Attorney-Advisor (General)

About the role

This position is located in the Office of Litigation in the Legal Division of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The incumbent serves as an Attorney-Adviser and represents the CPPB in defensive and appellate litigation involving a wide range of legal disputes, including defensive litigation relating to the CFPB's rulemaking activities.

The incumbent provides legal advice and guidance to CFPB clients on all relevant matters.

What you will do

• The following are the duties of this position at the CN-71, broadly equivalent to the GS-15.
• If you are selected at a lower grade level, your duties will be adjusted accordingly.
• Represents the CFPB in all defensive and appellate litigation, including statutory and constitutional challenges to the Bureau's rulemaking, supervisory, enforcement, and operational activities (including labor and employment litigation).
• Provides expert legal representation for the CFPB in all phases of litigation in trial and appellate fora.
• Drafts and responds to motions, pleadings and other legal filings, handles all aspects of discovery, conducts negotiations, and represents the CFPB at oral argument.
• Counsels clients, including CFPB leadership and senior CFPB staff, with respect to legal compliance, litigation risk, and other issues.
• Collaborates with the Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission, prudential regulators, and others in the litigation of cases relevant to the CFPB's consumer protection mission.
• Researches and drafts final appellate determinations of administrative FOIA appeals.
• Facilitates CFPB consideration of and responses to subpoenas seeking confidential CFPB materials.
• If you are selected at CN-71 your official job title will be: Attorney-Adviser (General); organization title: Senior Counsel.
• If you are selected at CN-60 your official job title will be: Attorney-Adviser (General); organization title: Counsel.

Requirements

• Must be U.S. Citizen or U.S. National A trial period may be required.
• Continued employment is contingent upon supervisory certification that continued employment will benefit the Federal Service; the certification will occur no less than 30 days before the end of the probationary/trial period.
• Public Trust - Background Investigation will be required.
• Complete a Declaration for Federal Employment to determine your suitability for Federal employment, at the time requested by the agency.
• Have your salary sent to a financial institution of your choice by Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer.
• If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so.
• Go through a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) process that requires two forms of identification from the Form i-9.
• Federal law requires verification of the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires in the U.S. File a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report within 30 days of appointment and annually from then on.
• This position requires that the successful candidate undergo personnel vetting, which includes a background investigation and enrollment upon onboarding into "Continuous Vetting." Enrollment in Continuous Vetting will result in automated record checks being conducted throughout one's employment with The CFPB.
• The successful candidate will also be enrolled into FBI's Rap Back service, which will allow The CFPB to receive notification from the FBI of criminal matters (e.g., arrests, charges, convictions) involving enrolled individuals in near real-time.

Education

Law Degree: Applicants must be a graduate of an accredited law school with an LL.B., J.D. or equivalent.

How you will be evaluated

We will evaluate your application by comparing your description of your work experience, level of responsibility, and accomplishments, with the requirements of the position to determine whether you meet all the qualification requirements. The assessment questions are for information gathering purposes only. Veterans preference is not applied but considered a positive factor.

The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits specific inquiries concerning an applicant's criminal or credit background unless the hiring agency has made a conditional offer of employment to the applicant.

An applicant may submit a complaint, or any other information, to the agency within 30 calendar days of the date of alleged non-compliance by contacting: *** What are criminal history inquiries?

Documents you must provide

• A complete application includes 1.
• 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).
• Please ensure all required documents, including any required work samples, narratives, or other materials as stated in this announcement, are attached to your application package.
• Any required documents should be submitted at the time that you apply as documents will not be accepted after the vacancy closes.
• All applicants are required to submit a résumé either by creating one in USAJOBS or uploading one of their own choosing.
• (Cover letters are optional.) Please limit your résumé to 2 pages.
• If more than 2 pages are submitted, your resume will not be accepted.
• To receive full credit for relevant experience, please list the month/date/year and number of hours worked for experience listed on your résumé.
• We suggest that you preview the online questions, as you may need to customize your résumé to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions.
• Please view résumé tips.
• VETERANS' PREFERENCE DOCUMENTATION: If you are claiming veterans preference as a positive factor, please see Feds Hire Vets.
• In order claim veterans preference, you must submit all required documentation as outlined.
• EDUCATION DOCUMENTATION: You MUST submit a copy of your transcripts or equivalent.
• An official transcript will be required if you are selected.
• A college or university degree generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
• For a list of schools which meet these criteria, please refer to Department of Education Accreditation page.
• 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.
• RECOMMENDED DOCUMENTS: In addition, we recommend that you submit copies of the following:1.
• Proof of Active Bar Membership: Applicants must be a current member of a bar with a valid license to practice law in a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
• Official or unofficial law school transcripts; 3.
• A cover letter; and 4. a recent legal writing sample.

Benefits

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding.

Your Federal benefits include the following:- Challenging and rewarding work benefiting American consumers - Opportunities for development and advancement- Comprehensive Federal health, retirement, life (FEGLI), vision and dental (Benefeds) benefits.

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

What to expect next

Once the online application is submitted, you will receive an acknowledgement email that your submission was successful. We will review your résumé and transcript(s) (if appropriate) to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements.

We will evaluate each applicant who meets the basic qualifications on the information provided and may interview the best-qualified applicants. After making a tentative job offer, we will conduct any required suitability and/or security background investigation.

Additional information

OTHER INFORMATION: We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.

This announcement may be used to fill like positions in other organizations within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau All candidates will be considered without regard to any non-merit reasons such as race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, lawful political affiliation, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, protected genetic information, parental status, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factors.

This is a non-bargaining unit position. We offer opportunities for flexible work schedules. Bureau employees are subject to government-wide ethical standards of conduct, financial disclosure requirements, and post-employment prohibitions, which applicants may review at ***

In addition, employees must comply with the Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (5 CFR 9401), which, among other things, prohibit an employee or the employee's spouse or minor child from owning or controlling a debt or equity interest in an entity supervised by the Bureau.

Regulations also impose restrictions on the outside activities of certain Bureau employees, including examiners and attorneys. Applicants may review the Bureau ethics regulations and a summary of the regulations at *** Questions regarding these requirements and prohibitions should be directed to the Bureau Ethics Office at ***.

CFPB uses an experience-based process. Experience is evaluated and credited using the employee's résumé.

To ensure that all of your prior work experience (e.g., internships, volunteer work, details, part-time, self-employment, secondary jobs, etc.) is considered and accounted for, please ensure that your résumé covers the following: your entire work history with specific start and end dates (MM-DD-YYYY) provided for each listed position hours worked per week for each position degrees and the dates conferred (MM-YYYY) See information on our base pay ranges and salary structure.

Part-time experience will be credited pro-rata based on a 40-hour work week, while work of 32 hours or more will be rounded up to full-time experience. If you have multiple positions that have overlapping start and/or end dates, only 40 hours of experience will be credited for a given work week. Refer to Resume Tips for more information on how to submit a comprehensive résumé.