Assistant United States Attorney

Closing Date: 20th November, 2026

Description:

About the Office:
The United States Attorney's Office prosecutes federal criminal offenses, defends the U.S. Government's interest in civil cases and litigates affirmative civil fraud and enforcement actions. The United States Attorney's Office, Middle District of Pennsylvania has staff in three offices: Harrisburg, Scranton, and Williamsport, and maintains an unstaffed office in Wilkes-Barre.

Job Description:
The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania is accepting applications to fill a permanent Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) position in the Civil Division. The Division is comprised of approximately 12 attorneys, paralegals, an auditor and an investigator. The candidate selected for this position will be handling defensive litigation. Areas of practice will include inmate litigation, habeas corpus, complex defensive litigation matters, including personal injury and medical malpractice, constitutional torts, and employment discrimination. Attorneys in the Civil Division perform tasks related to all stages of litigation. The successful candidate should have experience in motion practice, drafting pleadings, conducting witness interviews, taking depositions, and negotiating settlement.

Qualifications:
Required Qualifications: United States citizenship is required. Applicants must possess a J.D. degree, be an active member of the bar (any U.S. jurisdiction) and have at least one year of post-J.D. experience or other relevant experience.

Preferred Qualifications: The ideal candidate will have civil litigation experience, superior academic records, strong analytical abilities and judgment, excellent oral advocacy and writing skills. Successful candidates must demonstrate an ability to work in a supportive and professional manner with other attorneys, support staff, client agencies, opposing counsel, and court staff. Because most of the civil practice in the U.S. Attorney's Office involves pretrial litigation, applicants must possess superior research and writing abilities and must be able to prepare high-quality and persuasive pleadings. Applicants should possess experience in taking or defending depositions and conducting witness interviews. Applicants should have strong interpersonal skills and demonstrate the capacity to function with minimal guidance in a highly demanding environment.

Applicants will conduct their own legal research and writing and will be substantially self-sufficient in preparing day-to-day correspondence and pleadings. Applicants must also demonstrate excellent computer literacy skills to include experience with automated research on the Internet, electronic court filing, and electronic e-mail and word processing systems.

Applicants must meet all qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.

Application Process:
This is an open-continuous announcement which will be used to fill one (1) immediate position. First round consideration will be given to applications received by December 8, 2025, 11:59 p.m. EST. Thereafter, review of applications received from this announcement will be conducted periodically to fill additional positions as they become available within the district.

Offices are located in Scranton, Harrisburg and Williamsport Pennsylvania. This position will be assigned to work in one of our three office locations. Therefore, please state your location preference in your cover letter.

Applications must be submitted through the USAJobs on-line application system at www.usajobs.gov. Mailed applications will not be accepted. Applicants should also fill out the Middle District of Pennsylvania's supplemental questionnaire, and attach it to their application, submitted through the USAJobs on-line system, along with a cover letter and resume. The supplemental questionnaire may be accessed on the Middle District of Pennsylvania's web-site at MDPA Supplemental Questionnaire (https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdpa/file/1305966/dl?inline)

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.

Salary:
Assistant United States Attorneys' pay is administratively determined based, in part, on the number years of professional attorney experience. The range of annual pay is $73,938 to $195,100 which includes the applicable locality pay supplement for the duty station.

Number of Positions
One immediate vacancy

Travel:

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