exceeds two pages - see USAJOBS for formatting requirements. Include relevant employment history as outlined below for each job:

• Official position title (if Federal, include series/grade),
• Employer name and contact information,
• Start and end dates (for full consideration you must include month, day, and year),
• Indicate full-time or number of hours worked per week if part-time, and
• A list of duties performed and accomplishments.

• Position title;
• Type of appointment (Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES, or Presidential Appointee);
• Agency; and
• Beginning and ending dates of appointment.

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