Supervisory Attorney Advisor (General)

Summary

The position is in the Office of the Secretary, Office of the General Counsel, Office of General Law. You will serve as the Supervisory Attorney Advisor for General Law and be the principal supervisory and managerial assistant to the Assistant General Counsel for General Law.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

Applications will be accepted from any U.S. Citizen. This position is in the Excepted Service. For information on the Excepted Service, please visit: Excepted Service Appointing Authorities@

Duties

The Supervisory Attorney Advisor (General):

Assists the Assistant General Counsel for General Law in monitoring and overseeing the general law activities of the Department including ethics, EEO and other internal and external civil rights matters; Federal personnel and employment, intellectual property; and drug and alcohol testing and control issues.

Aids in the supervision of all aspects of work performed by the attorneys and administrative staff in the Office of General Law, as well as any temporarily assigned honors attorneys, law clerks and interns. Under the supervision of the Assistant General Counsel for General Law, the Supervisory Attorney reviews and assigns projects, directs and evaluates performance, acts on recommendations, furnishes advice and assistance, approves or overrules proposed actions, and exercises all other appropriate supervisory functions.

Ensures that the Office provides effective legal advice and recommends the most appropriate ways to develop or implement new or revised Departmental policies. The Supervisory Attorney also is responsible for ensuring that these policies are consistent with the intent of the law and are administratively sound, efficient, and economical in operation.

Performs legal research and analysis, leads conferences and consultations, prepares written memoranda and opinions, and maintains effective working relationships with Departmental officials and other stakeholders to ensure understanding of the legal and policy implications involved in a matter.

Renders expert written or oral counsel, opinions, or decisions on the legal aspects of matters within the purview of the Office of General Law.

The ideal candidate is a highly motivated, self-reliant, and skilled individual willing to work in a challenging and fast-paced environment with experienced professionals committed to ensure that our Nation has the safest, most efficient, and modern transportation system in the world. This individual should have a keen interest in the legal areas listed in the Summary section of this announcement. The ideal candidate exercises initiative and must be creative in addressing complex/novel legal and policy matters.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

This is an Excepted Service position.

Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.

Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.

You must be a U.S.Citizen and eligible for consideration.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service.

TRIAL PERIOD: This is an Excepted Service position. This job will be filled by an alternative hiring process and is not in the competitive service. Applicants selected for an excepted service position may be subject to a two-year trial period.

ETHICS/CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT: All employees are subject to the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, set out in Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 2635, including restrictions on owning financial interests that may conflict with performance of their duties. Some employees, like those involved in contracting or regulating non-Federal entities, are subject to Executive Branch Financial Disclosure requirements set out in Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 2634.

GOVERNMENT TRAVEL CARD: This position involves travel. A government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only.

WRITING SAMPLE: If called for an interview, a writing sample will be requested to support your application (no more than 15 pages).

SUPERVISORY PROBATIONARY PERIOD: You must complete a one-year supervisory probationary period (unless already completed).

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet the EDUCATION AND SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE requirements.

To qualify for the Grade 15, you must have at least one year of specialized experience equal or equivalent to the GS-14, it must include:

Possess at least four years of professional legal experience in a government agency, private sector entity, or non-profit organization.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:

Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.

Legal, Government, and Jurisprudence - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, legal practices and documents, Government regulations, Executive orders, agency rules, Government organization and functions, and the democratic political process.

Written Communication - Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner for the intended audience.

Leadership - Influences, motivates, and challenges others; adapts leadership styles to a variety of situations.

For all types of consideration, 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, spiritual, community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link:

All applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

In order to qualify for this position, candidates must have successfully completed a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have a professional law degree and must currently be a member in good standing of the bar of a State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia.

Additional information

The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits the Department of Transportation and its Operating Administrations from requesting an applicant's criminal history record before that individual receives a conditional offer of employment. In accordance with and certain positions are exempt from the provisions of the Fair Chance to Compete Act. Applicants who believe they have been subjected to a violation of the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, may submit a written complaint to the Department of Transportation by email at, . To learn more, please visit our page at:

This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if similar vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume/application does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level

For this announcement, all applicants will be reviewed to determine if they meet the basic qualifications for this position, specifically the educational and specialized experience requirements.

Applicants will not be rated or ranked.

All applications that are verified to meet the basic qualifications will be referred to the selecting official.

The answers you select in the on-line process must be substantiated in your application package. If upon review, it is determined that your described work history, competencies, and/or supporting documents do not support your answer choices, you may not be referred to the selecting official. Please ensure that your work history provides enough details to support your answers.

You may for this vacancy.

Required Documents

RESUME:

Your resume MUST contain specific information used to make a qualification determination that includes employment beginning and ending dates for each position, whether employment is Full-time or Part-time or average number of hours worked per week, and position titles. If the position is/was in the Federal government, you will need to provide the position series and grade level. The resume should show relevant experience and education as well as support the required specialized experience. Formatted resumes may be uploaded later in the application process. For assistance with the resume builder, please visit:

TRANSCRIPTS - Transcripts are REQUIRED as there is a stated education requirement for the series. The transcripts need not be official, but must show that you meet the stated education requirements, including specific major or class requirements. Provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS/INCENTIVE AWARDS: If applicable, performance appraisals and/or Incentive award documentation may be submitted and will be forwarded to the selecting official as support in consideration of your application in the evaluation process. To receive credit, you must submit a recent performance appraisal (dated within 18 months) showing the official rating of record, signed by a supervisor, or statement why the performance appraisal is unavailable (do not submit a performance plan) and/or incentive award documentation dated within the last 18 months (i.e. superior performance awards, special act or achievement awards, quality step increases, etc.).

VETERANS: Department of Transportation attorney positions are in the excepted service, not the competitive civil service. There is no formal rating system for applying veterans’ preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of Transportation considers veterans’ preference eligibility as a positive factor in the attorney hiring process. If you are eligible for veterans’ preference in hiring, you are encouraged to include that information in your application along with supporting documentation, e.g., SF15, DD214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, or other supporting documentation.

DISPLACED EMPLOYEES: If requesting consideration under the Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or Interagency CTAP program (ICTAP), you must meet the well qualified standards for this vacancy (meeting minimum requirements for position and scoring at least an 85) and provide all of the following documents:

your most recent performance appraisal,

the proof of eligibility letter from the Agency, and

your most current SF-50, displaying current series and grade.

Displaced employees may be eligible for ICTAP or CTAP priority consideration. For more information, please review .

Failure to submit any of the required documents by the closing date of the vacancy will result in your removal from consideration for this position. Please review your application prior to final submission and ensure you have submitted all appropriate documents. Uploading documents to USAJobs does NOT ensure inclusion with your application to our system. You must verify that the documents are in the system with your application prior to final submission.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.