Financial Assistance Paralegal

Summary

This position is located at Departmental Offices, Domestic Finance - Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. This office provides advice to the CDFI Fund with respect to legal matters facing the CDFI Fund including, but not limited to, activities related to the closing of financial assistance, technical assistance, tax credit, and other awards and allocations made by the CDFI Fund through various programs.

Duties

The following are the duties of this position at the GS-12. If you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform all these duties, and will receive training to help you grow in this position. Perform legal research and analysis in multiple areas of law, including: Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act, and ethics/conflicts of interest, travel, and others. Assist in management of conflict of interest review process for application readers in all of the Fund's programs. Perform paralegal duties that require acting on own initiative and, in consultation with attorneys, exercise independent judgment and discretion in the application of laws, regulations, and policies. Analyze legal issues and plan a comprehensive approach for disposition of matters or projects. Compose correspondence on routine matters without direction based on precedents; produce complex correspondence from verbal direction, dictation or rough draft copy; proofread and edit to produce superior finished product; prepare reports and related materials. Provide administrative support to the Office of Legal Counsel including, but not limited to: maintain filing system, coordinate service requests with the CDFI Fund's Office of Management, maintain office calendar, schedule meetings and appointments with individuals both inside and outside the CDFI Fund, and prepare meeting agendas.

Qualifications

You must meet the following requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Specialized Experience for the GS-11 you must have one year (full 52 weeks) of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position is defined as: - Assisting with legal research and preparing legal documents using federal laws, regulations, and agency policies; AND - Assisting attorneys and program staff with award closings or other legal and administrative processes by preparing documents, tracking assignments, and maintaining record; AND - Reviewing and analyzing information to support legal or program activities and communicating with internal and external stakeholders. OR; EDUCATION: You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows: - Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; OR - 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree; OR - LL.M., if related. OR; COMBINATION OF EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION: You may qualify on a combination of education and experience. To combine education and experience, the total percentage of experience at the required grade level compared to the requirement, as well as the percentage of completed education compared to the requirement must equal at least 100 percent. Only graduate level education in excess of the first 36 semester hours (54 quarter hours) may be combined to be considered for qualifying education. The experience may have been gained in either the public, private sector or volunteer service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/day/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week on your resumé. TIME-IN-GRADE: In addition to the above requirements, you must meet the following time-in-grade requirement, if applicable: For the GS-11, you must have been at the GS-09 level for 52 weeks. TIME AFTER COMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT: Candidates who are current Federal employees serving on a non-temporary competitive appointment must have served at least three months in that appointment.

Education

The education generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are qualifying based on foreign education, you must submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. Refer to the OPM instructions.