Summary
Join the Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia as a Supervisory Attorney-Advisor. Lead key initiatives advancing pretrial justice in the Nation's Capital. As chief legal counsel, provide expert advice on criminal law, operations, and compliance. Oversee legal staff, represent the Agency in major proceedings, and shape strategies that enhance public safety and justice integrity. Ideal for strategic thinkers skilled in federal law, legal writing, and advocacy.
Duties
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As the Deputy Assistant Director for the Office of Legal Services, you will:
1. Serve as the chief, senior legal expert and counsel to the Director and Assistant Directors. Incumbent is the supervisor to a group with a broad scope of responsibilities in the areas related to regulations and case law regarding pretrial rights and obligations of defendants, policy development and records management. Incumbent has considerable latitude in problem identification, work prioritization, and methodology. Incumbent provides authoritative legal advice and assistance to PSA senior management on implementation of pretrial programs.
2. Provide legal expertise, guidance, and day-to-day administration of the privacy program. The incumbent is responsible for the agency's compliance with applicable privacy and information security laws and provides expert legal advice to the agency's leadership on privacy and information security matters.
3. Perform the full range of administrative and technical supervisory duties including assigning work and establishing priorities; evaluating performance objectives in cooperation with subordinates; giving advice, counsel, and/or instruction to subordinates on both work and administrative matters; interviewing and recommending selections of candidates for positions, promotions, and reassignments; and hearing and resolving complaints from subordinates. Provide leadership and legal guidance on general and administrative matters within the Agency's scope.
4. Provide leadership to subordinates and legal advice and guidance to senior leadership on a broad spectrum of legal and policy matters including investigations, public affairs and other pretrial matters.
5. In coordination with the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) Designated Agency Ethics Official, facilitates PSA employee compliance with ethics requirements and acts as the senior attorney with expertise in the standards of conduct and conflicts of interest program for the Agency.
6. Coordinate, as necessary, with CSOSA's Office of the General Counsel to address and resolve matters related to PSA's legal, policy and/or regulatory compliance.
7. Represent the Agency in third-party administrative and quasi-judicial proceedings. Provide expert legal advice on proposed replies to and proceedings of boards, investigating officers, and administrative bodies concerning all employee personnel matters.
8. Manage the Agency's subpoena response program, ensuring compliance with relevant federal laws governing the release and disclosure of sensitive defendant information.
9. Review settlement agreements, provide advice and guidance on litigation strategy and administrative proceedings, conduct research, and review and draft legal opinions on a broad spectrum of general pretrial and administrative law matters.
10. Implement legal policies and procedures for compatibility with other PSA and CSOSA policies, applicable law and regulations. Administer legal programs that support ways to mitigate possible conflicts and to resolve legal issues.
11. Oversee staff advisement to senior level officials on various legal aspects of pretrial policies, plans and employee-based programs. Oversee staff advisement to pretrial staff concerning aspects of interpretation, applicability and implementation of operational programs in a way that is consistent with pretrial principles, National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies Standards and American Bar Association Standards, applicable statutes and case law.
12. Oversee staff administration and processing of reasonable accommodation requests submitted by PSA employees and applicants.
13. Provide expert legal advice to the Agency executives in assessing obstacles to data sharing between PSA and partner criminal justice, social service and treatment agencies in the District of Columbia; this involves legal analysis of barriers, suggestions for overcoming barriers, and drafting necessary legislation to address complex data issues for multiple agencies.
14. Oversee staff work that involves providing legal advice in administrative areas, including finance, procurement, human capital management and information technology.
15. Serve as the Senior Agency Official for Records Management (SAORM) and provides strategic leadership and oversight of the Agency's record management program, ensuring agency -wide compliance with federal records management statutes, regulations and National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
Requirements
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Conditions of employment
Bargaining Unit Status and chapter: Not Covered, AFGE Local 1456
This is not a law enforcement position.
Conditions of Employment
1. Must be a U.S. Citizen.
2. Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
3. Suitable for Federal employment, determined by a background investigation.
4. May be required to successfully complete a probationary period, if not already completed.
5. All applicants are subject to a comprehensive criminal background investigation and required to submit to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment.
6. All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choice.
7. Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
8. Will be required to complete a Confidential Financial Form within 30 days of appointment and annually thereafter.
9. Must have a J.D. degree from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association.
Qualifications
To qualify for this position, you must meet the education requirement, and specialized experience requirement below.
Candidates must have a Juris Doctorate degree from an ABA accredited law school and be a current member in good standing of the bar association of any state within the United States or District of Columbia. If not a member of the District of Columbia Bar, the incumbent must be eligible for admission without examination under DC Court of Appeals Rule 46(e)(3). Bar membership must be active and valid through the recruitment process up to and including onboarding. Expired documentation will not be accepted.
AND
Specialized Experience: To qualify for this position, applicants must have a minimum of one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility comparable to the GS-14 or comparable band in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector. Specialized experience is defined as supervising staff attorney(s) and/or other employees that provide legal advice, legal analysis or legal support in the delivery of legal services; providing recommendations and advice to senior level officials on complex legal problems; and providing problem-solving and creative management and leadership on legal, programmatic and policy matters.
NOTE: Your resume must clearly show the specialized experience related to this position. Failure to demonstrate how you possess the experience requirements will result in an "Ineligible" rating.
Education
Candidates must have a Juris Doctorate degree from an ABA accredited law school and be a current member in good standing of the bar association of any state within the United States or District of Columbia. If not a member of the District of Columbia Bar, the incumbent must be eligible for admission without examination under DC Court of Appeals Rule 46(e)(3). Bar membership must be active and valid through the recruitment process up to and including onboarding. Expired documentation will not be accepted.
ARE YOU USING YOUR EDUCATION TO QUALIFY? You MUST provide transcripts or other documentation to support your educational claims. Unless otherwise stated: (1) official or unofficial transcripts are acceptable, or (2) you may submit a list with all of your courses, grades, semester, year, and credit for the course. All materials must be submitted by the closing date of the announcement.
PASS/FAIL COURSES: If more than 10 percent of your undergraduate course work (credit hours) was taken on a pass/fail basis, your claim of superior academic achievement must be based upon class standing or membership in an honor society.
FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit:https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/higher-education-laws-and-policy/college-accreditation
Additional information
1. If you are an eligible Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) applicant as defined by 5 CFR § 330.702, you may apply for special selection over other applicants for this position. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) provides eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. Click The Employee's Guide to Career Transition for more information on ICTAP eligibility.
2. If you are a veteran with preference eligibility and you are claiming 5-point veterans' preference, you should attach a copy of your DD-214 (unedited long version) or other proof of eligibility. If you are claiming 10-point veterans' preference, you must attach an SF-15, "Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference" plus the proof required by that form.
3. All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review in our office, in other Federal agency personnel offices, and on OPM's web site at OPM Qualification Standards .
4. In accordance with Executive Order 14170 and the Merit Hiring Plan guidance issued by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, applicants for this position are invited to respond to four essay questions. These questions are designed to provide you with an opportunity to share your commitment to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution, as well as your dedication to public service. While your responses are not required and will not be scored, we encourage you to thoughtfully address each question. Please provide a response of 200 words or less to each question. You will be asked to certify that you are using your own words and did not use a consultant or artificial intelligence (AI) such as a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT or Copilot. Click here to review the questionshttps://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/[redacted].
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Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
Benefits
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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
