Summary

Office of Chief Counsel, IRS, seeks enthusiastic individuals to serve taxpayers fairly and with integrity by providing correct and impartial interpretation of the internal revenue laws and the highest quality legal advice and representation for the IRS. Please click "Learn more about this agency" to find out more about Chief Counsel's various offices, to view some of the workplace attributes that Chief Counsel's workforce rates most favorably, and to hear from employees themselves.

Duties

The role of General Legal Services is to serve as in-house counsel to the IRS and Office of Chief Counsel, providing legal services over a broad spectrum of matters, including labor and employment, ethics, fiscal, appropriations, procurement, contracts, and technology. The Office of Chief Counsel, General Legal Services (GLS) handles non-tax matters and employs approximately 92 attorneys and 7 paralegals. Work in the GLS Area Counsel field offices is focused on providing advice, support, and litigation representation for IRS and Chief Counsel management in administrative fora and in arbitration, with the majority of case work centering on labor, EEO, and personnel law. The field offices also provide assistance to the Department of Justice in federal courts on such matters, as well as for suits against IRS employees, and may assist with processing claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

The incumbent serves as an Area Counsel within the Office of the Associate Chief Counsel (General Legal Services) (GLS), supervising and managing the GLS function within the designated geographical jurisdiction (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming).The incumbent supervises a group of attorneys and paralegals engaged in GLS work and is personally involved with the most difficult and complex legal work within the function; works with the GLS management to formulate strategies in substantive areas and management of resources; builds client relationships and clearly communicates and supports the policies and decisions of management. The incumbent manages the litigation of labor, personnel, EEO and Office of Professional Responsibility cases arising in administrative fora such as the Merit Systems Protection Board, Federal Labor Relations Authority, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, before arbitrators and other Administrative Law Judges; manages the provision of litigation support to the Department of Justice with respect to EEO suits, Bivens suits and other miscellaneous non-tax suits filed in their geographic area; and manages the provision of legal advice on labor, personnel, EEO and general government matters to clients in their geographic area. The incumbent reports to the Deputy Associate Chief Counsel (GLS).As a Supervisory General Attorney (Non-Tax), you will:

• In non-tax litigation, provides legal support within the designated jurisdictional area and prepares recommendations to the Department of Justice or the U.S. Attorney, as appropriate, in Federal court involving the IRS or IRS employees, including but limited to employee appeals, discrimination complaints, and other personnel cases; suits by labor organizations involving representation rights of Service employees; damage suits brought against officials and employees as individuals for acts done during the performance of their official duties (Bivens suits); and tort suits where no administrative claim has been filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
• Motivate and develop subordinates to increase their effectiveness, productivity, quality of performance, and potential for advancement. Stimulate accomplishment of work products and suggests ways of research on novel and uncertain points of law.
• Speak or engage in panel discussions before business and professional groups on technical and legal matters relating to the work of the Area. Participate in senior-level meetings and conferences and on special working groups to address issues relating to GLS (General Legal Services) programs and services.
• Provide on-the-job-training, counsel employees, and determine the need for training classes or refresher courses conducted by the Service or other entities to enhance individual performance and to assure that employees meet their full potential.
• Practice sound position management policy in assigning work, combining/separating duties, and in fulfilling other personnel management responsibilities. Make recommendations on the need for initiating, consolidating, or eliminating programs, projects, and organizational structure as well as resources needed to operate such programs and projects.

This is not an all-inclusive list.

See additional information regarding Relocation and Recruitment Incentives for this position.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Refer to "Additional Information"
• Click "Print Preview" to review the entire announcement before applying.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements detailed below by the closing date of this announcement. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application.

To qualify for this position of Supervisory General Attorney (Non-Tax) you must meet the qualification requirements listed below by the closing of this announcement:

Basic Requirements for Supervisory General Attorney (Non-Tax):

• Possess at least the first professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.) from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association; AND
• Applicants must be an active member in good standing of the bar of a State, U.S. Commonwealth, U.S. territory, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;

GS-15 Experience Requirements:

• 1 year of general professional legal experience from any area of expertise; plus
• 3 year(s) of professional GLS legal experience

Professional GLS Legal Tax Experience is defined as: Experience applying laws and regulations during litigation directly related to labor, personnel or equal employment opportunity law in the federal, state or local government or equivalent private sector labor, personnel and Equal Employment Opportunity matters.

At least one year of this experience must be equivalent to the work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-14). Note: Only experience gained after Bar Admission may be credited as Professional Legal Experience.

Education Substitution: An LL.M. degree in the field of the position (tax, GLS-related, orP&A- FOIA/Disclosure related field) may be substituted for the one year of the general legal experience listed above.

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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. 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/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Applicants will be considered based on their overall background as it relates to the position to be filled. Interviews may be held at the option of the office. All application materials and interviews, if conducted, will be used in the final evaluation and selection process.

Referral: Professional Order will be used to refer and select eligible candidates. Veterans' preference is applied after applicants are assessed. Preference eligibles will be listed at the top of the certificate in alphabetical order and considered before non-preference eligibles. All other candidates will be listed in alphabetical order. If you are among the top qualified candidates, you may be required to participate in a selection interview. We will not reimburse costs related to the interview, such as travel to and from the interview site.

Required Documents

A complete application includes 1. A resume, 2. Vacancy question responses, and 3. Submission of any required documents. Please note that if you do not provide all required information, as specified in this announcement, you may not be considered for this position (or may not receive the special consideration for which you may be eligible).

All applicants are required to submit a resume either by creating one in USAJOBS or uploading one of their own choosing. (Cover letters are optional.) To receive full credit for relevant experience, please list the month/year and number of hours worked for experience listed on your resume. We suggest that you preview the online questions, as you may need to customize your resume to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions. Please view .

In addition, applicants are required to submit:

1. An unofficial or official transcript(s) for your J.D. degree or LL.M. degree (an official transcript is required if you are selected)
2. An 8-10 page legal writing sample
3. A memorandum of interest summarizing your interest in the position

Current Chief Counsel Employees are also required to submit:

1. A copy of your most recent, signed, completed annual performance appraisal which includes the final rating. If it is not dated within the last 12 months or if you have not received a performance appraisal, please explain why in your application
2. A Supervisory Report for Supervisory or Management Positions (ERB Form 1-88, Rev 7/2020) regarding your suitability for the position as completed by your current supervisor. You are responsible for notifying your supervisor that this report must be received no later than five workdays after the closing date of this announcement.

Education Documentation: For positions with an education requirement, or if you are qualifying for this position by substituting education or training for experience, submit a copy of your transcripts or equivalent. An official transcript will be required if you are selected. See "Education" for more details.

Certificate of Good Standing: A certified original copy of your certificate of good standing from your State Bar will be required if you are selected.

VETERANS' PREFERENCE DOCUMENTATION: There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Office of Chief Counsel considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. If you are claiming veterans' preference, you must submit a copy of your Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, DD-214 (Member 4 copy), or other official documentation from a branch of the Armed Forces or the Department of Veterans Affairs showing dates of service and type of discharge. Ten-point preference eligibles must also submit an , along with the required documentation listed on the back of the SF-15 form. For more information on veterans' preference, view .

PDN-9dfeaade-5f19-480d-9878-075fce153450