Paralegal Specialist

For more information on the Department of Justice and the United States Attorneys' Offices, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/. As needed, additional positions may be filled using this announcement. This position is also being announced to applicants eligible to apply through Merit Staffing procedures under 26-OHS-13074267-MS. If selected for this position, you will join a well-respected team as a Paralegal Specialist in the Civil Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio. Typical work assignments will include: Performs factual research, evaluation, and analysis relevant to a variety of routine legal topics and points of law. Reviews, proofreads, and edits legal documents to assist attorneys in case development and litigation. Drafts initial briefs, motions, and correspondence for attorney review. Prepares and organizes exhibits, documents, memoranda, reports, and correspondence. Provides case law, statutes, regulations, court rules, policies, procedures, legal periodicals, and other legal authorities that are relevant to assigned cases. Develops, enters, and tracks various case material in systems utilized to log and track data. Provides automated litigation assistance to attorneys in trial preparation and courtroom presentation. Provides administrative support to attorneys and performs other related duties as assigned. Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress.

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: Experience drafting a variety of routine legal documents and correspondence; assisting with organization and production of discovery materials; assisting in trial preparation by compiling, organizing, and indexing various evidentiary exhibits and reviewing and filing pre-trial litigation documents; 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 case-related documents. Education: Successful completion of one (1) full year of progressively higher level graduate education (18 semester hours or the number of units your school uses to describe one graduate year of academic study) in a related field (e.g Criminal Justice, Law) leading to a master's degree OR completed bachelor's degree with superior academic achievement. Superior academic achievement is defined as follows: standing in the upper third of your graduating class or major subdivision, OR membership in one of the national scholastic honor societies, OR obtaining a sufficient grade point average, defined as the following. Applicants must have a grade point average of: (a) 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on their official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or (b) 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum. Combining Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed graduate education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements. In order to qualify based on combined education and experience, candidates must demonstrate a combination of specialized experienced and graduate-level education that equals 100% of the requirements. To calculate your percentage of graduate education, first determine the total number of graduate hours then divide the total number of your graduate semester hours by 18 (or your school's definition of one year of graduate study). To calculate your percentage of qualifying experience, divide your total number of months of qualifying experience by 12. Now, add the two percentages together. The sum of the percentages must equal at least 100%. (Only graduate education in excess of the first full year may be used in this calculation.) GS-9: To be eligible at the GS-9 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: Experience performing paralegal or legal work which demonstrates a basic knowledge of legal research and the ability to interpret legal decisions. Examples of specialized experience may include the following: examining, processing, and organizing a variety of legal documents; conducting research, analysis, and evaluation of data in response to complex or sensitive requests; drafting briefs, pleadings, or other legal documents and correspondence; using a variety of electronic or manual filing systems to acquire and store information; preparing, processing, producing, and tracking incoming and outgoing discovery materials; searching and reviewing legal references, case files, and other sources for information and data required by attorneys or court personnel.…