Attorney Adviser (General)

⁠​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌⁠This position is located in the Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center - PDC in Fort Worth, TX. The purpose of the position is to
assure the legal sufficiency of all actions and instruments in the processing, closing and disbursing of all disaster loans. Employee receives work assignments and general direction and supervision (depending upon duties) from the Assistant Center Director - Accounts / Deputy Assistant Center Director - Accounts or their designee. APPLICANTS PLEASE NOTE: 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 (particularly positions with a positive education requirement.) Therefore, applicants must report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Verify School accreditation. All education claimed by applicants will be verified by the appointing agency accordingly.

If you are selected for this position and qualified based on education (i.e. basic education requirement and/or substitution of education), you will be required to provide an OFFICIAL transcript prior to your first day on duty.

*** If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. *** For further information, click on: Foreign Education.

As an Attorney Adviser (General) at the GS-0905-11, some of your typical work assignments may include:

• Provides legal advice to the Applications Processing and/or Accounts departments of the Processing and Disbursement Center, including reviewing draft loan approvals for legal sufficiency, closing loans, or working on special projects as assigned.
• Reviews draft loan authorizations for loans and for cases involving non-routine conditions, facts or other circumstances. Review is to ensure compliance with all legal requirements: eligibility; capacity; authority of the borrower to incur the debt; validity of the proposed pledge of collateral; clarity and certainty of the language of all conditions and terms; adequacy of all contractual relationships to satisfy the authorization (including, but not limited to, leases, trust, and other instruments critical to the applicant's ability to fulfill conditions of the loan); and legal sufficiency of collateral descriptions and use of proceeds.
• Uses automated systems to identify all needed closing documents and to provide necessary instructions for proper creation of the documents by others. Instructs and guides legal support staff in the generation of non-standard documents, as needed.
• Authorizes subsequent disbursement after confirmation of review of receipts, inspection reports and/or other evidence of compliance with the terms and conditions of loan authorization, applicable law and internal policy and procedures.

IMPORTANT NOTES:
TRAVEL STATEMENT- You may be required to travel to a disaster site during increased disaster activity for extended periods with little or no advanced notice. If so, you may encounter hazardous working and/or living conditions; i.e., no water or electricity and/or minimal lodging facilities. Travel expenses are compensated based on SBA policy and Federal regulations.

This position works on an as needed basis. This means that employees are in a pay and duty status only when activated to respond to workload needs, especially in response to heightened disaster activity. When no longer needed, employees return to a non-pay status until the next event necessitates additional staff. However, depending on the workload and/or level of disaster activity, your work schedule may be changed to full-time. Subsequently, if the workload decreases, you may be placed in a non-pay status.

Mandatory Overtime: In order to respond quickly and efficiently to disaster survivors, substantial compensated overtime hours may be required while on assignment (up to seven days a week and twelve to fourteen hours a day).

A valid driver's license may be required. Individual Occupational Requirements
There are no Individual Occupational Requirements for this series.

GS-11: One year of specialized experience, equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service, obtained in either the private or public sector:

• Utilizing a web-based computer loan processing and/or loan closing system.
• Communicating orally and in writing ideas, data, and/or information to various levels of management (or audiences), fellow employees and/or customers.
• Closing and disbursing home (consumer or mortgage) and business (commercial) loans.
• Reviewing home and business loan documents for legal sufficiency and compliance with applicable regulations and guidelines.

These qualifications must be clearly referenced in your resume.

Applicant must have successfully completed a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have the first professional law degree (LLB or JD).

Applicant must currently be a member in good standing of the bar of a state or territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review on OPM's Qualifications web site:

General Schedule Qualification Standards

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.

Generally, time in non-pay status as a federal employee is not creditable towards the specialized experience requirement listed above.

All qualification requirements must be met by 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) on 08/31/2026.