Attorney Advisor

Closing Date: 6th January, 2026

Description:

Summary:
This vacancy is for a GS - 0905 - 13, Attorney Advisor located in the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, D13 LEGAL STAFF -DL in SEATTLE, Washington.

Duties:
In this position, you will serve as a Legal Assistance Attorney under the general supervision of the Staff Judge Advocate, furnishing legal counsel, advice, and services to individuals eligible for legal assistance within the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.

Being a Coast Guard civilian makes you a valuable member of the Coast Guard team. Typical work assignments include:

• Rendering substantive advice guidance and services for estate planning, including probating issues, tax implications related to death, by-pass trusts, credit shelter trusts, special needs trusts, Uniform Gift to Minors Act, Uniform Trust for Minors Act, guardianship, child welfare trusts, and advanced medical directives.
• Drafting wills, trusts and others documents necessary to properly complete an estate plan; drafting military testamentary instruments; drafting medical directives; rendering substantive advice regarding landlord-tenant disputes; rendering substantive advice regarding consumer affairs matters, etc.
• Assist eligible personnel with legal problems occasioned by deployment, including periodic pre-deployment briefings to crews of high and medium-endurance cutters and other deployable Coast Guard units.
• Providing legal assistance to Reserve members being recalled to active duty; such mobilization may result in a temporary "surge" in legal assistance cases with relatively large numbers of eligible personnel needing assistance in a short period of time.
• Drafting pleadings, client correspondence, settlement agreements and other written documents in support of all practice areas.
• Representing clients in judicial, quasi-judicial, and administrative hearings.
• Propose instructions and directives relating to legal assistance and reviews proposed instructions and directives and those circulated by higher authority.

Requirements:
Conditions of Employment:
All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

Do NOT include the following types of information in your resume:

• Social Security Number (SSN)
• Date of Birth (DOB)
• Photos of yourself (if included on your resume you will not be considered for this position)
• Personal information: such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc.

Key Requirements:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Must be registered or exempt from the Selective Service. See www.sss.gov
• Must have bar membership in one of the 50 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, kor the US Virgin Islands.
• A one-year probationary period may be required.
• To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo and successfully pass a background investigation.
• Selectee must able to obtain/maintain a valid state driver's license.
• All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit.

The Office of Personnel management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule, C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Qualifications:
Basic Requirements: This position has a positive Education Requirement in addition to at least one year of Specialized Experience in order to be found minimally qualified. Transcripts must be submitted with your application package.

You MUST meet the following requirements:

• You must be a graduate with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree or equivalent from an accredited law school; AND
• You must have bar membership in one of the 50 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico or the US. Virgin Islands

To qualify at the GS-13 grade level, your resume must demonstrate at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 grade level in the federal sector. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped you with the ability, skill, and knowledge to successfully perform the duties of this position and is typically in or related to this line of work. Examples of specialized experience include performing the following types of tasks on a regular and recurring basis.

• Providing legal advice;
• Drafting legal documents;
• Representing clients;
• Developing litigation strategy
• Advising on compliance with relevant laws and regulations;
• Assisting with dispute resolution through negotiation, mediation, or litigation.

Note: All experience statements (i.e., duties, specialized experience, or related applicable assessment) copied from this announcement and pasted into your resume will not be considered as a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

Note: Education cannot be substituted for experience at this grade level.

National Service Experience (i.e., volunteer experience): Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional, philanthropic, religious, spiritual, community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Education:
This position does have a positive education requirement. All Candidates must possess a J.D. or LL.B degree from an accredited law school; AND must be a member in good standing of the appropriate licensing authority of any state, territory of the United States, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or District of Columbia bar.

Report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. See Required Documents section for details.

Are you qualifying based on education? Submit a copy of your college transcript (unofficial is acceptable) from an accredited institution. Once selected & prior to appointment, applicants must provide an official college transcript. Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet Federal qualification requirements if you can show that your foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the U.S. (see FOREIGN EDUCATION below).

College Transcripts: If this position requires specific educational course work to qualify, or you are qualifying based in whole or part on education, you are required to provide all unofficial transcripts (undergraduate, graduate, etc.) by the closing date of this announcement or you will be disqualified from further consideration. Transcripts should be legible and detailed, showing course number and department (i.e., bio 101, math 210, etc.), course title, number of credit hours, and grade earned. If course content cannot be easily identified from the title of the course as listed on your transcript, you must submit an official course description from the college/university that reflects the content at the time the course was taken.

Foreign Education: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet Federal qualification requirements if you can show that your foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States. To receive this credit, you must submit evidence of equivalency as provided by a credentialling evaluation service. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence with your application. See Recognition of Foreign Qualifications click here (http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html)

Only experience and education obtained by the closing date of this announcement will be considered.

Student Loan - Selectee(s) for this position who are newly appointed to a permanent or term position may be eligible for student loan repayment up to $10,000 (pre-tax) for one calendar year. More than one loan may be repaid if the combined repayments do not exceed $10,000. Receipt of this incentive will require a three-year service agreement.

Additional Information: