PARALEGAL SPECIALIST

Summary

This position is located in the Washington Headquarters Service, Office of Military Commissions, Military Commissions Defense Organization. The General Counsel, who is the Director of the Defense Legal Services Agency, is appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the chief legal officer of the Department of Defense and is responsible for all legal services performed within and involving the Department of Defense (10 U.S.C. 140).

Duties

• Incumbent typical work assignments may include the following: Serve as Paralegal Specialist on a legal defense team within the organization. Receives, reviews, inventories, and logs incoming/outgoing discovery. Analyze and evaluate the relevance of evidence or questions which arise in review of discovery. Assist defense team in filing legal documents in court and ensure materials are delivered to the court, opposing counsel, and any other interested, relevant, and required third party. Possess extensive knowledge of the court rules in each court (Trial Judiciary, CMCR, DC District and Circuit Courts) Prepare written summaries of research, and drafts motions. Safeguard Classified Information. Assists team with any and all administrative matters, including: arranging travel logistics; processing travel vouchers and invoices; court hearing preparation; preparing and transmitting client mail (including performing other duties as necessary)

Qualifications

This vacancy is a career ladder position; it may be filled at the GS-11 or GS-12 level. If selected at the lower grade level, noncompetitive promotion to the full performance level GS-12 is authorized without further competition when selectee is eligible & recommended by management. In order to qualify for this position, you must meet the requirements described below. You may qualify at the GS-11 level, if you fulfill the following qualification requirement: Education or One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level in the Federal service (experience may have been gained in the private sector) that demonstrates your ability to: Assist with providing paralegal support for hearings and trials; and Assist in researching and analyzing developments in the laws applicable to judiciary trials; and Assist with compiling orders, rulings, and trial records for use in court; and Review and format legal documents to include rulings, orders, correspondence, and other documents as require. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. OR Applicant must have a Ph.D or equivalent degree or successfully completed at least 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field that is directly related to the duties of this position, OR, received an LL.M. Education must be in a field that is directly related to the duties of this position. OR Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) by 36. Add the two percentages. You MUST meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement. You may qualify at the GS-12 level, if you fulfill the following qualification requirement: One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service (experience may have been gained in the private sector) that demonstrates your ability to: Process broad range of defense-oriented paralegal duties including drafting and filing motions, legal research, travel; and Maintain case file databases, as well as assisting in all aspects of pre-trial and trial preparation; and Exercise independent judgment in assessing preparation strategies for cases.. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume may not exceed two (2) pages. For qualifications determinations, it is recommended that applicants include their months and hours worked per week for each employment listed on their resume. If a determination is not able to be made about the duration of your creditable experience for qualification requirements, you will be removed from consideration. Read more about what should I include in my federal resume at https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/what-to-include ACTIVE DUTY SERVICE MEMBERS: Federal agencies treat active duty service member as veterans, disabled veterans, and preference eligible, when they submit, as part of their application package, a "certification" of active service in lieu of a DD-214, indicating the service member is otherwise eligible and will be discharged or released within 120 days from the date of…

Education

ARE YOU QUALIFYING BASED ON EDUCATION or A COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE FOR THE GS-11 LEVEL? You must provide sufficient documentation of your education in your resume. You MUST provide a copy of official or unofficial transcripts or degrees in your application package. It may also be acceptable to document your applicable course listing in your resume (course number, credits earned, etc.). 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. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants can verify accreditation at the following website: http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html. All education claimed by applicants will be verified by the appointing agency. If selected, an official/sealed transcript will be required prior to appointment. PASS/FAIL COURSES: If more than 10 percent of your undergraduate course work (credit hours) were taken on a pass/fail basis, your claim of superior academic achievement must be based upon class standing or membership in an honor society. GRADUATE EDUCATION: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis. If you cannot obtain your graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs a…