The attorneys and staff of the United States Attorney's Office for the Western district of North Carolina are proud to represent the over six million residents of this large and culturally diverse district. It is the mission and the pledge of
this office to represent the United States with determination, professionalism, and integrity.
The United States Attorney's Office is responsible for representing the federal government in all litigation involving the
United States in the Western District of North Carolina. This includes all criminal prosecutions for violations of federal
law, civil lawsuits by and against the government, and actions to collect judgments and restitution on behalf of victims and
taxpayers. The district extends over 13,563.9 square miles and includes 32 counties. The population of our district is
2,628,148 people. The largest county is Mecklenburg with over 720,000 people. The smallest is Graham with just over 8,000. Charlotte is the largest city in the state, with a metropolitan area of 1.8 million. It is the 2nd largest banking center in
America. The great Smokey Mountains National Park, half of its 800 square miles is WDNC. 250 of the 469 miles of the BlueRidge Parkway are in WDNC. The Pisgah & Nantahala Forest cover over one million acres in our district. The largest Native American Community in the eastern half of the United States, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, is in WDNC.
CHARLOTTE HEADQUARTERS The United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina is based in Charlotte. The Charlotte office
serves the counties of Alexander, Alleghany, Anson, Ashe, Caldwell, Catawba, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Union,Watauga, Wilkes. In all, there are 4 civil and 19 criminal Assistant United States Attorneys ("AUSAs") who work in Charlotte along with a legal staff of 12. The AUSAs represent the United States before 4 United States District Judges and 3 United States Magistrate Judges who sit in the Federal Courthouse in Charlotte.
ASHEVILLE BRANCH OFFICEThe Asheville Branch Office of the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolilna serves the counties of Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Yancey, Polk. The Asheville Branch Office is located in the western part of North Carolina in the magnificent Blue Ridge Mountains.
The Charlotte Office is divided into the Civil, Criminal, and Administrative Divisions.
The Asheville Office is divided into the Civil and Criminal Divisions.
The Criminal Division is generally divided into three sections, although all criminal AUSAs and staff are often asked to handle cases in other sections. AUSAs are assigned to coordinate specialized areas of law as follows:
The Appellate Unit reviews all criminal appellate filings, supervises moot courts before oral arguments in appellate cases, provides legal advice to other AUSAs, acts as liaison on appellate matters with the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division and the Solicitor General in Washington, D.C., writes briefs and argues cases in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and provides training for newly hired attorneys.
" White Collar" crimes AUSAs are responsible for prosecuting a wide range of crimes including healthcare fraud, financial institution fraud, bankruptcy fraud, securities fraud, tax fraud, money laundering and wire fraud. Environmental cases prosecuted under the Clean Water Act (CLEA) and Federal environmental statutes are also handled by this unit. Project Safe Child AUSAs also handle child exploitation cases. Most of which involve defendants who met children on the internet and then traveled, or caused them to travel, for the purpose of having sex with them, as well as the production and distribution of child pornography.
The Special Prosecutions AUSAs handle a diverse array of criminal matters, including public corruption, civil rights violations, hate crimes, and immigration law offenses.
Computer Crimes AUSAs investigate and prosecute all federal computer crimes committed within the Western District of North Carolina, including computer intrusions, denial of service attacks, virus and worm proliferation, Internet fraud, and telecommunications fraud. Prosecutors in this section are also responsible for prosecuting intellectual property offenses, including copyright and trademark infringement, software piracy, theft of trade secrets and economic espionage.
The Narcotics Violent Crime section is primarily responsible for investigating and prosecuting drug and firearm cases. Attorneys in this section are primarily responsible for prosecuting large scale sophisticated drug trafficking organizations. They also handle many of the most significant violent crime cases including cases involving terrorism, murder, kidnaping, carjacking, assault, and bank robbery.
The Civil Division consists of the General Civil Litigation Unit, the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit, and the Monetary Penalties Unit.
The General Civil Litigation Unit represents the United States and its agencies, officers, and employees involved in civil litigation as either plaintiffs or defendants in many types of civil cases, including the following:
- defense of federal agencies in employment discrimination cases
- defense of federal medical facilities in medical malpractice actions
- defense of federal officers in Bivens-type civil rights actions
- civil prosecution to protect the private sector employment and re-employment rights of those who serve or have served in military service
- civil prosecution and defense of federal land trespass and boundary dispute cases
- defense or prosecution of commercial disputes between businesses and federal agencies
- bankruptcy court representation of federal creditors (primarily the IRS, SBA, HUD and the Rural Housing Service)
- defense of Social Security Administration in disability benefits appeals.
The Affirmative Civil Enforcement (ACE) Unit represents the United States and its agencies as the plaintiff in cases where the government seeks to recover monies and civil penalties in cases involving federal program or procurement fraud, primarily under the False Claims Act. Although most cases involve health care fraud, other areas include federal crop insurance fraud, food stamp fraud, and frauds involving other federal programs.
The Monetary Penalties Unit is composed of the Financial Litigation Unit (FLU) and the Asset Forfeiture Unit.
The FLU collects debts resulting from unpaid federal loans as well as from civil and criminal judgments, including fines, penalties and victim restitution. The FLU garnishes wages, seizes federal tax refunds, and seizes real and personal property wherever it can be located.
The Asset Forfeiture Unit operates under both criminal and civil statutes in an effort to seize assets that are the proceeds of criminal activity, or were involved in facilitating federal crimes or money laundering offenses.
The Administrative Division provides a wide variety of support services to all of the United States Attorney’s Office employees within the district. The scope of responsibility includes personnel management, budget administration, space management, procurement of supplies and services, information technology and facilities management.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina is committed to serving its community. This service is comprised of both official activities/collateral duty assignments and volunteer activities performed by members ofthe office during working and non-working hours. For example, through the Victim Witness Program the United States Attorney's Office sponsors and administers the Greater Charlotte Area Task Force on Hate Crime, a coalition dedicated to improving services to victims of hate and bias crimes and incidents. Membership is open to the public. The Law Enforcement and Community Subcommittee meets four times a year and co-sponsors a major conference on hate crimes once a year. Other committees include the Outreach Committee, Schools Committee, Victims Services Committee, Violence Prevention Committee, Newsletter Committee, and Policies and Procedures Committee. Contact Lynne Crout, Victim Witness Program Manager at
828-271-4661 or Lynne.Crout@usdoj.gov.
The Victim Witness Program is responsible for providing statutory services to victims and witnesses involved, usually through no fault of their own, in the federal criminal justice system. Headed by a program manager in the Asheville office with the assistance of a specialist in the Charlotte office, the victim witness staff notifies victims of court events and provides a variety of court related services, including referral to victim based social services and counseling. Lynne Crout is the Victim Witness Coordinator and Program Manager and she may be contacted at 1-828-271-4661 or at Lynne.Crout@usdoj.gov.
To facilitate the formation of programs within all districts of United States Attorneys' Offices, Congress created the Law Enforcement Coordinator (LEC) position in 1986. The LEC represents the United States Attorney and the office by participating on law enforcement panels, local and statewide committees, and law enforcement task forces. The LEC maintains direct contact with the United States Attorney in the setting of priorities and the identifying of needs, activities, committees and task forces for the district’s law enforcement program based on the LEC's close contact, involvement and participation with the law enforcement community.
The United States Attorney’s law enforcement program includes training, program development and facilitation, project assistance, funding for law enforcement related activities and programs, assistance with writing and acquiring federal grants, and when requested, serves as an ombudsman to local law enforcement agencies. For further information please contact Suellen Pierce, Law Enforcement Coordinator, at 704-344-6222 or Suellen.Pierce@usdoj.gov.
Weed and Seed is a Department of Justice community-based program. Its goal is to prevent, control and reduce violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity in targeted high-crime neighborhoods throughout the country. The Weed and Seed strategy follows a two-pronged approach: local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors cooperate in "weeding" out criminals who engage in violent crimes and drug abuse, and "seeding" brings to the area human services encompassing prevention, intervention, treatment, and neighborhood revitalization. A community-oriented policing component bridges weeding and seeding strategies:officers obtain cooperation and information from area residents while they assist residents in obtaining information about community revitalization and resources.
In addition to these formal programs, members of the United States Attorney's Office staff participate in a wide variety of outside volunteer activities, including:
Speaking to schools and community service groups
Participating in Mock Trial programs
Participating in Drug Awareness events
Permanent status employees of the U.S. Attorney’s Office are eligible to receive a comprehensive Federal government benefit package which includes the following:
Retirement - The Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) is a 3-tiered plan to provide secure retirement,disability, and survivor benefits for employees and their dependents. In addition to Social Security benefits as a base,FERS offers both an annuity that grows with length of service and a tax deferred savings plan. Employees pay eighttenths of 1 percent of salary to qualify for the annuity and are fully vested after five years of service and, for disability benefits,after just 18 months. The savings plan allows employees to save up to a certain percentage of their bi-weekly salary (taking into consideration the IRS annual limits imposed for the given year) for retirement. The government contributes 1 percent of the bi-weekly salary to employees who do not contribute and will match up to another 4 percent of savings (which together can equal as much as 5 percent of the employee’s biweekly salary) for employees who do contribute.
Health Insurance - Employees can enroll in health insurance coverage for themselves and their families at reasonable rates. Employees can choose between several managed fee-for-service plans and health maintenance organization plans. There is an annual open season during which employees can change their enrollment. Unlike a growing number of private sector health benefits programs, federal employees can continue their health insurance coverage into retirement with a full government contribution. Most enrollees pay only one-fourth of the health benefit premium. The employee’s share of the health insurance premium is made on a pretax basis.
Life Insurance - Most full-time and part-time employees are automatically enrolled in basic life insurance equal to their salary,
rounded to the next $1,000, plus $2,000. The government pays
one-third of the cost of this group term insurance. Employees do not
have to prove insurability; no physical is required. Basic coverage
includes double benefits for accidental death and benefits for loss of
limb(s) or eyesight. Employees can also purchase optional insurance at
their own expense. Optional coverage includes additional insurance on
the employee's life as well as coverage for the employee's spouse and
eligible children, if any. Those younger than 45 receive an additional
amount of coverage at no greater cost.
Leave - Employees earn 13 days of sick leave each year; sick leave can be used to care for family members, to arrangefor or attend funeral services of family members, and for absences relating to adopting a child. Federal employees also earn 13 days of annual leave during each of their first three years of federal employment. Employees earn additional annual leave as their tenure with the federal government increases, up to a maximum of 26 days per year after 15 years of service.
Holidays - Employees are entitled to 10 paid holidays each year.
Quality Worklife Programs - Employees of the U.S. Attorney’s Office are eligible to receive certain no-cost medical and counseling services through the U.S. Occupational Health Service, the LifeCare Connection and the Employee Assistance Program. Innovative leave sharing programs allow employees to voluntarily transfer some of their annual leave to specific coworkers or to a leave bank to assist coworkers in dealing with a personal or family medical emergency. Subject to supervisory approval, the office offers compressed work schedules for support staff employees. Compressed work schedules are fixed work schedules that enable full-time employees to complete the basic 80-hour biweekly work requirement in less than 10 workdays.
Liability Insurance - Attorneys and supervisors are eligible to receive reimbursement for up to one-half the cost of professional liability insurance.
Training and Tuition Assistance - Through the resources of the Department of Justice, Office of Legal Education, ouragency is able to offer a comprehensive range of courses to assist attorneys, paralegals, legal assistants and other support personnel in improving their skills. Courses are generally conducted at the National Advocacy Center, a state-of the art training facility located in Columbia, South Carolina. Permanent employees are also eligible to receive tuition reimbursement for continuing education seminars and/or college course work which relates to their assigned duties.
Transit Subsidy - The office offers a transit subsidy program which allows most employees to be fully reimbursed for expenses incurred in utilizing public transportation for their daily commute to and from the office.
Long Term Care Insurance - The government has developed a long term care insurance program which includes benefits for all levels of care, custodial to skilled, including home care, assisted living facilities, and nursing home care. Although employees electing this benefit pay all costs, the premiums are very competitive and the coverage among the most comprehensive and flexible available at any price.
Please note that although individuals serving on temporary appointments are generally not eligible for retirement, life insurance, health insurance and tuition assistance, they can receive annual and sick leave, holiday pay and transit subsidy benefits.
Additional information on federal benefits is available at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s website located at www.opm.gov. Questions may also be directed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office human resources staff at (704) 344-6222.
The United States Attorney’s Office recruits Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) in the Charlotte and Asheville offices as vacancies occur. Candidates interested in applying for attorney vacancies must have a J.D. degree; be duly licensed and authorized to practice as an attorney under the laws of a state, territory, or the District of Columbia; should have a minimum of three to five years litigation experience; and possess excellent academic credentials. Trial experience is a plus. Salary is commensurate with experience. Resumes should be sent to: The United States Attorney's Office, 227 West Trade Street, Suite 1650,Charlotte, NC 28202. No telephone inquiries please. If no vacancies are currently available, applicant files are maintained for approximately six months. Attorneys who are interested in employment in any other district or at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., should directly contact the appropriate office. For further information, contact www.usdoj.gov/oarm/attvacancies.html, or:
Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management
U.S. Department of Justice
Room 7254, Main Building
950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001
(202) 514-3396 (24-hour Recorded Information)
The Honors Program is the Department of Justice’s entry-level recruitment
program and is the only way the Department hires graduating law students.
Students apply during their third year of law school for an entry-level position following graduation. Judicial law clerks and full-time LL.M. candidates are also eligible to apply to the Program. Several organizations within the Department of Justice formally participate in this program. The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices generally do not hire graduating law students; therefore, they do not participate in the Honors Program. There is a specific application for this Program and an absolute deadline date, usually falling in the last week of September. Application procedures and eligibility requirements can be found at www.usdoj.gov/oarm.
The United States Attorney's Office accepts applications for employment in non-attorney positions as posted by specific job vacancy announcements or public notices. The most common non-attorney positions are Legal Assistants, Paralegal Specialists, Victim/Witness Coordinator and other support positions. Other administrative and technical positions such as Investigator, Auditor and Analyst occasionally become available. For qualifying college students, there are regularly recurring part-time and full-time vacancies which are filled on a temporary basis with flexible schedules.
Continuing applicant files are not maintained for support positions. Applications will only be accepted during the period of time listed in the posted vacancy announcement and applications must be received or postmarked by the closing date.
Support staff vacancy announcements will also be posted at the following website: www.usajobs.opm.gov Qualification requirements vary for support positions and will be specified in each vacancy announcement. If interested in applying for support positions, please mail a complete application package (as specified in the vacancy announcement) to:
Leslie Haynes
Human Resources Officer
United States Attorney's Office
227 West Trade St Street Suite 1650
Charlotte, NC 28202
OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS
The Western District of North Carolina offers several student employment opportunities, both paid and unpaid as follows:
Paid Positions:
The United States Attorney’s Office offers temporary clerical and administrative opportunities to students who are enrolled at least half-time in an accredited 2-year or 4-year college or university, graduate, professional, vocational, or technical school. The opportunities need not be related to the student's academic field of study. Students may be employed year round and work schedules are flexible to accommodate school schedules. During the school year, students must work between 16-20 hours per week; however, during school breaks, students may work up to 40 hours per week. Students in this program are placed in excepted appointments and are eligible to earn annual and sick leave. Vacancy announcements for the Student Temporary Employment Program will be posted on the Western District of North Carolina website and will also be posted at the following website: www.usajobs.opm.gov.
Students interested in this program must contact their college and/or university to determine if they qualify for a college work study position. Work study positions are available in the following areas:
This program offers school credits. Students must check with their school's clinical advisor regarding the number of units earned. During the school year, a minimum of 15 hours per week is required.
Positions available include student law clerks, victim/witness assistance, and other administrative positions. Duties and requirements for these positions are described in the Student Volunteer Service section above.
Resumes for law clerk positions should be submitted by the following
deadlines: February 15th for summer positions, May 15th for fall semester
positions, and October 1st for spring semester positions. tudentsinterested in law clerk positions in the Charlotte office should submit resumes to the United States Attorney's Office, 227 West Trade Street, Suite 1650b, Charlotte, NC 28202.
Students interested in law clerk positions in the Asheville branch office should submit resumes to the United StatesAttorney's Office, 227 West Trade Street, Suite 1650, Charlotte, NC 28202. Resumes should be addressed to the attention of:
Leslie Haynes - Human Resources Office(Charlotte)
(704) 344-6222
Resumes for all other student positions should be submitted to the United States Attorney's Office, Attn: Human Resources Officer, 227 West Trade Street, Suite 1650, Charlotte, NC 28202. For additional information please contact Leslie Haynes, Human Resources Officer, (704) 344-6222.
Students should include a cover letter indicating the program, position, and
location he or she is interested in and include a recent transcript if available.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of North Carolina, have an ongoing obligation to provide reasonable job accommodations for employees and job applicants with disabilities. In most circumstances, it is the obligation of the employee or applicant to request the reasonable accommodation. Job applicants may make requests for reasonable accommodation to the individual identified in the appropriate vacancy announcement as the point of contact for reasonable accommodations. The Western District of North Carolina has designated Leslie Haynes, Human Resources Officer, (704) 344-6222, as the District Accommodation Coordinator and her name will be listed on all vacancy announcements for support staff positions.
Attorneys seeking employment with the District may contact Ms. Haynes directly for information regarding a request for reasonable accommodation.
Reasonable accommodations for job applicants may include providing an accessible location for job interviews; sign language interpreters; providing other assistive devices; and other accommodations that may be needed in the application process.Employment for all positions (lawyers, support staff, and students) is contingent upon the satisfactory completion of a background investigation by the Department of Justice. This is a thorough investigation that includes checking with present and former employers, military records and credit bureaus. The investigation also includes verifications of tax filings and attendance at institutions of higher learning. Those who are selected are subject to drug testing by urinalysis. United States citizenship is required. Except where otherwise provided by law, there is no discrimination based on color, race, religion, national origin, politics,marital status, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, retaliation, parental status, genetic information, membership or nonmembership in an employee organization, or on the basis of personal favoritism.