Legal Careers
Appellate AUSA
East Tower, 6th Floor
Portland, ME 04101 - United States
The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine has a position available for an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) in our Appellate Division. The District of Maine encompasses the entire state of Maine, which has a population of about 1.3 million. The AUSA vacancy is in our headquarters office, located in Portland, Maine’s largest city. Portland is a vibrant, livable small city located on gorgeous Casco Bay. The city has world-class dining, numerous cultural institutions, and easy access to outdoor adventures. For additional information regarding our office, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-me.
Our office places a high value on diversity of experiences and perspectives and encourages applications from individuals with cultural competence. We encourage individuals from all ethnic and racial backgrounds, veterans, LGBTQ individuals, and persons with disabilities to apply.
As the federal agency whose mission is to ensure the fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans, the Department of Justice is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. To build and retain a workforce that reflects the diverse experiences and perspectives of the American people, we welcome applicants from the many communities, identities, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, religions, and cultures of the United States who share our commitment to public service.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maine, with offices in Bangor and Portland, prosecutes all criminal and civil cases brought by the federal government and defends the United States in civil cases in Maine. The position of an AUSA provides one with the responsibility and the authority to improve the lives of Americans who live in Maine and across the United States. Working as a federal prosecutor sworn to pursue justice in the name of the United States is deeply satisfying. Many lawyers look back on their days as an AUSA as among the most rewarding of their professional careers.
The office has one opening for an experienced criminal appellate attorney to serve as an AUSA in the Appellate Division in our Portland office. The selected AUSA will represent the United States in cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and will handle all aspects of affirmative and defensive appeals from criminal cases arising in the district. Responsibilities will include appellate briefs and oral arguments on constitutional, statutory, evidentiary, and procedural matters. The AUSA will also review draft briefs written by fellow AUSAs and participate in moot courts. Aside from appellate litigation, the AUSA will advise the U.S. Attorney and fellow AUSAs on developments in the law and significant legal issues; handle specialized litigation in federal district court; and consult with the Solicitor General’s Office and the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice regarding potential government appeals, petitions for rehearing en banc, and litigation in the U.S. Supreme Court stemming from criminal cases in the district. Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as training and experience progress.
Required Qualifications: Applicants must possess a J.D. degree and be an active member in good standing of the bar (any jurisdiction). Applicants must have a minimum of 3 years of post-J.D. experience (including any judicial clerkships). United States citizenship is required.
Preferred qualifications: Hiring for AUSA positions is highly competitive. The U.S. Attorney’s Office seeks a diverse complement of lawyers with keen intelligence, a wide range of skills and experiences, and a sincere commitment to public service. Typically, an individual who joins the Appellate Section of a U.S. Attorney’s Office has an exceptional academic record, experience as a federal judicial clerk, and significant appellate experience in private practice or government. Experience as a federal judicial clerk at the appellate level or as a federal prosecutor working on appellate matters is highly desirable. Applicants must demonstrate fair and ethical judgment; superior writing, legal-research, and appellate-advocacy skills; the ability to articulate quickly, accurately, and precisely the critical issues in a case; the ability to distill voluminous factual records into a readily understood narrative; the ability to work in a supportive and professional manner with attorneys and support staff; and a demonstrated capacity to succeed with minimal guidance in a highly demanding environment.
Applicants must demonstrate an ability to do their own legal research and writing and to prepare their own correspondence and court filings. Applicants must also demonstrate excellent computer-literacy skills, including independent facility in legal research on the internet and electronic court filing. Most attorneys hired have several years of experience, although highly qualified recent graduates with some experience in practice or as a judicial clerk are also considered. You must meet all qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.
This position is open until filled, however, applications received by April 30, 2022 will receive first consideration. Application packages should contain a cover letter and resume. Please indicate which position your wish to apply for within your cover letter. Please send application complete packages via email to: USAME.HR@usdoj.gov. No telephone calls please.
Applicants should familiarize themselves and comply with the relevant rules of professional conduct regarding any possible conflicts of interest in connection with their applications. In particular, please notify this Office if you currently represent clients or adjudicate matters in which this Office is involved and/or you have a family member who is representing clients or adjudicating matters in which this Office is involved so that we can evaluate any potential conflicts of interest or disqualification issues that may need to be addressed under those circumstances.
Assistant United States Attorneys’ pay is administratively determined based, in part, on the number years of professional attorney experience. The range of basic pay is $74,129 to $176,200 per year, which includes 30.09% locality pay.
Department Policies
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 race, color, religion, national origin, sex - including gender identity, sexual orientation, or pregnancy status - or because of age (over 40), physical or mental disability, protected genetic information, parental status, marital status, political affiliation, or any other non-merit based 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. For more information, please review our full EEO Statement.
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.
The Department encourages qualified applicants with disabilities, including individuals with targeted/severe disabilities to apply in response to posted vacancy announcements. Qualified applicants with targeted/severe disabilities may be eligible for direct hire, non-competitive appointment under Schedule A (5 C.F.R. § 213.3102(u)) hiring authority. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to contact one of the Department’s Disability Points of Contact (DPOC) to express an interest in being considered for a position. See list of DPOCs.
Unless otherwise required by law, the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits employees of the U.S. Department of Justice or a federal contractor acting on its behalf from inquiring about an applicant's criminal history record, either in writing or orally, before that individual receives a conditional offer of employment. Applicants who believe they have been subjected to a violation of the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, may submit a written complaint within 30 days of the date of the alleged non-compliance directly to the hiring office using the contact information listed in the announcement.
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. Congress generally prohibits agencies from employing non-citizens within the United States, except for a few narrow exceptions as set forth in the annual Appropriations Act (see, https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/working-in-government/non-citizens/). Pursuant to DOJ component policies, only U.S. citizens are eligible for employment with the Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. Trustee’s Offices, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Unless otherwise indicated in a particular job advertisement, qualifying non-U.S. citizens meeting immigration and appropriations law criteria may apply for employment with other DOJ organizations. However, please be advised that the appointment of non-U.S. citizens is 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. All DOJ employees are subject to a residency requirement. Candidates must have lived in the United States for at least three of the past five years. The three-year period is cumulative, not necessarily consecutive. Federal or military employees, or dependents of federal or military employees serving overseas, are excepted from this requirement. This is a Department security requirement which is waived only for extreme circumstances and handled 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 their retirement was due to a permanent service-connected disability or that they were transferred to the permanent disability retired list (the statement or retirement orders must indicate that the disability is 10% or more).
Assistant United States Attorneys must reside in the district to which appointed or within 25 miles thereof. See 28 U.S.C. 545 for district specific information.
This and other vacancy announcements can be found under Attorney Vacancies and Volunteer Legal Internships. 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.