General Attorney (Employment Law)

⁠​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌⁠Join a dynamic team of attorneys providing fast-paced legal advice and guidance to clients at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of the Principal Legal Advisor's (OPLA) Employment Law Division (ELD) and leverage your legal experience to protect the homeland in this ever-evolving area of law.

The salary range listed is the General Schedule (GS) base rate. Click here to access the GS locality pay tables. Applicants must be a graduate of an accredited law school with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) or LLM degree. Please see Required Documents for more information.

A student loan repayment incentive may be available, in which case a service agreement will be required.

The Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) is the largest legal program within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), employing over 3,000 attorneys nationwide to provide a full range of legal services to all ICE programs and offices.

ICE OPLA (ELD) is seeking an attorney to handle issues relating to:

• Providing legal advice, training, and support to ICE programs, including top-ranking officials, on Federal employment law issues, including performance and conduct issues; complaints of prohibited discrimination, harassment, and retaliation/reprisal; and prohibited personnel practices and whistleblower retaliation;
• Serving as agency counsel in proceedings before administrative and judicial forums, including arbitration, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, the Office of Special Counsel, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and the U.S. Federal Courts;
• At higher grade levels, working on more complex third-party proceedings including those of national importance to ICE and providing legal advice to top-ranking officials.

Experience in practicing Federal labor and/or employment law, including matters involving Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Family Medical Leave Act, Rehabilitation Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, is strongly preferred but not required. In addition, the selectee must possess the ability to represent ICE in high-level meetings and to provide legal advice to top-ranking officials.

ELD provides legal advice to ICE program offices. ELD's work contributes to significant policy decisions integral to ICE's mission. Assignments within ELD are fast-paced and involve high-profile work. ELD attorneys advise, counsel, and train ICE program offices on legal authorities, best practices, and agency policies on a wide array of issues, including but not limited to those listed above.

ELD attorneys work closely with a wide range of ICE program offices, including the Office of Human Capital and the Office of Professional Responsibility. They also work occasionally with various departmental components as well as other federal agencies and departments.

The selected attorney will immediately be given significant responsibilities and will be expected to craft legally supportable policies to address the needs of agency operational components. The attorney will be expected to routinely provide timely legal opinions to ICE officers and agents, ELD management, and leadership within OPLA, ICE, and the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the General Counsel Headquarters. The selected attorney will be required to assess litigation risk and provide litigation support to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Unless otherwise noted, you must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements by 11:59 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time on 07/06/2026. Please note that qualification claims will be subject to verification.

Applicants should be able to efficiently produce quality legal analyses of complex and novel issues, exercise sound legal judgment, prioritize competing assignments, and work effectively independently, as part of a team, and across work units. Applicants should be detail-oriented and have a strong interest in supporting and providing stellar client services to program offices, including law enforcement officers, policymakers, attorneys, and agency senior leadership, and must be able to tailor communications to a particular audience. Applicants should be able to take initiative and work in a reliable, decisive, and professional manner.

Applicants should possess the following characteristics and competencies: integrity, sound professional judgment, organizational skills, decisiveness, initiative, stellar client services, the ability to function independently and cooperatively, and superior written and oral advocacy skills.

Bar Membership: You must be an active member in good standing of the bar of a state, territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

The Department of Homeland Security encourages persons with disabilities to apply, to include persons with intellectual, severe physical or psychiatric disabilities, as defined by 5 C.F.R. § 213.3102(u), and/or Disabled Veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more as defined by 5 C.F.R. § 315.707. Veterans, Peace Corps/VISTA volunteers, and persons with disabilities possess a wealth of unique talents, experiences, and competencies that can be invaluable to the DHS mission. If you are a member of one of these groups, you may not have to compete with the public for federal jobs.