Legal Careers
Assistant United States Attorney
Charlotte, NC 28202 - United States
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina encompasses 32 western counties in North Carolina. Our mission is to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States, provide Federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime, seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior, and to administer and enforce the Nation’s laws to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina strives to build a stronger office through recruitment efforts and maintain the high standards of the office by promoting professional development. As the second largest banking center in the country, we prosecute some of the most complex securities, corporate, and financial fraud matters in the Department of Justice.
The United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of North Carolina, is seeking an experienced attorney to fill an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) position in the Criminal Division of the Charlotte North Carolina office. All initial attorney positions to the Department of Justice are made on a 14-month (temporary) basis. Initial appointment is conditioned upon a satisfactory preemployment adjudication. This includes fingerprint, credit and tax checks, and drug testing. In addition, continued employment is subject to a favorable adjudication of a background investigation.
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 Criminal Division is organized into six sections: General Crimes; White Collar; National Security; Violent Crimes; Narcotics/Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), and Appellate.
The Criminal Division prosecutes a full range of federal criminal cases. Assistant United States Attorneys in the Criminal Division are responsible for the investigation and prosecution of cases including drugs, human trafficking, organized crime, terrorism, white collar, immigration, child exploitation, mortgage fraud, and violent and general crimes. The successful applicant will be responsible for all phases of the criminal prosecution to enforce federal laws, including providing guidance to law enforcement officers, initiating criminal charges, conducting grand jury proceedings and felony trials, and handling appeals.
Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress.
Required Qualifications: Applicants must possess a J.D. Degree, be an active member of the bar (any U.S. jurisdiction), and have at least three (3) years post-J.D. legal or other relevant experience.
United States citizenship is required.
Preferred Qualifications: The ideal applicant should have strong academic credentials, superior legal research and writing skills, quick analytical ability to accurately and precisely articulate critical case-related issues, courtroom experience, good interpersonal skills, the ability to work in a supportive and professional manner with the court, and in a team environment with client agencies, support staff and other attorneys, and a demonstrated commitment to public service.
Applicants should possess excellent computer literacy skills to include experience with automated research, electronic court filing, electronic email and word-processing systems.
You must meet all qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.
To view the full vacancy announcement and to apply for this position, click on the link: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/493079500 and create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account.
Complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section of the announcement.
Your resume should show relevant experience and dates of employment (including MM/DD/YYYY).
Next Steps:
We will notify you of the outcome after each step of the recruitment process has been completed. After making a tentative job offer, we will conduct a suitability/security background investigation, to include credit and tax checks, and a drug test by urinalysis. We expect to make a final job offer within 120 days after the closing date of the announcement.
Assistant United States Attorney’s pay is administratively determined based, in part, on the number of years of professional attorney experience. The range of pay for this position is $61,663.00 to $144,685.00 which includes 16.21% locality pay.
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Department Policies
Equal Employment Opportunity: 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.
Reasonable Accommodations: 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.
Outreach and Recruitment for Qualified Applicants with Disabilities: 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.
Suitability and Citizenship: 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.
Veterans: 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).
USAO Residency Requirement: 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.
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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.