Paralegal Specialist

Full Job Description

The position is in the Office of the Legal Adviser, Office of Consular Affairs (L/CA).

The office provides legal advice and services relative to all matters, international and domestic, in support of the Department.

Applicants must meet all the required qualification requirements described below by the closing date of this announcement.

If you are qualifying based on education OR if there are mandatory education requirements listed below, you MUST submit a copy of your college transcript with your application.

NOTE: Applicants must meet time-in-grade and time after competitive appointment requirements, by the closing date of this announcement.

Time-In-Grade Requirements: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions, per 5CFR 300, Subpart F.

Applicants applying for the GS-11 grade level must meet one of the following requirements: A.

Have at least 1 full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level in the Federal service which provided you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position.

Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following: • Experience maintaining, updating, and supporting litigation tracking systems including case management systems and litigation holds trackers, including experience responding to attorney and client office inquiries related to these systems and the information being requested and/or tracked.

• Experience providing direct support to attorneys by preparing, analyzing, and processing legal documents, including for discovery.

• Experience preparing briefing materials, deposition, trial, and/or other compilations of documents to support attorneys during the course of litigation, and training materials related to litigation resources such as eRecords.

• Experience maintaining data and tracking submissions related to legal cases, including receiving, reviewing and processing legal documents served to an organization or agency, ensuring compliance with legal requirements, and directing submissions to the appropriate attorney or office.

OR B. Have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree OR 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or LL.M. from an accredited college or university. OR C.

Have a combination of graduate level education and specialized experience (as described above), which is equivalent to the GS- 09 level in the Federal Service.

This experience and education together meets 100% of the qualification requirements for this position.

Combination of Experience and Education: When an applicant has less than one year of specialized experience as described in the announcement, he or she may combine successfully completed graduate-level education with experience to meet the total qualification requirements.

Generally, 18 graduate semester hours is equivalent to 1 full-time year of graduate study (your school and department determine what constitutes 1 full time year of graduate study).

The percentage of specialized work experience and the percentage of graduate study must total at least 100%.

Note: All applicants WILL BE required to submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement.

If you fail to provide requested information, or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility, you may lose consideration for this position. Major Duties:

• Relies on experience and training, initiative, resourcefulness, and knowledge of current agency interests and priorities when determining the depth of and time devoted to analysis, interpretation, and application of guidelines and precedents.
• Administers the litigation case management system, which is used to document and track cases. Provides technical assistance to legal staff in using automated case management systems.
• Independently performs legal research of a variety and complexity in the specialty area.
• Prepares reports, exhibits, memoranda, and statistical analyses to be used in litigating cases or answering legal questions.