Legal Careers
Assistant United States Attorney (Civil)
Shreveport, LA 71101 - United States
The United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Louisiana serves 42 of the state’s 64 parishes. It is bordered by Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, the Mississippi River to the east and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Geographically, the district encompasses two-thirds of the State of Louisiana. The main office is located in Shreveport, Louisiana, with a staffed, second office of equal size in Lafayette. There are also unstaffed, satellite offices in Alexandria, Monroe, and Lake Charles.
The United States Attorney’s Office is responsible for federal criminal prosecutions and civil cases involving the United States Government. 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.
Our office places a high value on diversity of experiences and perspective and encourages applications for all qualified individuals from all ethnic and racial backgrounds, veterans, LGBTQ+ individuals, and persons with disabilities.
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 United States Attorney's Office, Western District of Louisiana is accepting applications for an Assistant United States Attorney servicing it's Shreveport or Lafayette office; Civil Division. The Civil Division attorneys represent the United States in civil cases across a broad variety of practice areas. They handle all aspects of civil litigation where the United States is a defendant or respondent. The responsibilities of this position may include researching legal issues, drafting motions and legal memoranda, drafting, and responding to discovery request, document review and organization, taking or defending depositions, and representing the United States as primary counsel in federal district court. The areas of legal practice include, but are not limited to, personal injury actions and medical malpractice actions brought against the United States and federal agencies under the Federal Tort claims Act.
Responsibilites will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress.
As needed, additional positions may be filled from this annoucement.
Required Qualifications: Applicants must possess a J.D. degree from an accredited law school, be an active member of the bar (any U.S. jurisdiction) in good standing and have at least three-year post-J.D. legal or other relevant experience.
Preferred Qualifications: Applicants should demonstrate superior communication and courtroom skills, exhibit exceptional research and writing ability, perform thorough legal and factual analysis, demonstrate strong interpersonal skills, and exercise good judgment. Applicants should have a strong work ethic and demonstrated capacity to function, with minimum guidance, in a highly demanding environment while balancing a heavy case load.
You must meet all qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.
To apply for this position, you must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below.
- Required - Your responses to the Online Occupational Questionnaire (This is completed automatically during the apply online process).
- Required - Your resume showing relevant experience and dates of employment (include day/month/year). (Cover letter optional but encouraged).
- Required – Writing sample – Not to exceed 15 pages.
- Required – Unofficial law school transcripts
- Required, if applicable - To get Veterans' Preference, you must indicate your preference in response to the appropriate question in your assessment questionnaire and you must submit the appropriate supporting documentation. See the "How you will be Evaluated" section for details regarding what is appropriate Veterans' Preference documentation. It is also recommended that you include veterans' preference information in your cover letter or resume.
The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 09/04/2023 to receive consideration.
1. To begin, click 23-LAW-AUSA-004 to Apply Online/create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire.
2. Click the Submit My Answers button to submit your application package. (It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation are submitted prior to the closing date.)
3. To verify your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login, select the Application Status link and then select the more information link for this position. The Details page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and any correspondence the agency has sent related to this application. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
To return to an incomplete application, log into your USAJOBS account and click Update Application in the vacancy announcement. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.
You are encouraged to apply online. Applying online will allow you to review and track the status of your application. However, should you not be able to apply online, please contact Western District of Louisiana at 318-676-3607 or email at USALAW.HRO@usdoj.gov, prior to the closing date of this announcement to request an alternate method of applying.
Assistant United States Attorney's pay is administratively determined based, in part, on the number of years of professional attorney experience. The range of basic pay is $59,319.00 to $139,183.00 plus locality pay currently at 16.50%
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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.