Paralegal Specialist

Full Job Description

For more information on the Department of Justice and the United States Attorneys' Offices, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/.

As needed, additional positions may be filled using this announcement. Salary contains multiple grades/steps.

In most cases, the salary is set at the minimum salary for the grade applicant(s) is selected.

This position is also being announced to applicants eligible to apply through Merit Staffing procedures under 26-CAE-12917950-MS GS-9: To be eligible at the GS-9 level, you must have at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-7 grade level in the Federal service as defined below; or Master's or equivalent graduate degree if in a related field (e.g., criminal justice, law) or, two full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or an LL.B or J.D.

if in a related field (e.g., criminal justice, law); or a combination of both specialized experience and education as explained below.

Specialized Experience is defined as experience performing civil judicial litigation support.

"Judicial litigation support experience" refers to support of cases litigated in court (not in administrative proceedings).

Specialized experience involves performing paralegal or legal work using automated litigation computer programs (ex.

Everlaw; Relativity, Summation, Case Map, Trial Director, Eclipse, EScanIT) to perform most or all of the following tasks: (a) organizing and managing voluminous collections of evidence and discovery in both paper and electronic formats; (b) creating, coding, indexing, and managing litigation databases of electronically stored discovery and evidence; (c) retrieving specified information from litigation databases of electronically stored discovery and evidence, with keyword searches and related techniques; (d) preparing exhibits in digital form for presentation at trial; and (e) presenting digital exhibits during trial.

A combination of experience and graduate level education can be used if, when combined, are equivalent to 100% of the qualification requirement.

Only graduate level education in excess of the first full year can be used in this calculation.

To calculate your percentage of graduate education, first determine the total number of graduate level hours that exceed 18 semester hours (or your school's definition of one year of graduate study), then divide the total number of your excess graduate semester hours by 18 (or your school's definition of one year of graduate study).

To calculate your percentage of specialized experience, divide the total number of months of qualifying experience by 12. Now, add the two percentages together.

The sum of the percentages must equal at least 100%.

GS-11: To be eligible at the GS-11 level, you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level in the Federal service as defined below; or Ph.D.

or equivalent doctoral degree, if in a related field (e.g., criminal justice, law), or, three full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or, LL.M.

if in a related field (e.g., criminal justice, law); or a combination of both specialized experience and education as explained below.

Specialized Experience is defined as experience performing civil judicial litigation support.

"Judicial litigation support experience" refers to support of cases litigated in court (not in administrative proceedings).

Specialized experience involves independently performing most or all of the following tasks: (a) organizing and managing voluminous collections of evidence and discovery in both paper and electronic formats; (b) creating, coding, indexing, and managing litigation databases of electronically stored discovery and evidence; (c) retrieving specified information from litigation databases of electronically stored discovery and evidence, with keyword searches and related techniques; (d) preparing exhibits in digital form for presentation at trial; (e) presenting digital exhibits during trial; and (f) using Everlaw, Relativity, Summation, Case Map, Trial Director, Eclipse, EScanIT, or other advanced litigation support computer programs, to perform the foregoing tasks.

A combination of experience and graduate level education can be used if, when combined, are equivalent to 100% of the qualification requirement.

Only graduate level education in excess of the first two years can be used in this calculation.

To calculate your percentage of graduate education, first determine the total number of graduate level hours that exceed 36 semester hours (or your school's definition of two years of graduate study), then divide the total number of your excess graduate semester hours by 18 (or your school's definition of one year of graduate study).

To calculate your percentage of specialized experience, divide the total number of months of qualifying experience by 12. Now, add the two percentages together.

The sum of the percentages must equal at least 100%.

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)- The ICTAP provides eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies.

If your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your ICTAP eligibility; 2) you apply under the instructions in the announcement; and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy.

To be well-qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and receive a score of 85 or better on established ranking criteria.

You must provide proof of eligibility to receive selection priority. Such proof may include a copy of your written notification of ICTAP eligibility or a copy of your separation personnel action form.

Additional information about ICTAP eligibility is at: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)-The CTAP provides eligible surplus and displaced competitive service employees in the Department of Justice with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies.

If your Department of Justice component has notified you in writing that you are a surplus or displaced employee eligible for CTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your CTAP eligibility, 2) you apply under the instructions in this announcement, and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy.

To be well qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and receive a score of 85 or better on established ranking criteria.

You must provide a copy of your written notification of CTAP eligibility with your application.

Additional information about CTAP eligibility is at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. Major Duties:

As a Paralegal Specialist in the United States Attorney's Office (USAO), you will join a well-respected team that is responsible for providing a variety of legal support services to the United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California.

You will be assigned to the Civil Division in the Sacramento office.

Duties will include, but are not limited to: Performs extensive legal research into laws, legislative history, precedent setting cases, decisions, and opinions that may be applicable; especially pertaining to immigration cases.

Creates and manages physical and electronic case files for complex cases with voluminous discovery and evidence.

Analyzes documents, reports, and correspondence as well as prepares a wide variety of documents.

Organizes, indexes, summarizes, and retrieves information from voluminous collections of discovery materials and trial exhibits (in both paper and digital formats).

Presents digital exhibits and visual materials at trial using most advanced trial presentation software available. Assists Assistant U.S. Attorneys in preparing civil cases for trial.

Various litigation casework may include but is not limited to: healthcare fraud, civil rights enforcement, wildlife recovery actions, employment-discrimination actions, Social Security, Medicare, and immigration matters.

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