Supervisory Attorney-Advisor (Clerk of Court), GS-0905-15 FPL-15 (Excepted Service) (ED only)

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This position is located in U.S. Department of Education, Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA), in Washington, DC. The incumbent serves as the Clerk of Court for the Office of Hearings and Appeals and Office of Administrative Law Judges; principal leagal advisor to the Director of OHA/Chief Administrative Judge, the Chief Administrative Law Judge (Chief ALJ); and other ALJs; as a hearing officer of designated cases; and as the day-to-day supervisor of all non-judge OHA staff.

Education cannot be substituted for experience for this position and grade level.

(MUST INCLUDE FOR ALL VACANCIES) Foreign Education:

Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must submit a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, please click Foreign Education.

APPLICATION LIMIT: This vacancy announcement is limited to the first 200 applications received and will close at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the day that we receive the 200th application, or at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the listed closing date, whichever occurs first.

We encourage you to read this entire vacancy announcement prior to submitting your application.

As a Supervisory Attorney-Advisor, GS-0905-15, you will be responsible for:
• Performs a variety of complex management tasks to assist in the running of an efficient and effective judicial office, improving office systems and processes, taking a leadership role in budget and acquisition matters, and primarily responsible for communicating to attorneys, other courts, and the public.
• Serves as a Principal Legal Advisor to the OHA Director, ALJs, and other OHA hearing officers on matters of administrative law, policy and procedure, judicial administration, and judicial ethics.
• Hearing officer for cases not requiring an ALJ or administrative judge, including acting as the Waiver Official in employee wage offset cases and as a Department-wide Debarment Official as delegated by the OHA Director.
• Serves as a first line supervisor for attorney-advisors and legal administrator. Advises, mentors, and instructs law school interns.

Minimum Qualification Requirements

1. Proof of admission to the Bar of the highest court of a state, territory, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; and current membership in such Bar as would permit the practice of law. You must be a member in good standing of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico bar,

AND

2. Has five years professional legal experience, at least one of the five years MUST be at the level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to that of an attorney at the grade immediately below the one being filled,

OR

Has four years professional legal experience, at least one of the four years MUST be at the level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to that of an attorney at the grade immediately below the one being filled, PLUS a second professional law degree (LL.M.) which requires one full year of graduate study

OR

Has four years professional legal experience, at least one of the four years MUST be at the level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to that of an attorney at the grade immediately below the one being filled, PLUS record shows superior law schoolwork or activities as demonstrated by one of the following:

1. Academic standing in the upper third of the law school graduating class.
2. Work or achievement of significance on his/her law school’s official law review.
3. Special high-level honors for academic excellence in law school, such as election to the Order of the Coif.
4. Winning of a moot court competition or membership on the moot court team that represents the law school in competition with other law schools.
5. Full-time or continuous participation, for one year or two semesters of law school, in a legal aid program (as opposed to one-time, intermittent, or casual participation).
6. Significant summer law office clerk experience after beginning law school.
7. Other equivalent evidence of clearly superior achievement.

AND

You may meet the minimum qualifications for the GS-15, if you possess the specialize experience.

Specialized Experience for the GS-15
One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-14 performing two (2) out of three (3) of the following duties or work assignments:
1. Experience researching complex legal issues where there is often no clear applicable precedent and presenting legal advice, legal options, and their ramifications to judges, senior attorneys, or other senior executives.
2. Experience supervising (formally or informally) or mentoring attorneys, legal interns, paralegals, or legal administrators.
3. Experience managing an active docket of judicial or administrative law cases, either as a court staff attorney or advocate appearing before trial, appellate, or administrative courts.


Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)
The quality of your experience will be measured by the extent to which you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). You do not need to provide separate narrative responses to these KSAs, as they will be measured by your responses to the occupational questionnaire (you may preview the occupational questionnaire by clicking the link at the end of the Evaluations section of this vacancy announcement).

1. Skill in communicating with the public, and budget and acquisition processes, assess case management and court automation (including AI) systems.
2. Skill in drafting a legal opinion where factual situations are often complicated and clear precedents are not readily available or apparent.
3. Ability to critically think and apply applicable agency policies, regulations and statutes to arrive at a final decision on an issue.
4. Skill in leadership of program management and administration.