The United States Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Washington has an opening for an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) in its Civil Division and is seeking an experienced attorney to fill the position.
Justice seeks to attract, retain, and promote individuals of exceptional ability and talent from all walks of life. The work environment and atmosphere is open, diverse, collegial, and inclusive. There are active affinity groups for African-American; Asian-American; Hispanic; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT); and Native American employees, which are open to all DOJ employees regardless of background. Justice fosters a work environment where people of all backgrounds and experiences may reach their full potential.
Thank you for your help in disseminating these vacancy announcements. These and other attorney vacancy announcements can be found at: http://www.justice.gov/legal-careers/attorneys-vacancies.
USAO Eastern District of Washington
Attorney
920 W. Riverside Ave., #340
Spokane, WA 99201
United States
2015-5
About the Office: The United States Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Washington has three offices, the main office located in Spokane, a branch office in Yakima, and an unstaffed office in Richland. This position is located in the Spokane, Washington office. For additional information about this office refer to our internet site at www.usdoj.gov/usao/wae/.
The city of Spokane is located near the eastern border of Washington state 29 miles from the Idaho border and referred to as the heart of the Inland Northwest. The Eastern District of Washington is comprised of 20 counties which is inclusive of the area from the Cascade mountains to the Idaho border and from the Canadian to the Oregon border. This is a diverse ecological area with vast timber, desert, and agricultural lands. It offers four distinct seasons which accommodate water sports, biking, hunting, fishing and hiking, and a wide variety of winter sports. For additional information on the Spokane area visit www.visitspokane.com [external link].
Job Description: The United States Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Washington has an opening for an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) in its Civil Division and is seeking an experienced attorney to fill the position. AUSAs in the Civil Division are responsible for representing the federal government and its agencies and employees in civil litigation in the District. These AUSAs are active at the trial and appellate levels, taking depositions, preparing and answering interrogatories, negotiating settlements, engaging in motions practice, trying cases, drafting appellate briefs, and arguing cases before appellate court judges.
The attorney selected for this position will handle a wide variety of civil cases involving, for example: defensive torts (property damage and personal injury, such as medical malpractice); Bivens claims; employment discrimination; land condemnations; foreclosures; defensive environmental claims; affirmative civil enforcement; challenges to agency actions; and bankruptcy.
This is a permanent position. However, all initial attorney appointments to the Department of Justice are made on a 14-month (temporary) basis pending favorable adjudication of a background investigation.
Qualifications:
Required qualifications: Applicants must possess a J.D. degree from an accredited law school, be duly licensed and authorized to practice law as an active member of the bar (any jurisdiction), and have a minimum of four years of post-J.D. legal or other relevant experience.
Preferred qualifications: Ideally, applicants will have four to seven years of experience litigating civil cases in federal court or similar relevant experience, with responsibility for all aspects of discovery, pretrial hearings, settlement negotiations, trials, and appeals. The ideal applicant will also have some subject matter expertise in one or more of the variety of civil cases identified above, proficiency with the federal civil procedure in this District, experience writing appellate briefs and presenting oral argument in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and a demonstrated ability to work well with others, from support personnel to supervisors. Applicants must be flexible and willing to learn new areas of the law, strategic when it comes to engaging in defensive litigation, forthright and diplomatic in dealing with client agencies and the court, and dedicated to public service by way of a commitment to representing the United States. Applicants must demonstrate superior written and oral communication skills. They must be able to define and articulate critical issues in a wide variety of cases and areas of law. Applicants must be able to manage a caseload composed of very different kinds of cases with correspondingly different demands and deadlines. Applicants must be self-starters and good managers of their time. They must be willing and able to conduct their own legal research and writing and be substantially self-sufficient in managing cases and deadlines, preparing day-to-day correspondence and filings, and using computer programs and systems (CM/ECF, word processing, Westlaw, Lexis/Nexis, etc.).
Salary: AUSAs' pay is administratively determined based, in part, on the number years of professional attorney experience. The basic range of pay is $45,477 to $134,177, plus locality pay where authorized. The current locality pay for Spokane is 14.16%.
Travel: Occasional travel within and outside the District will be required. (Yakima courthouse 210 miles from Spokane, and Richland courthouse 110 miles from Spokane)
Application Process: No later than December 7, 2015, interested applicants must email: (a.) a signed cover letter referencing Vacancy Announcement: 15-WAE-2015-5; (b.) a detailed resume; (c.) a writing sample edited solely by applicant (at least 7 pages in length, containing substantive legal analysis); and (d.) a current performance evaluation/rating, if any, all in pdf format to:
USAWAE.Jobs@usdoj.gov
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United States Attorney’s Office
Attn: Kathy Devlin, Administrative Services Specialist
920 West Riverside Avenue, Suite 340
Spokane, Washington 99201-1494
No telephone calls please.
Application Deadline: Monday, December 7, 2015
Relocation Expenses: Relocation expenses are not authorized.
Number of Positions: 1
Updated November 24, 2015
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Department Policies
Equal Employment Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Justice is an Equal Opportunity/Reasonable Accommodation Employer. Except where otherwise provided by law, there will be no discrimination because of color, race, religion, national origin, political affiliation, marital status, disability (physical or mental), age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, status as a parent, membership or non-membership in an employee organization, on the basis of personal favoritism, or any other non-merit factor. The Department of Justice welcomes and encourages applications from persons with physical and mental disabilities. The Department is firmly committed to satisfying its affirmative obligations under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, to ensure that persons with disabilities have every opportunity to be hired and advanced on the basis of merit within the Department of Justice.
Reasonable Accommodations: This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify the agency. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Outreach and Recruitment for Qualified Applicants with Disabilities: The Department encourages qualified applicants with disabilities, including individuals with targeted/severe disabilities to apply in response to posted vacancy announcements. Qualified applicants with targeted/severe disabilities may be eligible for direct hire, non-competitive appointment under Schedule A (5 C.F.R. § 213.3102(u)) hiring authority. Individuals with targeted/severe disabilities are encouraged to register for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Shared List of People with Disabilities (the Bender Disability Employment Registry) by submitting their resume to resume@benderconsult.com
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and referencing "Federal Career Opportunities" in the subject line. Additional information about the Bender Registry is available at www.benderconsult.com [external link]. Individuals with disabilities may also contact one of the Department’s Disability Points of Contact (DPOC). See list of DPOCs.
Suitability and Citizenship: It is the policy of the Department to achieve a drug-free workplace and persons selected for employment will be required to pass a drug test which screens for illegal drug use prior to final appointment. Employment is also contingent upon the completion and satisfactory adjudication of a background investigation. Only U.S. citizens are eligible for employment with the Executive Office for Immigration Review and the United States Attorneys' Offices. Unless otherwise indicated in a particular job advertisement, non-U.S. Citizens may apply for employment with other organizations, but should be advised that appointments of non-U.S. Citizens are extremely rare; such appointments would be possible only if necessary to accomplish the Department's mission and would be subject to strict security requirements. Applicants who hold dual citizenship in the U.S. and another country will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Veterans: There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of Justice considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. Applicants eligible for veterans' preference must include that information in their cover letter or resume and attach supporting documentation (e.g., the DD 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty and other supporting documentation) to their submissions. Although the "point" system is not used, per se, applicants eligible to claim 10-point preference must submit Standard Form (SF) 15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference, and submit the supporting documentation required for the specific type of preference claimed (visit the OPM website, www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/SF15.pdf for a copy of SF 15, which lists the types of 10-point preferences and the required supporting document(s). Applicants should note that SF 15 requires supporting documentation associated with service- connected disabilities or receipt of nonservice-connected disability pensions to be dated 1991 or later except in the case of service members submitting official statements or retirement orders from a branch of the Armed Forces showing that his or her retirement was due to a permanent service-connected disability or that he/she was transferred to the permanent disability retired list (the statement or retirement orders must indicate that the disability is 10% or more).
