The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia has four offices which are located in Alexandria, Richmond, Norfolk, and Newport News. Assistant U.S. Attorneys are assigned to each of these offices to prosecute criminal and litigate civil cases. The District consists of more than 19,000 square miles and has a population of 5,730,000. The District has numerous federal agencies (including the Defense Department and the CIA) and military installations.
An appointment with the U.S. Attorney's Office offers unique and challenging experiences for the highly motivated attorney; an opportunity to work on their own caseload and handle their own trials. Working in the Civil Division, Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) represent the United States' interest in the trial and appellate courts for a wide variety of federal and state litigation, including bankruptcy, civil rights, commercial, constitutional, employment, environmental, federal program, fraud, immigration, medical malpractice, patent, prisoner, social security, summons enforcement, tax, and general tort cases. The attorney selected for this position will work in the General Litigation Unit of the Civil Division and will primarily focus on representing the United States’ interests in immigration litigation, including both defending immigration-related lawsuits that arise under the Administrative Procedure Act, the Federal Tort Claims Act, Bivens, 28 U.S.C. § 2241, and other civil causes of action, and bringing affirmative civil actions to enforce immigration laws.
All initial attorney appointments to the Department of Justice are made on a 14 month (temporary) basis pending favorable adjudication of a background investigation. Temporary appointments, may or may not, be made permanent without further competition.
Due to COVID-19, if selected, you may be expected to telework for an undefined period under the Department’s evacuation authority, even if your home is located outside the local commuting area. Employees in this status may be notified of a requirement to report in person to the component workplace with an advance notice of not less than 30 days. Prior to a requirement to report to the workplace, employees may be eligible to request to continue to telework one or more days a pay period depending upon the terms of the component’s telework policy.
Required qualifications: Applicants must possess a J.D. degree, be an active member of the bar (any U.S. jurisdiction), have at least one-year post-JD legal or other relevant experience, and possess superior oral and written communication skills as well as strong interpersonal skills, exhibit good judgment and function with minimal guidance in a highly demanding environment.
Preferred qualifications: Litigation experience in immigration cases, Administrative Procedure Act cases, or other federal litigation, and/or a federal judicial clerkship is desired.
United States citizenship is required.
Initial appointment is conditioned upon a satisfactory pre-employment 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.
Assistant United States Attorneys generally must reside in the district to which he or she is appointed or within 25 miles thereof. See 28 U.S.C. 545 for district-specific information.
Please send your resume and writing sample to:
Coleene Rychalski
United States Attorney's Office
Eastern District of Virginia
2100 Jamieson Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22314
No telephone calls please. Positions are open until filled, but resumes must be received by June 29, 2018. Please include the vacancy announcement number listed at the top of this announcement (18-EDVA-13) on your resume and all correspondence.
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 conflict of interest or disqualification issue that may need to be addressed under those circumstances.