Legal Assistant (OA)

The duties and responsibilities for a Legal Assistant (Office Automation) generally include but are not limited to the following:

- Examining preparing and processing a variety of technical legal documents e.g. complaints motions indictments plea agreements
sentencing memoranda orders affidavits pleadings and subpoenas;
- Conducting factual and legal research in legal and non-legal databases;
- Providing assistance to attorneys in trial preparation;
- Assembling exhibits affidavits and other legal documents;
- Maintaining calendar of assigned active cases;
- Tracking filing hearing and trials dates and scheduling conference and interviews;
- Producing a variety of written documents and materials using a wide range of office software applications;
-Compiling processing and organizing criminal discovery using a wide range of office software applications.

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

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen or National
• Initial appointment is conditioned upon a satisfactory pre-employment adjudication. This includes fingerprint credit and tax checks and drug testing. Continued employment is subject to a favorable adjudication of a background investigation
• You must be registered for Selective Service if applicable
• If selected you may be required to complete a one year probationary period.
• You must meet all qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.

Qualifications

To qualify for the position of Legal Assistant (OA) at GS-0986-5/6/7 you must meet the qualification requirements listed below.

To be eligible at the GS-5 level you must have: at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-4 level; or four years of education above high school level; or a combination of both specialized experience and education as explained below.

Specialized experience is defined as: experience reviewing documents with legal implications for accuracy and completeness (e.g. court documents real estate documents contracts insurance or benefits claims mortgage or loan applications tax forms or other types of legal documents); typing and formatting correspondence and forms; maintaining file systems; and obtaining needed information from files or general reference sources. This experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-4 level in the Federal service and could have been gained in the federal public or private sector. OR

Combining Education and Experience: Successfully completed post-high school education may be used to meet the total one year of specialized experience requirement equivalent to the GS-4 grade level. Only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours (i.e. beyond the second year) is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirement. One full academic year of study (30 semester hours) beyond the second year is equivalent to 6 months of specialized experience. OR

Education: Completed four academic years of education above the high school level or I possess a bachelors or higher degree.

To be eligible at the GS-6 level you must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-5 level.

Specialized experience is defined as: experience reviewing legal documents such as complaints motions orders answers pleadings subpoenas and libels for completeness of information; retrieving and assembling information for hearing and/or trial use; researching a variety of legal sources to obtain and/or verify information; and using automated software to produce legal related reports documents correspondence and related materials. This experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-5 level in the Federal service and could have been gained in the federal public or private sector.

To be eligible at the GS-7 level you must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-6 level.

Specialized experience is defined as: experience providing trial support to attorneys by preparing complaints motions subpoenas orders or other hearing and/or trial documents accurately and in proper format; verifying citations and statutory references contained in legal documents; assisting with discovery hearing or trial preparation by performing duties such as compiling trial notebooks assembling jury instructions and compiling witness and exhibit lists; and using software applications and legal and non-legal databases to produce legal related reports and documents conduct factual research develop tables of contents and indices to briefs and prepare courtroom presentations.

To be qualified you must type at least 40 words per minute based on a 5 minute sample with three or fewer errors. (A typing test may later be required.)

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: 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