Legal Administrative Specialist

The United States Attorney's Office for South Carolina's mission is to investigate, prosecute and deter violations of federal statutes, enforce and represent the interests of the United States in civil litigation, uphold civil, constitutional and victims' rights, and foster partnerships with other federal, state and local government agencies and community groups.

This position is also being announced to applicants under Merit Staffing procedures under 26-SC-13045958-MP

If you are claiming education as any part of your qualifications for this position, you must submit an official transcript, unofficial transcript, or a list including courses, grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned.

All academic degrees and coursework must be completed at a college or university that has obtained accreditation or pre-accreditation status from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools that meet this criteria, see https://www.ed.gov/

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. Failure to provide such documentation with your application will result in lost consideration. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.In addition, when reviewing applicant's transcripts, assumptions will not be made. Applicants MUST state which coursework is relevant.
This Legal Administrative Specialist provides a wide variety of technical and litigation support services.

If selected for this position, you will join a well-respected team that is responsible for providing Legal Administrative Specialist support in the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of South Carolina, located in Columbia, South Carolina.

Typical work assignments will include:

• Performing a variety of automated support necessary to prepare, organize, index, develop and manage exhibits, evidence and other relevant data;
• Applying basic knowledge of Federal Criminal and Civil procedures;
• Assisting legal support staff in organizing voluminous discovery applications;
• Preparing and organizing exhibits for court proceedings which involves audio/video, transcripts,documents and visual materials, including charts, diagrams, photographs and models;
• Preparing computerized trial presentation programs;
• Providing automated support to present before a jury, grand jury or in other legal proceedings; and
• Assuring documents are organized for efficient automated storage and retrieval by preparing appropriate indices, defining data fi le search criteria and indexing/coding fields.

Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: To be considered minimally qualified for this position, you must demonstrate that you have the required basic requirement and specialized experience for the respective grade level in which you are applying:

Minimum Qualifications for GS-05: At least three years (3) years of generalized experience, one of which is equivalent to at least the GS-4 level; or four (4) years of education above the high school level; or a combination of both experience and education as explained below.

General experience is 3 years of progressively responsible experience, 1 year of which was equivalent to at least GS-4, that demonstrates the ability to:

1. Analyze problems to identify significant factors, gather pertinent data, and recognize solutions;
2. Plan and organize work; and
3. Communicate effectively orally and in writing.

OR

Education: You must have at least four years of education above the high school level leading to a bachelor's degree.

OR

Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of education beyond two years (total semester hours minus 60) by 60. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100% to qualify.

Minimum Qualifications for GS-07:

Specialized Experience: At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 level in the Federal service performing at least (3) out of the (4) following duties:

1. Assisting with trial preparation and trial presentations;
2. Using appropriate software to organize, manage, and present evidence for litigation;
3. Providing assistance to litigation teams in evaluating system capabilities to support litigation decisions.
4. Managing electronic case information by scanning, indexing, coding, and organizing documents for use in litigation.

OR

Education: One full year of graduate level education in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position.

OR

Superior Academic Achievement: Successful completion of all the requirements for a bachelor's degree with Superior Academic Achievement. In order to be creditable under this provision, Superior Academic Achievement must have been gained in a curriculum that is qualifying for the position to be filled. Superior Academic Achievement is based on:(1) Class Standing - Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses; OR (2) Grade-Point Average (G.P.A.) - Applicants must have a grade-point average of either (a) 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on your official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or (b) 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.; OR (3) Honor Society Membership - Applicants may be considered eligible based on membership in one of the approved national scholastic honor societies listed by the Association of College Honor Societies (https://www.achsnatl.org/).

OR

Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) by 18. Add the two percentages.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR 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.

If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). For more information on the qualifications for this position, click here.