Paralegal Specialist

Overview

The United States Attorneys are the nation’s principal litigators, operating under the direction of the Attorney General. With 93 United States Attorneys across the U.S., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands, each serves as the chief federal law enforcement officer in their jurisdiction. Appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, United States Attorneys play a critical role in upholding federal laws.

Their mission centers around ensuring justice, serving the public, and protecting the United States' legal interests across districts.

This is a full-time, on-site role located in Topeka, KS, for a Paralegal Specialist. The Paralegal Specialist will be responsible for providing legal support, including conducting legal research, drafting and filing legal documents, case management, and assisting attorneys in trial preparation. As a Paralegal Specialist in the United States Attorney's office (USAO) for the District of Kansas, you will provide a wide range of legal support services to one or more Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) involved in civil proceedings.

This position will be located in the civil division and primarily support civil division AUSAs and civil litigation, though the USAO may assign other work as needed.

• Using a variety of automated legal research tools as well as public information databases and other automated resources to research case law, statutory law, and/or program specific legal matters.
• Preparing initial drafts of a variety of legal documents, including interrogatories, requests for production, requests for admission, legal motions, briefs, and memoranda.
• Reviewing and organizing factual material and other documents for investigation and use in legal briefs and memoranda, such as memoranda in support of motions for summary judgment and/or dismissal or in response thereto.
• Preparing exhibits typically involving a wide range of materials to support summary judgment, motion practice, and/or trial.
• Developing and entering various case material into a computer database.
• Providing litigation case management and organizing cases for presentation at trial, negotiation conferences, and/or mediation.
• Assisting AUSAs in hearings and trial by setting up and running courtroom presentation equipment and providing other assistance as needed.
• Performing a variety of legal assistance and technical work to support AUSAs.

• 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.

GS-7: To be eligible at the GS-7 level, you must meet at least ONE of the following conditions, as defined below:
Specialized Experience, Education, OR a Combination of Education and Experience.

Specialized Experience
:
One full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-5 level. Specialized experience is defined as experience performing paralegal or legal work which includes performing the following types of duties: experience drafting a variety of legal documents and correspondence; assisting in trial preparation by compiling, organizing and indexing various evidentiary exhibits; reviewing legal documents to extract information related to specific issues;

verifying citations and statutory references contained in legal documents; and utilizing various computerized database programs to organize extensive documents.

Education
:
Possess one of the following types of education in a related field (e.g. Law): 1 year of graduate-level education leading to a Master s degree or higher; OR a completed Bachelor s degree or equivalent with Superior Academic Achievement:
To qualify based on superior academic achievement, you must have completed the requirements for a bachelor s degree in a related field such as Law (or expect to complete within 9 months) from an accredited institution AND have one of the following:
Class standing — must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses; OR Grade-point average (G.P.A.) — must have a GPA 3.0 or higher out of 4.0, or 3.5 or higher in the major field during the final 2 years;

OR Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society. For details, please refer to the policy at the Office of Personnel Management.

Combining

Education and Experience:

A combination of specialized experience and graduate level education which when combined equal 100% of the requirements. To calculate your percentage of…