SPECIAL ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
(Serves Without Compensation)
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Western District of Virginia
11-WDVA-SAUSA-02
About the Office: The United States Attorney's Office, Western District of Virginia, covers 52 of the state's counties and employs approximately 25 Assistant United States Attorneys over four staffed offices. The main office is located in Roanoke, Virginia. Branch offices are in Abingdon, Charlottesville and Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Responsibilities and Opportunity Offered: The Office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia is seeking applications from attorneys who are willing to accept unpaid temporary positions that offer a valuable opportunity to gain exposure to the office while also obtaining litigation experience and conducting trials. Successful applicants will serve as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys (SAUSAs) with responsibilities that include researching legal issues, drafting briefs, conducting hearings and trials, and attending judicial proceedings. These positions are for a period of one year and may be based in Roanoke, Charlottesville and Abingdon .
SAUSAs will not be hired by this office as Assistant U.S. Attorneys at the conclusion of their SAUSA terms. However, they may apply for AUSA positions in the office after completing their service as SAUSAs. Only applicants with outstanding academic records and superior legal research and writing skills will be considered. Any applicant invited for an interview will be required to submit a writing sample. Recent law school graduates should include a copy of their law school transcript with their application.
Prior litigation experience is preferred, but the positions are open to lawyers who are finishing judicial clerkships and to highly qualified lawyers who have recently graduated from law school.
This announcement is to fill one position in the Roanoke Office. As needed, additional positions may be filled from this vacancy announcement.
Qualifications: Applicants must possess a J.D. degree and be an active member of the bar (any jurisdiction).
Travel: Travel, both within and outside the District, may be required depending on the needs of a particular case.
Salary Information:This is a one-year appointment without compensation. Note that employees of the Department of Justice, including uncompensated SAUSAs, may not engage in the compensated practice of law outside of the office. Attorneys are not eligible to serve as SAUSAs if the have been deferred by a law firm and received a payment for the period of their deferral, or if they will receive any payment from a law firm during their unpaid employment with the Department of Justice.
Location: Applications will be considered for placement in our Roanoke, Charlottesville and Abingdon offices. Applicants should specify their desired duty location on their application.
Relocation Expenses: Relocation expenses are not authorized.
Application Process and Deadline Date: Interested applicants should send a resume, cover letter, and writing sample to the United States Attorney's, ATTN: Jason Austin, P.O. Box 1709, Roanoke, VA 24008 or to usavaw.personnel@usdoj.gov.
No telephone calls please. Position is open until filled.
Internet Sites: This and other attorney vacancy announcements can be found at: http://www.usdoj.gov/oarm/attvacancies.html
More information on the United States Attorney's Office, Western District of Virginia can be found at:
http://www.justice.gov/usao/vaw/
Department Policies:
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, politics, marital status, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, status as a parent, membership or non-membership in an employee organization, or on the basis of personal favoritism. 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, http://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/SF15.pdf for a copy of SF 15, which lists the types of 10point preferences and the required supporting documents). 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).
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The Department of Justice cannot control further dissemination and/or posting of information contained in this vacancy announcement. Such posting and/or dissemination is not an endorsement by the Department of the organization or group disseminating and/or posting the information.