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In order to qualify for this position of Supervisory General Attorney (Area Counsel), you must meet the education and/or experience requirements detailed below by the closing date of this announcement. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Basic Requirements for Supervisory General Attorney (Area Counsel): Possess at least the first professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.) from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association; AND Applicants must be an active member in good standing of the bar of a State, U.S. Commonwealth, U.S. territory, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. GS-15 Experience Requirements: 1 year of general professional legal experience from any area of expertise; plus 3 year(s) of professional General Legal Services (GLS) experience Professional General Legal Services experience is defined as: Experience applying laws and regulations in providing advice and guidance to management and during litigation directly related to labor, personnel or equal employment opportunity law in the federal, state or local government or in equivalent private sector labor, personnel and Equal Employment Opportunity matters. At least one year of this experience must be equivalent to the work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-14). Note: Only experience gained after Bar Admission may be credited as Professional Legal Experience. Education Substitution: An LL.M. degree in the field of the position (i.e. Personnel or Labor Law) may be substituted for the one year of the general legal experience listed above. 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. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume. Time in Grade Requirement for GS-15: Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-14).
The role of General Legal Services is to serve as in-house counsel to the IRS and Office of Chief Counsel, providing legal services over a broad spectrum of matters, including labor and employment, ethics, fiscal, appropriations, procurement, contracts, and technology. The Office of Chief Counsel, General Legal Services (GLS) handles non-tax matters and employs approximately 73 attorneys and 8 paralegals. Work in the GLS Area Counsel field offices is focused on providing advice, support, and litigation representation for IRS and Chief Counsel management in administrative fora and in arbitration, with the majority of case work centering on labor, EEO, and personnel law. The field offices also provide assistance to the Department of Justice in federal courts on such matters, as well as for suits against IRS employees, and may assist with processing claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act. As a Supervisory General Attorney (Area Counsel), you will: Provide legal support in non-tax litigation within the designated jurisdictional area and prepare recommendations to the Department of Justice or the U.S. Attorney, as appropriate, in Federal court involving the Office of Chief Counsel, IRS or IRS employees such as employee appeals, discrimination complaints, and other personnel cases; suits by labor organizations involving representation rights of Service and Chief Counsel employees; damage suits brought against officials and employees as individuals for acts done during the performance of their official duties (Bivens suits); and tort suits where no administrative claim has been filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Serve as the first-line supervisor for the Area composed of attorneys, grades GS-11 to GS-15, and paralegals. Plan work to be accomplished by subordinates, determine work priorities, and prepare schedules for completion of work products. Motivate and develop subordinates to increase their effectiveness, productivity, quality of performance, and potential for advancement. Stimulate accomplishment of work products and suggest ways of research on novel and uncertain points of law. Provide on-the-job-training, counsel employees, and determine the need for training classes or refresher courses conducted by the Service or other entities to enhance individual performance and to assure that employees meet their full potential. Speak or engage in panel discussions before business and professional groups on technical and legal matters relating to the work of the Area. Participate in senior-level meetings, conferences and special working groups to address issues relating to GLS programs and services. Practice sound position management policy in assigning work, combining/separating duties, and in fulfilling other personnel management responsibilities. Make recommendations on the need for initiating, consolidating, or eliminating programs, projects, and organizational structure as well as resources needed to operate such programs and projects. This is not an all-inclusive list.