Closing Date: 23rd December, 2025
Description:
Summary:With an emphasis on high ethical standards, excellence in public service and the delivery of superlative advice and counsel, DOI Solicitor's Office performs the legal work for the U.S. Department of the Interior and manages the Departmental Ethics Office and Departmental FOIA Office. With more than five hundred total employees, more than four hundred of which are licensed attorneys, the Office strives to provide sound legal services to fulfill the Department's diverse and wide-ranging mission.
Duties:
This is a supervisory position that is located within the Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Departmental Ethics Office, Branch of Advice and Counsel in Washington, D.C.
At the full performance level GS-15, the major duties of this position include, but are not limited to the following:
- Rendering appropriate and timely legal advice to officials and employees In the Department of the Interior and its Bureaus on all legal Issues pertaining to Government ethics, including criminal conflict of Interests laws, Executive Branch Standards of Conduct and the Hatch Act;
- Researching and writing opinions for the Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO) and Alternate Designated Agency Ethics Official (ADAEO) on complex and novel ethics issues at the Department;
- Supervising attorneys providing advice and counsel to Departmental employees, tracking and assigning work, and providing legal review as necessary for work produced by non-attorneys in other DEO organizational branches;
- Reviewing public and confidential financial disclosure reports and recommending appropriate action;
- Assisting with the review of financial disclosure reports of Presidential nominees and providing recommendations for resolution of potential conflicts in ethics agreements;
- Coordinating advice with the Office of Government Ethics, the Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, the Office of Special Counsel, the Office of White House Counsel, and other agencies' ethics officials as necessary;
- Identifying, reviewing, and analyzing the impacts of changes in law or regulations on the operations of the Department's programs and ethics implications of such changes;
- Assisting in the drafting and development of ethics program-wide policies, procedures, and guidance and make recommendations for improvement in the work of the ethics program;
- Collaborating with ethics officials throughout the Department on the identification and resolution of ethics matters;
- Ensuring that information regarding possible violations of law are referred to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) as required, referring other matters for OIG investigations as appropriate and providing technical assistance to the OIG in the analysis of potential ethics violations;
- Recommending possible disciplinary or remedial actions to program officials arising out of OIG reports of investigation;
- Reviewing legislative proposals and assisting with the Department's response on items that affect the Department's ethics program;
- May assist in preparing Congressional testimony or responding to requests from Congress on issues relating to the Department's ethics program.
Salary Information: First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the lower salary range of the grade level.
GS-15: $167,603 (Step 1*) - $195,200 (Step 10) per annum.
This position is in the excepted service and not subject to competitive service procedures.
- Merit promotion procedures do not apply.
- This vacancy may be used to fill additional positions as vacancies become available.
Requirements:
Conditions of Employment:
Key Requirements:
- Applicants must be U.S. Citizens.
- Suitable for Federal employment, as determined by background investigation.
- Must be an active member of the bar.
- Selectee may be subject to serving a 2-year trial period.
- You will be required to have federal payments made by Direct Deposit.
- Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service system, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. See http://www.sss.gov/.
Are There Any Special Requirements For This Position?
A background investigation will be required for this position. Continued employment will be subject to the applicant's successful completion of a background security investigation and favorable adjudication. Failure to successfully meet these requirements will be grounds for termination.
- If selected for this position, you may be required to file one or more financial statements and/or a procurement integrity certification of compliance upon reporting and annually, some of which may be subject to public disclosure.
- Throughout the recruitment and hiring process we will be communicating with you via email; therefore, it is imperative that the email address you provide when applying for this vacancy remains active. Should your email address change, please notify the point of contact identified in the vacancy announcement as soon as possible so that we can update our system.
- This position requires completion of a one year supervisory/managerial probationary period, if one has not previously been completed.
- Because this position requires travel for official business, the selectee will be required to apply for a charge card within 30 calendar days of appointment. Individuals who have delinquent account balances from a previous Government charge card will be required to satisfy their existing obligation before a new card can be issued.
Qualifications:
Basic Qualification Requirements:
- Applicants must be law school graduates with LL.B. or J.D. degrees AND applicants must be an active member in good standing of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico bar.
Applicants Must Also Meet One of the Following:
- -possess at least 1-year of professional legal experience following law school graduation; OR
- -have a second professional law degree; OR
- -meet any of the criteria indicated below:
- (a) academic standing in top one-third of law school graduating class;
- (b) graduation with academic honors;
- (c) significant participation on the law school's law review;
- (d) significant participation in the law school's moot court competition;
- (e) significant participation in a clinical legal aid program;
- (f) significant summer law office clerk experience; or
- (g) other equivalent evidence of clearly superior achievement.
GS-15: In addition to meeting the basic qualification requirements described above, applicants must also have the following additional years of professional legal experience for the grade level indicated:
-GS-15 = 5 years
- In order to better assess your qualifications for this position, when preparing your resume please be sure to address your experience in or familiarity with the following areas of legal work: Federal Ethics practice and the Ethics in Government Act, and researching and writing legal memoranda and opinions and providing legal advice or recommendations to clients, judges, and/or senior attorneys; In addition, please address your experience in or familiarity with Federal administrative law issues and the supervision of Federal employees.
- Candidates should have excellent oral communication, writing, research and analysis skills, and the ability to work effectively with other people, and exercise sound judgment.
- 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.
- Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualification Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions and is available at OPM's website: https://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/num-ndx.asp
- All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.
Education:
Education: 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 transcripts as proof of meeting the requirements.
Foreign Education: Education completed in colleges or universities outside the United States may be used to meet the specific educational requirements as stated above. You must provide acceptable documentation that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4
Additional Information:
Other Information:
- The
application contains information subject to the Privacy Act (P.L.
93-579, 5 USC 552a). The information is used to determine qualifications
for employment, and is authorize
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