General Attorney (Ethics)

Full Job Description

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) is seeking an energetic and dedicated attorney to join the Ethics Division's Washington, D.C.

location. One or more positions may be filled using this vacancy announcement. Unless otherwise noted, you must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements by 11:59 P.M.

Eastern Daylight Time on 04/21/2026. Please note that qualification claims will be subject to verification.

Applicants should be able to efficiently produce quality legal analysis of complex and novel issues, exercise sound legal judgment, prioritize competing assignments, and work effectively independently, as part of a team, and across work units.

Applicants should be detail-oriented and have a strong interest in supporting and providing stellar client services to program offices, including law enforcement officers, policymakers, attorneys, and agency senior leadership, and must be able to tailor communications to a particular audience.

Applicants should be able to take the initiative and work in a reliable, decisive, and professional manner.

Applicants should possess the following characteristics and competencies: integrity, sound professional judgment, organizational skills, decisiveness, initiative, the ability to function independently and cooperatively, and superior written and oral advocacy skills.

Applicants must possess subject matter expertise and extensive experience either in government ethics or attorney professional responsibility.

Bar Membership: You must be an active member in good standing of the bar of a state, territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees.

If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

The Department of Homeland Security encourages persons with disabilities to apply, to include persons with intellectual, severe physical or psychiatric disabilities, as defined by 5 C.F.R.

§ 213.3102(u), and/or Disabled Veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more as defined by 5 C.F.R. § 315.707.

Veterans, Peace Corps/VISTA volunteers, and persons with disabilities possess a wealth of unique talents, experiences, and competencies that can be invaluable to the DHS mission.

If you are a member of one of these groups, you may not have to compete with the public for federal jobs. Major Duties:

OPLA is the largest legal program in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), employing over 3,000 attorneys nationwide.

OPLA serves as the exclusive representative of DHS in removal proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review, litigating cases involving criminal aliens, terrorists, human rights abusers, and other aliens posing a threat to our homeland security.

OPLA also provides specialized legal advice and a full range of legal services to all ICE directorates and program offices.

Specifically, divisions within OPLA's Enforcement, General Law, and Litigation (EG&L), through close client engagement, advance ICE's homeland security and public safety mission by providing expert legal advice and guidance to ICE personnel enforcing our nation's immigration, customs, and criminal law and policies.

EG&L divisions also advise and provide prudential counsel to an array of operational and policy clients within ICE on contracts, fiscal, and information law issues, as well as ethics matters.

An ICE ethics attorney will work as a member of the Ethics Division within EG&L to provide training and guidance on the Executive Branch Standards of Conduct program for government employees and on attorney professional responsibility matters.

The responsibilities of the position will consist primarily of providing counsel to ICE employees at all grade levels to include senior officials, including providing guidance and issuing advisory opinions in response to written and verbal requests for advice; reviewing public and confidential financial disclosure reports filed by covered management officials and researching the investments and positions held to identify and assess potential conflicts of interest; assisting with the drafting and implementation of agency ethics rules, instructions, and policies; providing group training to ICE program offices on government ethics and to attorneys on professional responsibility; and providing attorney professional responsibility advice and training to OPLA attorneys.

Selected attorneys will immediately be given significant responsibilities and will be expected to craft persuasive, legally supportable positions to address the needs of agency operational components.

Selected attorneys will be expected to routinely provide timely legal opinions to ICE officers and agents, division management, and leadership within OPLA, ICE, and the DHS Office of the General Counsel Headquarters.