Employment Opportunities
Current vacancies for federal employment in the United States are listed in the Office of Personnel Management website. Information regarding employment opportunities for Assistant United States Attorneys can also be found by clicking here.
Vacancies for this district will be announced on this page with specific instructions on how to apply. At this time, there are no vacancies.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia is divided into four divisions: Criminal, Civil, Executive, and Administrative. Staff consists of Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs), and the following Support Positions: Paralegal Assistants, Legal Assistants, Investigator, Law Enforcement Coordinator Specialist (LECC), Victim Witness Specialist, Automated Litigation Support, Information Technology/Computer Specialist, Budget, Personnel, Procurement, Student Positions including College Work Study, Volunteer Law Clerks, and the Senior Community Service Employment Program (Title 5).
For Assistant United States Attorney positions, applicants must have their J.D. degree, be duly licensed and authorized to practice as an attorney under the laws of a state, territory, or the District of Columbia, and have at least three years of experience. Cover letters and resumes are accepted on a continual basis for attorney positions as vacancies are not always announced. When a vacancy occurs, these will be referred to the U.S. Attorney for consideration. They remain on file for a six month period.
For Support positions (except for student positions and the Senior Community Service Employment Program), applications are taken only when there is an actual vacancy announcement posted on the Office of Personnel Management's website. Each vacancy announcement gives a brief job description, states the qualifications needed in order to apply, what forms to submit, and where to send them. All application forms must be postmarked by the closing date of the announcement.
An overview of the Paralegal Specialist and Legal Assistant positions are provided below for your information.
Paralegal Specialist
Civil Paralegal Specialists perform a variety of complex paralegal assignments in support of one or more Assistant United States Attorneys involved in civil prosecutions for Federally-cognizable cases. The work involves legal research and analysis, and may involve debt collection, and other civil litigative work; determining the need for, preparing, and maintaining legal documents such as writs of habeas corpus, subpoenas, discovery letters, exhibits, and lists, including diagrams, charts, photographs, etc.; interviewing employers, agents, and potential witnesses; providing litigative case management; and, an array of other substantive, legal assistance and support work for Assistant United States Attorneys.
Criminal Paralegal Specialists perform a variety of complex paralegal assignments in support of one or more Assistant United States Attorneys involved in criminal prosecutions and grand jury investigations for Federally-cognizable cases. The work involves: conducting legal research and analysis; determining the need for, preparing, and maintaining legal documents such as extradition and immunity requests, writs of habeas corpus, grand jury and trial subpoenas, discovery letters, exhibits, and lists, including diagrams, charts, photographs, etc.; interviewing agents and potential witnesses; providing litigative case management; and, an array of other substantive, legal assistance and support work for Assistant United States Attorneys.
Qualifications: Applicants must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level. Specialized experience is work in or related to the duties of the position to be filled, which has equipped the candidate with the particular knowledges, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of this position. Specialized experience for this position includes complex legal work performed in any legal setting or office where, for example, the candidate has: determined the need for, prepared, and maintained legal documents; performed legal research; analyzed laws, regulations, rules, and data; and, interviewed witnesses. Applicants also may qualify based on the following education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; or, 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree; or, an LL.M. Applicants must meet all requirements, including time-in-grade, no later than 30 days after the closing date of the vacancy announcement, and before placement in the position.
Legal Assistant
These positions are responsible for one or more Assistant U.S. Attorneys, providing a full range of secretarial and technical support work. Support work includes: preparing a variety of legal documents, including subpoenas and briefs; constructing the various aspects of recurring legal documents in conformance with the rules governing their style and format; verifying citations and statutory references obtained in legal documents against original sources; composing original letters not requiring legal interpretations, but which do require a good knowledge of legal procedures and terminology; receiving visitors and callers; arranging appointments and keeping track of calenders; making travel and conference arrangements and preparing travel vouchers; and typing and operating a personal computer to prepare legal documents and correspondence.
Qualifications: Applicants must have at least one year of specialized experience. Specialized experience is work directly related to the duties of the position to be filled, which has equipped the candidate with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of this position. This includes legal work performed in any legal setting or office where the candidate has prepared and processed legal documents. Applicant must be able to type 40 words per minute.