Legal Assistant

Full Job Description

This position is located in the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the General Counsel, headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia.

This announcement has an applicant limit of 100 and will close on the day that 100 applications have been received, at 11:59 PM.

Please read the "How You'll be Evaluated" section for specific details regarding the evaluation process for this job.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR GS-07 Specialized Experience You must have one year specialized experience to perform successfully the duties of the position.

To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-06 grade level in the Federal service performing ALL of the following: Gathering information to prepare working documents and forms.

Preparing confidential and time sensitive correspondence for review by senior leadership. Managing the scheduling of appointments for visitors and/or travel for others.

GS-08 Specialized Experience You must have one year specialized experience to perform successfully the duties of the position.

To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service performing ALL of the following: Applying legal regulations, policies and procedures for complex legal documents and cases to conduct extensive searches of records, references, or historical matter.

Preparing confidential and time sensitive correspondence for review by senior leadership. Managing the scheduling of appointments for visitors and/or travel for others.

Provide legal support on behalf of a client agency. GS-09 Specialized Experience You must have one year specialized experience to perform successfully the duties of the position.

To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-08 grade level in the Federal service performing ALL of the following: Applying legal regulations, policies and procedures for complex legal documents and cases to conduct extensive searches of records, references, or historical mater.

Identifying and/or recommending improvements of legal and office procedures and workflow patterns for subordinate organizations to supervisor and senior staff.

Coordinating necessary arrangements for travel, arranging schedule of visits, making reservations, notifying organization and officials to be visited, and/or preparing travel vouchers via the automated travel management system.

Correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, style, and legal and technical terminology and formats required. Providing legal support on behalf of a client agency.

Documenting experience: IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience.

In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time.

As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification.

Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume.

Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational application questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

In accordance with Office of Personnel Management policy, federal employees are assumed to have gained experience by performing duties and responsibilities appropriate for their official series and grade level as described in their position description.

Experience that would not normally be part of the employee's position is creditable, however, when documented by satisfactory evidence, such as a signed memorandum from the employee's supervisor or an SF-50 or SF-52 documenting an official detail or other official assignment.

The documentation must indicate whether the duties were performed full time or, if part time, the "percentage of times" the other duties were performed.

It is expected that this documentation is included in the employee's official personnel record.

In order to receive credit for experience in your resume that is not within the official series and grade level of your official position, you must provide a copy of the appropriate documentation of such experience as indicated above.

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; community; student; social).

Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to gain employment.

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

If such experience is on a part-time basis, you must provide the average number of hours worked per week as well as the beginning and ending dates of the experience so it can be fully credited.

OPM Qualification General Policies Website Major Duties:

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING DAY TO DAY As an Legal Assistant , you will use your knowledge and experience to optimize business results and customer experience by: Reviews requests for advice and other legal documents and screens outgoing memoranda, correspondence and documents for clarity accuracy and completeness.

Ensures outgoing documents comply with legal format requirements.

Annotates case files and status reports to reflect receipt and due dates for response or other action and maintains an automated tracking system of all cases in the Division.

Maintains and updated litigation report for the attorneys.

Coordinate necessary arrangements for travel, arranges schedule of visits, makes reservations, notifies organization and officials to be visited, and prepares travel vouchers via the automated travel management system.

Keep attorney(s) and supervisor(s) informed of important matters while in travel status based on knowledge of program activities and current priorities.

Receives both written and telephone requests for assistance and makes a preliminary determination of appropriate handling.

Obtains available information and documents necessary for resolution by the attorneys.