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Honors Program
Office of the Solicitor
U.S. Department of Labor
The Honors Program of
the Office of the Solicitor is designed for attorneys with exemplary records
who are completing law school or judicial clerkships and are interested in
handling a broad range of labor and employment matters in one of the
preeminent legal offices in government.
The Office of the
Solicitor is the legal department of the U.S. Department of Labor. It is an
office of over 425 lawyers with responsibility for enforcing occupational
safety and health laws, certain civil rights laws, pension and health laws,
minimum wage and overtime requirements, whistleblower protections, and
scores of other labor and employment laws. About half of the attorneys are
in our National Office in Washington, D.C. and the rest are located in our
14 regional and branch offices across the country. Those offices are
located in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, New York City,
Philadelphia, San Francisco, Arlington, VA, Cleveland, Denver, Nashville,
Los Angeles, and Seattle.
The Solicitor's Office
has more independent litigating authority than virtually any other cabinet
department outside the Justice Department. Every day, attorneys with our
Office represent the Secretary of Labor in proceedings before federal
district courts, federal courts of appeals, and administrative law judges. Our lawyers also play a leading role in important and high-profile federal
rulemakings.
About five to eight
Honors attorneys are hired for our National Office in Washington, D.C. each
year. Honors attorneys will also be hired for various regional offices each
year as openings occur.
Attorneys in the Honors
Program who are located in the National Office will spend their first two
years in the Solicitor’s Office handling a broad variety of assignments from
all Divisions in the National Office. These Divisions include the Black
Lung and Longshore Legal Services Division, the Civil Rights and Labor
Management Division, the Employment and Training Legal Services Division,
the Fair Labor Standards Division, the Federal Employees’ and Energy
Workers’ Compensation Division, the Management and Administrative Legal
Services Division, the Mine Safety and Health Division, the Occupational
Safety and Health Division, the Plan Benefits Security Division, and the
Office of Legal Counsel.
Drawing on the
Divisions of the National Office, an Honors attorney in the National Office
might work on a major rulemaking under the Occupational Safety and Health
Act, draft and argue an appellate brief addressing the applicability of
minimum wage and overtime laws, and review investigative files to determine
the appropriateness of an enforcement action under a variety of statutes. These attorneys may also receive assignments from one of our regional or
branch offices, which typically involve trial work, including discovery
practice, brief writing, and oral arguments.
After two years,
National Office Honors attorneys will be permanently placed in a specific
office in the Solicitor’s Office. All efforts will be made to accommodate
attorneys' preferences consistent with the needs of the office. This
placement may be in either a National Office division or a regional or
branch office, if a transfer is requested by the Honors attorney.
The Honors
Program has recently expanded to include the hiring of Honors attorneys into
the regional offices. The focus of the regional Honors Program is the
development of an attorney’s skills as a trial litigator with respect to all
the statutes commonly enforced by the Department of Labor. Under the
guidance of experienced courtroom lawyers, the attorney will typically carry
a varied caseload from beginning to end: analyzing an investigation file,
filing a complaint, engaging in negotiations and discovery, preparing and arguing briefs, and if the case does not settle,
bringing it to trial.
Honors attorneys
located in regional offices will receive selected assignments from the
National Office divisions to complement their trial work or to expose them
to practice areas usually handled by the National Office. These attorneys
will travel to the National Office in Washington, D.C. several times a year
to participate with their National Office Honors colleagues in training and
networking opportunities.
The Honors Program in
the Solicitor's Office gives lawyers an unprecedented opportunity to help
interpret and enforce a broad range of labor and employment laws while
working in one of the largest legal offices in the federal government. Honors Program participants will obtain a broad knowledge of labor and
employment matters that would be difficult to obtain in years of private
practice, and will share the special pride that comes from representing the
United States Government and engaging in public service. We invite you to
apply.
HOW TO APPLY:
To apply, please submit
a resume, a writing sample, and a law school transcript. Please
note that there are a limited number of positions available for the program. Early application is encouraged.
We strongly recommend applications be
submitted by October 15, 2008, since we anticipate offers for these
positions will be made during the Fall of 2008 with the successful
candidates starting in October 2009. Applications received after October 15,
2008 will be considered only if positions remain open.
Veterans’ Preference
Eligibility and Attorney Hiring: There is no formal rating system for
applying veterans’ preference to attorney appointments in the excepted
service; however, the Office of Solicitor of Labor considers veterans’
preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. Attorney
appointments within the Office of the Solicitor are positions in the
excepted service, not the competitive civil service. The online application
system permits applicants eligible for veterans’ preference to include that
information on a voluntary basis. Preference eligible veterans responding
to vacancy announcements may claim preference in a cover letter or resume.
Submission of a DD Form 214 is required to confirm veterans’ preference
eligibility.
Please mail, e-mail, or
fax the required materials to:
Nancy Rooney
Director, The Honors Program
U.S. Department of Labor
Office of the Solicitor, Room N-2700
200 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20210
Fax: (202) 693-5774
E-mail:
SOLHonorsProgramApplications@dol.gov
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