ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Northern District of Georgia
12-GAN-AUSA-03
Responsibilities and Opportunity Offered: The Northern District of Georgia is currently seeking applicants, including attorneys who are not presently employed by the Department of Justice, for anticipated Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) openings in our Civil Division, Affirmative Civil Enforcement or Defensive Litigation Sections, and in our Criminal Division, all sections. Applicants must indicate whether they are applying for a criminal or civil division slot, or both. Selected AUSAs may be assigned to any of the sections described below:
Civil Division
• Affirmative Civil Enforcement. Cases pursued by the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Section include fraud, waste, and abuse cases where federal agencies and taxpayers are the victims, most often under the False Claims Act, and often involving health care fraud, procurement fraud, and contractor fraud. These cases also are often associated with parallel criminal proceedings, where the civil AUSA must coordinate with the criminal prosecutors. Most cases involve claims involving tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, and require not only initiative and creativity in directing the government's investigation of fraud claims, but also superior organizational and documentary skills.
• Defensive Litigation. The Defensive Litigation Section defends a vast array of civil cases brought against the United States and its agencies, including employment discrimination cases, personal injury actions, medical malpractice claims arising out of treatment at a Veterans Hospital or other federally supported health facilities, challenges to agency determinations such as the denial of Social Security disability benefits, and decisions by immigration authorities to deport or detain aliens. They are also responsible for a broad range of other matters, including requests to disclose records under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts, appeals and/or challenges under the Administrative Procedure Act, defense of government officials sued in their individual capacities, and motions to quash subpoenas that fail to comply with applicable federal regulations. AUSAs in this section handle their own cases, and therefore must be capable of managing numerous ongoing matters and juggling depositions and deadlines for pleadings in a collegial, supportive environment.
Criminal Division
• Economic Crimes focuses on mortgage and bank fraud, securities and corporate crime, government and procurement fraud, health care fraud, tax offenses, computer-related and intellectual property crimes, and other complex cases.
• Major Crimes focuses on cases involving violent street gangs, sexual exploitation of children, human trafficking, civil rights violations, kidnaping, armed robbery, illegal alien status offenses, firearms offenses, national security cases, and other complex cases.
• Narcotics/OCDETF focuses on complex international and organizational drug cases and money laundering and financial offenses, and related immigration offenses, many of which involve Title III and other electronic surveillance.
These positions will be filled on a permanent basis. It is possible that the office will have a vacancy in one or more renewable term positions as well (meaning that the term has been renewed each year, but future renewals are at the discretion of the DOJ). Another term position ends in 14 months. Applicants should indicate whether they wish to be considered for these term positions as well.
Qualifications:
Required qualifications: Applicants must possess a J.D. degree from a law school approved by the American Bar Association, be an active member of the bar (any jurisdiction), and have at least one year post-J.D. experience.
Preferred qualifications (Civil): The Civil Division litigates complex cases, so the applicant should possess experience in managing and organizing voluminous documentary evidence and synthesizing the information in these materials to present an effective case. Because most of the civil practice in the U.S. Attorney's office involves pretrial litigation, applicants also must possess superior research and writing abilities and must be able to prepare high-quality and persuasive pleadings. Applicants should also possess experience in taking or defending depositions and conducting witness interviews. While not required, post-JD experience in the federal system is desirable. Applicants must demonstrate analytical ability, good judgment, and excellent communication skills. Applicants must exhibit the ability to work in a supportive and professional manner with other attorneys, support staff, and client agencies.
Preferred qualifications (Criminal): Hiring preferences include federal or state criminal trial experience, although we consider applicants with a variety of litigation backgrounds that demonstrate analytical ability, judgment, and advocacy skills. Candidates must possess a strong academic background, superior legal writing and research ability, and a commitment to professionalism, ethics, civility, and public service. Finally, preferred candidates must possess the ability to manage large, complex investigations and prosecutions.
(*Note: You must become a member of the Georgia bar within one year of appointment as an Assistant US Attorney. If you are a member of the bar in any jurisdiction other than Georgia, you may apply for admission on motion without examination, provided you meet all eligibility criteria. The state in which you were admitted by examination to membership in the bar must have comity for bar admission purposes with the State of Georgia. Reciprocity Order, eligibility criteria, and instructions for admission on motion without examination are available at http://www.gabaradmissions.org/.)
About the Office: The United States Attorney's Office prosecutes federal criminal offenses, seeks recovery of government funds fraudulently obtained, litigates affirmative civil fraud and enforcement actions, and defends the U.S. Government's interest in civil cases. The United States Attorney's Office, Northern District of Georgia, is located in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to the main office in downtown Atlanta, we maintain three intermittently staffed offices located in Rome, Newnan and Gainesville. More information about the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan/.
Travel: Occasional travel, both within and outside the District, may be required.
Salary Information: Assistant United States Attorneys' pay is administratively determined based, in part, on the number of years of professional attorney experience. The range of basic pay is $53,181 to $155,400, which includes a 19.29% locality pay supplement.
Location: Positions are located in Atlanta, Georgia.
Relocation Expenses: Relocation expenses will not be authorized.
Application Process and Deadline Date: If you are interested in relocating to a great United States Attorney's Office in the beautiful, rapidly growing, and still relatively affordable Atlanta area, please email a resume and a cover letter (pdf file preferred) to USAGAN.Resumes@usdoj.gov .
Resumes may also be mailed to:
Tanya Smilley
Human Resources Specialist
United States Attorney's Office
Northern District of Georgia
600 Richard Russell Building
75 Spring Street, SW
Atlanta, GA 30303
The announcement is open until filled. Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible, as the window for considering applications is short and the positions will be filled on an ongoing basis.
Those who applied during the past six months need not reapply.
No telephone calls please. Applications will remain active and on file for consideration for six months from date of receipt. If you are not selected during the six months period in which your application is active, you must reapply.
Internet Sites: U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Georgia: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan/
This and other attorney vacancy announcements can be found at: http://www.justice.gov/careers/legal/attvacancies.html
Department Policies: Assistant United States Attorneys generally must reside in the district to which he or she is appointed. See 28 U.S.C. § 545 for district-specific information.
All initial attorney appointments to the Department of Justice are made on a time-limited (temporary) basis. Temporary appointments may, or may not, be extended or made permanent without further competition.
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 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. 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.
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.
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).
The Department of Justice cannot control further dissemination and/or posting of information contained in this vacancy announcement. Such posting and/or dissemination are not an endorsement by the Department of the organization or group disseminating and/or posting the information.