Senior Attorney (Policy Advisor)

Summary

This Senior Attorney (Policy Advisor) position is located in the Office of Passenger Rail (OPR) of the Surface Transportation Board (STB). The purpose of the position is to provide legal, administrative, and policy expertise as necessary to resolve complex passenger rail matters brought before the Board. This work also includes handling legally and factually complex assignments involving passenger rail issues within the Board's jurisdiction.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

United States Citizens

Duties

As the Senior Attorney (Policy Advisor) you will be responsible for the following major duties:

Independently conducting necessary legal research, which includes investigating, analyzing, and performing the full range of professional legal work involved to complete adjudications and evaluations of on-time passenger rail performance cases.

Provide public policy advice and recommendations to senior leaders and the Board.

Draft and review legal memoranda and agency decisions.

Work collaboratively with other staff on agency decisions, focusing primarily on passenger rail issues.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

U.S. Citizenship is required.

All qualification requirements must be met by 10/01/2024. Your application package will not receive consideration if it lacks any of the required documents under the "Required Documents" tab.

Trial Period: Two-year trial period may be required.

Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. See

Background Suitability Investigation: Continued employment is contingent upon satisfactory completion of a background investigation and the granting of a Federal suitability or security clearance. If selected, you may be offered tentative employment until the background investigation has been fully adjudicated.

Must submit a complete resume, writing sample, cover letter and all required documents. Only experience and education obtained by the closing date of this announcement will be considered.

E-Verify: If you are selected for this position, the documentation that you present for purposes of completing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Form 1-9 will be verified through the DHS "E-Verify" System. The STB is an E-Verify Participant.

Relocation expenses are not authorized.

Qualifications

The Office of Personnel Management has not issued qualification standards for attorney positions. However, successful candidates must possess the following minimum qualifications before the closing date of this posting:

A professional law degree (LL.B, J.D., LL.M.) from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA);

Current membership in good standing of the bar of a state or territory of the United States, the District of Columbia or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. (Please note: Proof of bar membership will be required before entering on duty).

All candidates must demonstrate through their application documents: excellent research and writing skills, incisive legal analytical ability, strong oral advocacy and presentation skills.

A writing sample and cover letter are to be submitted with your application package.

GS-14

To be considered at the GS-14 level, candidates must have three years of professional legal experience: analyzing statutes, regulations, and decisional law, and presenting those analyses and relevant legal or policy issues for decision, resolving disputes, and possess a legal background in transportation, economics, administrative law, or government regulation.

GS-15

To be considered at the GS-15 level, candidates must have four years of professional legal experience: analyzing statutes, regulations, and decisional law, and presenting those analyses and relevant legal or policy issues for decision and resolving disputes in support of an efficient, competitive, and economically viable surface transportation network. Candidates at this level will also have experience providing advisement on complex technical issues concerning rail transportation.

For qualifications determinations, it is recommended that applicants include their months, years, and hours worked per week for each employment listed on their resume. To receive full consideration for specialized experience, please list month/year to month/year (XX/XX-XX/XX) or month/year to present (XX/XX-present) and the number of hours worked per week for each period of employment/experience listed in your resume. Your responses to the questionnaire must be supported/demonstrated in your resume. If a determination cannot be made about the length of your creditable experience for qualification requirements, you will be removed from consideration.

Education

You MUST provide transcripts or other documentation to support your educational claims. Unless otherwise stated: (1) unofficial transcripts are acceptable, or (2) you may submit a list with all your courses, grades, semester, year, and credit for the course. All materials must be submitted by the closing date of the announcement.

You must provide your transcripts to support your educational claims. Transcripts may be unofficial copies, but they must come from an accredited college or university, and they also must include the courses' names and number of credit hours. To search the database of accredited institutions, visit:

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 the 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 U.S. accredited college or university. For further information visit:

Please Note: If selected Official Transcripts will need to be submitted directly to STB from the University (electronic transcripts are accepted).

Additional information

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. In addition, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) has work/life-balance flexibilities that may be right for you. We offer:

Flexible Work Schedules

Limited Telework opportunities upon supervisor approval in accordance with the Employee Work Schedule policy;

Fitness Center: STB employees, at no cost, have access to the fitness center conveniently located in the building; and

A monthly transit subsidy for a portion of your commuting costs to help defray the commuting costs of employees who use mass transportation, including commuter bus, Metrorail or Metrobus, or commuter rail systems. This announcement may be used to fill 1 or more vacancies.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Once the application process is complete, a review of the resume and supporting documentation will be made to determine if you are qualified for this job. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered to reflect more accurately the submitted documentation.

All candidates who meet the qualifications described above will be referred to the hiring official for consideration.

Preview the Assessment Questionnaire,

Required Documents

Please be advised, that the following documents are required even if you are already a current Federal or STB employee:

1. Resume and Cover letter that includes the experience you wish to be considered for the review of your qualifications, the dates of employment with month and year, and hours worked per week, if part-time. Resumes that do not contain all of the necessary information to determine qualifications may be marked as insufficient and applicants may not receive consideration for this position. Your latest resume submission is the one that will be used to determine your qualifications.

2. Responses to questionnaire.

3. Educational Transcripts (unofficial transcripts may be submitted with your application.)

4. Writing Sample: applicants must include an unedited or lightly edited writing sample that demonstrates your ability to perform the duties of the position and illustrates your ability to conduct complex legal research and analysis. The writing sample should total no more than 10 pages. Selected extracts of larger documents are acceptable. If appropriate, please attach an explanatory cover memo to your writing sample. Do not submit sensitive or classified documents or documents containing personally identifiable information.

5. Supporting documents verifying your eligibility or any preference eligibility along with your application package.

These documents may include, but are not limited to:

Veteran's documentation: There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the Excepted Service. However, if you are eligible for veteran's preference, you may attach supporting documents. If submitting DD214, a MEMBER 4 copy is required. If you are currently on active duty, you must submit an official statement of service from your command or other official documentation that proves your military service was performed under honorable conditions.

Preference eligible documentation: If claiming a 10-point preference you must also submit an SF-15 and any other proof that you are eligible for a 10-point preference if a job offer is extended to you, a final VA letter including percentage (please do not include a letter from VA noting specific private medical information).

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

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 .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.