What are the responsibilities and job description for the Legal Assistant (OA) Recent Graduate - Environmental Enforcement Section. position at Offices-to-go?
Duties
The Environmental Enforcement Section is comprised of talented lawyers and professionals who work together to enforce the Nation's pollution, environmental cleanup, and natural resource damage laws-all to protect public health and the environment. The Section's litigating groups consist of teams of attorneys and professional staff charged with pursuing civil enforcement in federal district courts across the country through complex cases covering a wide variety environmental matters. The work that EES does results in significant benefits to public health, welfare, and the environment. Whether you are considering law school or looking for a long-term career in public service, working as an EES legal assistant will give you the opportunity to work with and learn from talented lawyers and professional staff on interesting and important legal cases.
After successfully completing one year under the Program, recent graduates MAY be converted to a term or permanent appointment if the following program requirements are met: 1) successful completion of at least 1 year of continuous service; 2) completion of at least 40 hours of formal interactive training; and 3) demonstration of successful job performance. A recent graduate converted to a term appointment may be subsequently converted non-competitively into a permanent competitive service position before the term expires.
Responsibilities
You will join a well-respected team that is responsible for performing a wide range of administrative and legal support tasks. The responsibilities of a Legal Assistant include:
Requirements
Conditions of employment
To be eligible for this Recent Graduate program, one of the following requirements must be met:
To qualify for the Legal Assistant (Recent Graduate) GS-5, applicants must have one of the following:
This position requires office automation skills. Some examples of office automation skills include database management and various word processing software packages (MS Office Suite: Excel, PowerPoint, and Word) and database applications.
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). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skill and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
YOUR RESUME MUST support your responses to the online questionnaire and provide specific details as to how your experience meets the specialized experience as described in the vacancy announcement if you are using experience to meet all or part of the qualification requirements. Please ensure that your resume includes the month and year that you began and ended each position held or that position will not be credited toward meeting the specialized experience requirement. Part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience. Failure to provide details will result in an ineligible rating. Your latest resume submitted for this vacancy announcement will be used to determine qualifications and supersedes previous submissions.
Only experience and education obtained by the closing date of this announcement will be considered.
Education
All academic degrees and coursework must be completed at a college or university that has obtained accreditation or pre-accreditation status from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools that meet this criteria, see
Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the above education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to timely provide such evidence by submitting proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency with your application materials. More information may be found at
All documentation must be in English or include an English translation.
Additional information
Veterans Preference: If you are entitled to or claim veteran preference (VP), you should indicate the type of veteran preference (5 or 10 points) you are claiming on your resume. In order to determine your eligibility, you can find additional information at:
To verify your veteran preference entitlement, submit a copy of the Member Copy 4 of your DD-214; official statement of service from your command if you are currently on active duty; or other official documentation (e.g., documentation of receipt of a campaign badge or expeditionary medal) that shows your military service was performed under honorable conditions. If you are claiming 10-point preference, you must submit Member Copy 4 of your DD-214 in addition to the supporting documentation required and identified on the reserve side of the SF-15, Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference. If you are claiming 10-point DERIVED PREFERENCE as a relative you must submit Member Copy 4 of the veteran's DD-214 and an SF-15 in addition to the supporting documentation required and identified on the reverse side of the SF-15. If you fail to do so, you will receive consideration as a non-veteran.
Benefits: DOJ offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes, in part, paid vacation; sick leave; holidays; telework; life insurance; health benefits; and participation in the Federal Employees Retirement System.
General Employment 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.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
The Environmental Enforcement Section is comprised of talented lawyers and professionals who work together to enforce the Nation's pollution, environmental cleanup, and natural resource damage laws-all to protect public health and the environment. The Section's litigating groups consist of teams of attorneys and professional staff charged with pursuing civil enforcement in federal district courts across the country through complex cases covering a wide variety environmental matters. The work that EES does results in significant benefits to public health, welfare, and the environment. Whether you are considering law school or looking for a long-term career in public service, working as an EES legal assistant will give you the opportunity to work with and learn from talented lawyers and professional staff on interesting and important legal cases.
After successfully completing one year under the Program, recent graduates MAY be converted to a term or permanent appointment if the following program requirements are met: 1) successful completion of at least 1 year of continuous service; 2) completion of at least 40 hours of formal interactive training; and 3) demonstration of successful job performance. A recent graduate converted to a term appointment may be subsequently converted non-competitively into a permanent competitive service position before the term expires.
Responsibilities
You will join a well-respected team that is responsible for performing a wide range of administrative and legal support tasks. The responsibilities of a Legal Assistant include:
- Use word processing software to create, edit, and format documents and correspondence.
- Conduct online research that included collecting and sorting information into logical formats.
- Review and assemble large volume of documents for review in preparation for specific projects.
- Organize and maintain files.
- Perform data entry in databases.
- Arrange travel reservations and prepare necessary paperwork.
Requirements
Conditions of employment
- You must be a U.S. citizen or national.
- You must complete a background investigation to include pre-employment drug testing.
- Selective Service Registration is required, as applicable.
- You will be required to serve a one year trial period.
- You must maintain a bank account for direct deposit of salary.
- If you do not submit school transcripts, you will be rated ineligible.
- If this is your first appointment in the Federal service, your salary will be set at Step 1 of the grade.
To be eligible for this Recent Graduate program, one of the following requirements must be met:
- Recent graduates must have completed, within the previous two years, a qualifying associate, bachelor, master, professional, doctorate, vocational, or technical degree or certificate from a qualifying educational institution; or must have completed a qualifying career or technical education program with or without a formal degree in a Registered Apprentice Program, Job Corps, AmeriCorps, or Peace Corps.
- You must have completed your degree, certificate, or program on or before the end of the current semester. If you graduated or completed an education program prior to MAY 2024, you will not be eligible for this position.
- Veterans unable to apply within two years of receiving their degree, due to military service obligation, have as much as six years after degree completion to apply.
To qualify for the Legal Assistant (Recent Graduate) GS-5, applicants must have one of the following:
- One year of specialized experience at, or equivalent to, the GS-4 Federal grade level applying standardized rules, processes, and procedures concerning commonly utilized general reference sources and legal research tools to perform legal support work. This experience include preparing correspondence and administrative forms using proper format, grammar, punctuation, and spelling; or
- Successful completion of 4 years of education above the high school level for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. The degree must be within a curriculum that is qualifying for the position to be filled. This education was obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university; or
- A combination of specialized experience described in letter A above and qualifying post high school education described in letter B above. One full academic year of study (30 semester hours beyond the second year) is equivalent to 6 months of specialized experience.
This position requires office automation skills. Some examples of office automation skills include database management and various word processing software packages (MS Office Suite: Excel, PowerPoint, and Word) and database applications.
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). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skill and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
YOUR RESUME MUST support your responses to the online questionnaire and provide specific details as to how your experience meets the specialized experience as described in the vacancy announcement if you are using experience to meet all or part of the qualification requirements. Please ensure that your resume includes the month and year that you began and ended each position held or that position will not be credited toward meeting the specialized experience requirement. Part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience. Failure to provide details will result in an ineligible rating. Your latest resume submitted for this vacancy announcement will be used to determine qualifications and supersedes previous submissions.
Only experience and education obtained by the closing date of this announcement will be considered.
Education
All academic degrees and coursework must be completed at a college or university that has obtained accreditation or pre-accreditation status from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools that meet this criteria, see
Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the above education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to timely provide such evidence by submitting proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency with your application materials. More information may be found at
All documentation must be in English or include an English translation.
Additional information
Veterans Preference: If you are entitled to or claim veteran preference (VP), you should indicate the type of veteran preference (5 or 10 points) you are claiming on your resume. In order to determine your eligibility, you can find additional information at:
To verify your veteran preference entitlement, submit a copy of the Member Copy 4 of your DD-214; official statement of service from your command if you are currently on active duty; or other official documentation (e.g., documentation of receipt of a campaign badge or expeditionary medal) that shows your military service was performed under honorable conditions. If you are claiming 10-point preference, you must submit Member Copy 4 of your DD-214 in addition to the supporting documentation required and identified on the reserve side of the SF-15, Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference. If you are claiming 10-point DERIVED PREFERENCE as a relative you must submit Member Copy 4 of the veteran's DD-214 and an SF-15 in addition to the supporting documentation required and identified on the reverse side of the SF-15. If you fail to do so, you will receive consideration as a non-veteran.
Benefits: DOJ offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes, in part, paid vacation; sick leave; holidays; telework; life insurance; health benefits; and participation in the Federal Employees Retirement System.
General Employment Information
- DOJ EEO STATEMENT: Find our EEO statement online at:
- SELECTIVE SERVICE: Additional information is found at:
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.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.