Michele Forte shares the following opportunity with the Personnel Law Team in the Office of Counsel at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Michele writes:

My Personnel Law Team has a couple vacancies!

Join us in the lovely Pacific Northwest. If you have civil litigation skills, and experience navigating Federal Civilian Labor and Employment law take note. The Office of Counsel at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington is hiring. You, too, can have one of the longest email addresses in government. If you have any questions, please reach out:

Michele Forte
(360) 689-7428 (gov cel)
michele.a.forte.civ@us.navy.mil

Announcement Follows:

Personnel Notice: 20-23

Date Announced: 01-26-2023
Closing Date: 02-03-2023
Command: NAVSEA
Grade: GS-11/12/13/14/15
Type: Assistant/Associate Counsel

The Navy and Marine Corps team offers innovative, exciting and meaningful work linking military and civilian talents to achieve our mission and safeguard our freedoms. The Department of the Navy Office of the General Counsel has been serving the Department since 1941 and is committed to developing innovative legal solutions to the business and other challenges facing the Navy and Marine Corps to enhance the war fighting capability of the Naval Service. You will find our attorneys stationed across the United States and worldwide, working with Navy and Marine Corps personnel wherever the Department's business is conducted. DON OGC also offers a great place to build a career. Based on the DON OGC annual employee survey, DON OGC attorneys consistently report the highest marks for workforce collegiality, cooperation, and meaningful, high-quality work.

There is an anticipated vacancy for one or more attorneys to serve as Assistant/Associate Counsel in the Office of Counsel, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF) in Bremerton, Washington. The PSNS & IMF Office of Counsel is a field office under the headquarters Office of Counsel, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), and part of the Department of the Navy (DON) Office of the General Counsel (OGC). NAVSEA is responsible for the development, acquisition, and maintenance of ships, shipboard systems and ordnance for the Navy, with an annual budget of approximately $35 billion and a workforce of over 83,000 military and civilian personnel. The NAVSEA Office of Counsel includes more than 150 lawyers located at the Washington Navy Yard Headquarters and in 22 field offices throughout the United States. These attorneys provide clients with a full range of legal services in practice areas assigned to the Department of the Navy (DON) Office of the General Counsel (OGC), including civilian personnel law (CPL), labor law, acquisition law, fiscal law, environmental and occupational safety & health (OSH) law, intellectual property law, ethics and standards of conduct, and associated litigation.

The PSNS & IMF Office of Counsel consists of fourteen attorneys, three paralegals, and one legal assistant. PSNS & IMF Office of Counsel has a varied workload covering the full range of OGC practice, with emphasis on civilian personnel and labor law, federal acquisition law, litigation, environmental law, fiscal law, standards of conduct, ethics, Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act matters.

The successful candidate will be expected to provide legal advice, assistance, and representation on civilian personnel and labor law matters, including litigation at the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, federal district court, and union grievance arbitrations. The successful candidate will also advise and provide expertise on the full range of civilian personnel and labor law issues, including disciplinary actions, performance appraisals, investigations, reasonable accommodation requests, security matters, EEO matters, and Federal Employee’s Compensation Act matters. To a lesser extent, the successful candidate may also be called upon to provide legal services in other OGC practice areas such as fiscal law, standards of conduct, ethics, Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act matters.

The position will be filled at the GS-11, 12, 13, 14, or 15 level and will have a full performance level of GS-15. To be eligible for selection at the GS-11 level, the applicant must have at least one year of legal practice. Recent law school graduates and applicants with less than one year of legal experience must have graduated in the top third of their law school class or must present other evidence of clearly superior accomplishment or achievement such as work or achievement of significance on an official law school review or journal, winning a moot court competition, membership on the law school’s official moot court team, or membership in the Order of the Coif. To be eligible for selection at the GS-12 level, the applicant must have two years of experience practicing law in the relevant practice areas or be a current GS-12 (or equivalent) attorney within the Federal government with experience in the relevant practice areas. Note that for GS-11 and GS-12 positions only, a second professional law degree (LL.M.) that required at least one full academic year of graduate study may be substituted for one year of professional legal experience. To be eligible for selection at the GS-13 level, the applicant must have in excess of two years of experience practicing law in the relevant practice areas. To be selected at the GS-14 level, the successful candidate must have a minimum of three and one-half years of experience practicing law in the relevant practice areas. For selection at the GS-15 level, the successful applicant must have at least five and a half years of relevant legal experience with substantial experience in Civilian Personnel Law. The grade level offered will be based upon the successful applicant’s qualifications and funding availability.

The successful applicant must have graduated from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association, be an active member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of a State, U.S. Commonwealth, U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia, and be admitted to practice before a state or federal court. U.S. citizenship is required, and the applicant must be able to obtain and maintain a SECRET level security clearance.

Applicants will be evaluated based on the following: (1) the depth, breadth, and quality of experience in civilian personnel law and related litigation; (2) experience in the other relevant practice areas discussed above; (3) research, analytical, writing, and oral communication skills; (4) interpersonal skills, including the ability to develop strong attorney-client relationships; and (5) the ability to work both independently and as part of a team. Knowledge of the DON, NAVSEA, and OGC is desirable, but not mandatory. Applicants with a record of making significant contributions to the advancement of the DON, OGC, or equivalent legal office beyond the day-to-day legal practice are desired.

Applicants should submit a resume, a cover letter that addresses the evaluation criteria for this position and their interest in the position; two brief legal writing samples (no more than 10 pages each) that demonstrate analytical and/or advocacy abilities (excerpts of larger pieces may be submitted); the two most recent performance appraisals with rating official narrative, if available; and the names and phone numbers of at least three references who may be contacted. The application should indicate the lowest grade level that the applicant will consider. Attorneys who have graduated from law school less than 5 years prior to the announcement closing date must provide a copy of their law school transcripts, including class rank. Current federal employees must also provide a copy of their most recent SF-50 form. Please redact social security numbers from any submitted documents.

Interested attorneys are encouraged to contact Ms. Wendy Kelly, PSNS & IMF Counsel, at (360) 476-6597.

Applications must be sent electronically to usn.ncr.comnavseasyscomdc.mbx.NAVSEA-OGC-Vacancies@us.navy.mil with a copy to psns-imf_legalap.fct@navy.mil. The subject line of the email should include the applicant’s name and contain the Personnel Notice Number. If absolutely necessary, applications may be sent via Fed Ex or some similar means due to delays in regular U.S. mail delivery to:

NAVSEA 00L4
Attn: Ms. Effie Lewis-Robinson
Naval Sea Systems Command
1333 Isaac Hull Avenue SE Stop 1150
Washington Navy Yard, DC 20376-1150

This personnel notice will close on February 3, 2023, at 11:59:59 PM (EST), and complete applications must be received by the closing date and time to be considered.

If relocation expenses are a requirement, the applicant should state their requirement for this expense in the application package. Relocation expenses may be paid but are not guaranteed.

If the successful applicant is not currently a member of the Department of the Navy Office of the General Counsel, processing of the hiring action can only commence after submission of those items identified in the "Instructions for New OGC Attorneys" (see Careers section of www.ogc.navy.mil).

To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees.