Justice seeks to attract, retain, and promote individuals of exceptional ability and talent from all walks of life. The work environment and atmosphere is open, diverse, collegial, and inclusive. There are active affinity groups for African-American; Asian-American; Hispanic; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT); and Native American employees, which are open to all DOJ employees regardless of background. Justice fosters a work environment where people of all backgrounds and experiences may reach their full potential.
Thank you for your help in disseminating these vacancy announcements. These and other attorney vacancy announcements can be found at: http://www.justice.gov/careers/legal/attvacancies.html.
ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Southern District of Illinois
Vacancy Announcement 12-SDIL-04
About the Office: The United States Attorney's Office (USAO), Southern District of Illinois (SDIL), is a fast-paced, collegial, and energetic office which seeks to maintain the highest standards of excellence in the enforcement of federal laws and in the representation of the United States of America. Our main office is located in Fairview Heights, and our branch offices are located in Benton (staffed office near the Benton courthouse) and East St. Louis (where we maintain a small work space in the federal courthouse). The office presently employs 30 attorneys and 26 support staff.
The Southern District of Illinois is comprised of the lower 38 counties of the State of Illinois and has a population of approximately 1.2 million. Our most populous counties, Madison and St. Clair, are adjacent to the Mississippi River and are within the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area.
Responsibilities and Opportunity Offered: The USAO has a position available for an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) in our Fairview Heights office within the Civil Division. The work of the Civil Division mirrors the varied activities of the federal government and offers perhaps the most challenging and diverse caseload of any law office, public or private, in the country. Civil Division AUSAs handle virtually every conceivable variety of affirmative and defensive civil cases at both the trial and appellate level, involving matters such as health care (medical malpractice claims arising out of treatment at a Veterans Hospital or other federally-supported health facilities), commercial, civil rights (Bivens actions), environmental, false claims, challenges to administrative or regulatory actions, novel constitutional claims, and immigration matters, thus, it work comprises all types of tort and other claims against the sovereign, its agencies and agents.
Qualifications: Required qualifications: Applicants must possess a J.D. degree from an accredited law school and be an active member in good standing of the bar of any jurisdiction.
Preferred qualifications: Admission to the Illinois bar is not required but is preferred. Applicants should have a minimum of 3 years of post-J.D. litigation experience and have demonstrated excellence in both civil trials and appeals. Applicants must demonstrate a quick analytical ability, good judgment, and superior communication and courtroom skills. Applicants should have a strong background in medical malpractice litigation (either as a plaintiff's attorney or defense attorney). Prior experience in Federal tort claims and qui tam actions is desired. Applicants must be team players who exhibit the ability to work in a supportive and professional manner with other attorneys, support staff and client agencies. Applicants must have demonstrated capacity to function, with minimal guidance, in a highly demanding environment.
Applicants will be expected to do their own legal research and writing and will be substantially self-sufficient in preparing day-to-day correspondence and pleadings. Applicants must also demonstrate excellent computer literacy skills to include experience with automated research on the Internet, electronic court filing, electronic e-mail, and word processing systems.
It is desired that the successful candidate have strong academic credentials.
Travel: The position is based in Fairview Heights. Occasional travel to the USAO's Benton office and to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals based in Chicago may be required. Occasional travel elsewhere for training will be required.
Salary Information: Assistant United States Attorneys' pay is administratively determined, based in part, on the number years of professional attorney experience. The range of basic pay is $44,581 to $117,994 plus locality pay where authorized.
Duty/ Position Location: Fairview Heights, Illinois
Relocation Expenses: Relocation expenses are not authorized.
Application Process and Deadline Date:
Cover letter, resume and writing sample may be submitted by e-mail to:
Lindsey.Lester@usdoj.gov
or by mail to the following address:
Lindsey Lester-Brutscher
Administrative Officer
United States Attorney's Office
Southern District of Illinois
Nine Executive Drive
Fairview Heights, IL 62208-1344
No telephone calls will be accepted. Position is open until filled, but no later than June 15, 2012.
Internet Sites: The home page for the USAO-SDIL may be accessed at:
http://www.justice.gov/usao/ils/
This and other attorney vacancy announcements can be found at: http://www.usdoj.gov/oarm/attvacancies.html
Department Policies: Assistant United States Attorneys generally must reside in the district to which he or she is appointed. See 28 U.S.C. § 545 for district-specific information.
All initial attorney appointments to the Department of Justice are made on a time-limited (temporary) basis. Temporary appointments may, or may not, be extended or made permanent without further competition.
The U.S. Department of Justice is an Equal Opportunity/Reasonable Accommodation Employer. Except where otherwise provided by law, there will be no discrimination because of color, race, religion, national origin, political affiliation, marital status, disability (physical or mental), age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, status as a parent, membership or non-membership in an employee organization, on the basis of personal favoritism, or any non merit factor. The Department of Justice welcomes and encourages applications from persons with physical and mental disabilities. The Department is firmly committed to satisfying its affirmative obligations under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, to ensure that persons with disabilities have every opportunity to be hired and advanced on the basis of merit within the Department of Justice. This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify the agency. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.
It is the policy of the Department to achieve a drug-free workplace and persons selected for employment will be required to pass a drug test which screens for illegal drug use prior to final appointment. Employment is also contingent upon the completion and satisfactory adjudication of a background investigation. Only U.S. citizens are eligible for employment with the Executive Office for Immigration Review and the United States Attorneys' Offices. Unless otherwise indicated in a particular job advertisement, non-U.S. Citizens may apply for employment with other organizations, but should be advised that appointments of non-U.S. Citizens are extremely rare; such appointments would be possible only if necessary to accomplish the Department's mission and would be subject to strict security requirements. Applicants who hold dual citizenship in the U.S. and another country will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of Justice considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. Applicants eligible for veterans' preference must include that information in their cover letter or resume and attach supporting documentation (e.g., the DD 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty and other supporting documentation) to their submissions. Although the "point" system is not used, per se, applicants eligible to claim 10-point preference must submit Standard Form (SF) 15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference, and submit the supporting documentation required for the specific type of preference claimed (visit the OPM website, www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/SF15.pdf for a copy of SF 15, which lists the types of 10-point preferences and the required supporting document(s). Applicants should note that SF 15 requires supporting documentation associated with service-connected disabilities or receipt of nonservice-connected disability pensions to be dated 1991 or later except in the case of service members submitting official statements or retirement orders from a branch of the Armed Forces showing that his or her retirement was due to a permanent service-connected disability or that he/she was transferred to the permanent disability retired list (the statement or retirement orders must indicate that the disability is 10% or more).
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The Department of Justice cannot control further dissemination and/or posting of information contained in this vacancy announcement. Such posting and/or dissemination is not an endorsement by the Department of the organization or group disseminating and/or posting the information.