Summary The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) is seeking an energetic and dedicated attorney to serve as an Associate Legal Advisor working mainly in the area of Attorney Professional Conduct within the Ethics Division. These positions may offer up to $50,000 in signing and retention bonuses. General Schedule locality pay tables may be found under Salaries & Wages. Responsibilities OPLA is the largest legal program in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), employing nearly 2,000 attorneys nationwide. In addition to Headquarters in Washington, D.C., there are 24 OPLA Field Locations in more than 60 cities throughout the United States. OPLA provides a full range of legal services to all ICE programs and offices. OPLA's Headquarters General and Administrative Law divisions advance ICE's homeland security and public safety mission by providing legal advice and prudential counsel to ICE personnel on a range of matters, such as employment, ethics, fiscal, contract, and information-disclosure law. An ICE attorney specializing in attorney professional conduct will work as a member of the ICE Ethics Office team to provide training and guidance on the Executive Branch Standards of Conduct program for government employees and on attorney professional responsibility matters. The responsibilities of the position will consist primarily of: providing counsel to ICE employees at all grade levels to include senior officials, including providing guidance and issuing advisory opinions in response to written and verbal requests for advice; providing advice and guidance to OPLA attorneys and to ICE and DHS leadership on attorney professional conduct issues; developing and disseminating training, general guidance, and reference documents for OPLA attorneys; reviewing public and confidential financial disclosure reports filed by covered management officials and researching the investments and positions held to identify and assess potential conflicts of interest; assisting with the drafting and implementation of agency ethics rules, instructions and policies; and providing group training to ICE program offices on government ethics. Selected attorneys will immediately be given significant responsibilities and will be expected to craft persuasive, legally supportable positions to address the needs of agency operational components. Selected attorneys will be expected to routinely provide timely legal opinions to ICE officers and agents, division management, and attorneys and leadership within OPLA, ICE, and the DHS Office of the General Counsel Headquarters. OPLA will ensure that applicants with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations when appropriate. If reasonable accommodation is required for any part of the application process, please contact the OPLA representative listed on this announcement. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications Qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Qualification claims will be subject to verification. Applicants must possess extensive experience advising and interpreting the professional conduct rules applicable to attorneys and those with whom they work. Applicants should be able to efficiently produce quality legal analyses of complex and novel issues, exercise sound legal judgment, prioritize competing assignments, and work effectively independently, as part of a team, and across work units. Applicants should be detail-oriented and have a strong interest in supporting and providing stellar client services to program offices, including law enforcement officers, policymakers, attorneys, and agency senior leadership, and must be able to tailor communications to a particular audience. Applicants should be able to take the initiative and work in a reliable, decisive, and professional manner. Applicants should possess the following characteristics and competencies: integrity, sound professional judgment, organizational skills, decisiveness, initiative, the ability to function independently and cooperatively, and superior written and oral advocacy skills. Applicants at the GS-12 and -13 levels must have relevant skills and must articulate experience that will help the applicant quickly learn the work of the Ethics Office. Applicants at the GS-14 and 15 levels must possess subject matter expertise including more than 4 years of specialized experience in attorney professional responsibility. Bar Membership: You must be an active member in good standing of the bar of a U.S. state, territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last five years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office. The Department of Homeland Security encourages persons with disabilities to apply, to include persons with intellectual, severe physical or psychiatric disabilities, as defined by 5 C.F.R. § 213.3102(u), and Disabled Veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more as defined by 5 C.F.R. § 315.707. Veterans, Peace Corps, VISTA volunteers, and persons with disabilities possess a wealth of unique talents, experiences, and competencies that can be invaluable to the DHS mission. If you are a member of one of these groups, you may not have to compete with the public for federal jobs. To determine your eligibility for non-competitive appointment and to understand the required documentation, click on the links above or contact the Servicing Human Resources Office listed at the bottom of this announcement. Education Applicants must be graduates of an accredited law school with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) or LLM degree. Please see Required Documents for more information. Additional Information E-Verify: DHS uses E-Verify to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States. Learn more about E-Verify including your rights and responsibilities. Bargaining Unit Status: This is a non-bargaining position. Promotion Potential: This position has promotion potential to the GS-15 level. When promotion potential is shown, the agency is not making a commitment and is not obligated to provide future promotions to you if you are selected. Future promotions will be dependent on your ability to perform duties at a higher level and administrative approval. Further, promotion from the GS-14 level to the GS-15 level is subject to OPLA's internal guidance. Direct Deposit: All federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing. Veterans' Preference: There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the Excepted Service; however, OPLA considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. Financial Disclosure: If you are hired, you may be required to complete a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 450) within 30 days after appointment. Suitability: If you receive a conditional offer of employment, you must complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application, prior to entry on duty. False statements on any part of the application may result in withdrawal of offer of employment, dismissal after beginning work, fine, or imprisonment. Background Investigation: DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet these standards, all selected applicants for this position must undergo a background investigation and successfully obtain and maintain a security clearance at the [Top Secret/Secret] level as a condition of placement into this position. This process may include a credit check, a review of financial issues such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support, and tax obligations, and a review of certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs. Drug Test: Pursuant to Executive Order 12564 and the DHS Drug-Free Workplace Plan, ICE is committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace. All applicants tentatively selected for employment are subject to pre-employment drug testing, and a final offer of employment is contingent upon a negative result. A student loan repayment incentive may be available; if such an incentive is available and is authorized, a service agreement will be required. One or more positions may be filled using this vacancy announcement. General Schedule locality pay tables may be found under Salaries & Wages.
