USAO Eastern District of Washington
The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Washington has a competent, friendly and talented staff, and an outstanding relationship with its client-agencies. The main office is located in Spokane, a branch office is located in Yakima, and an unstaffed office is located in Richland. The Spokane office employs over 60 personnel, including 6 civil Assistant United States Attorneys and approximately 11 civil support staff in the Spokane office.
The office is located in Spokane in Eastern Washington. The Eastern District of Washington is comprised of 20 counties and is bordered by Canada to the north, Oregon to the south, Idaho to the east, and the summit of the Cascade Mountains to the west. This area is rich in rolling forested mountains, farmland and arid prairie desert. Because this area celebrates four distinct seasons, recreational opportunities are numerous and include bicycling, hiking, snow skiing, water sports, fishing, camping and hunting. More information on Spokane and its educational opportunities, medical facilities, arts, sports, etc., can be viewed on the internet at www.visitspokane.com (link is external).
The United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Washington has an opening for an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) in its Civil Division, and is seeking an experienced attorney to fill the position. AUSAs in the Civil Division are responsible for representing the federal government, its agencies and employees in civil litigation in the District. These AUSAs are active at the trial and appellate levels, answering and preparing discovery, retaining and working with experts, taking and defending depositions, engaging in dispositive and non-dispositive motions practice, negotiating cases and participating in settlement conferences, trying cases before U.S. District Court Judges, drafting case related memos and appellate briefs, and arguing cases before appellate court judges.
The attorney selected for this position will handle a wide variety of civil cases involving, for example: defensive torts (property damage and personal injury, such as medical malpractice, catastrophic torts); Bivens claims; employment discrimination; land condemnations; foreclosures; defensive environmental claims; affirmative civil enforcement suits; challenges to agency actions (APA); and financial litigation (i.e., adversarial bankruptcy claims).
This is a full-time permanent appointment. However, all initial attorney appointments to the Department of Justice are made on a 14-month (temporary) basis, pending favorable adjudication of a background investigation.
Required qualifications: Applicants must possess a J.D. degree from an accredited law school, be an active member of the Bar (any jurisdiction), and have a minimum of four years post J.D. or other relevant experience. United States citizenship is required.
Preferred qualifications: Ideally, applicants will have four to seven years of experience litigating civil cases in federal court or similar relevant experience, with responsibility for all aspects of discovery, pretrial hearings, settlement negotiations, trials and appeals. The ideal applicant will also have some subject matter expertise in one or more of the variety of civil matters identified above, proficiency with the federal civil procedure in this District, experience writing appellate briefs and presenting oral argument in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals or equivalent, and a demonstrated ability to work independently and well with others, from support personnel and supervisors to client agencies and their employee representatives.
Applicants must be flexible and willing to learn new areas of the law, strategic when it comes to engaging in defensive litigation, forthright and diplomatic in dealing with client agencies, the court and opposing counsel, and dedicated to public service by way of a honorable commitment to representing the United States. Applicants must demonstrate superior written and oral communication skills. They must be able to define and articulate critical issues in a wide variety of cases and areas of law. Applicants must be able to manage a caseload composed of many different kinds of legal issues, with correspondingly demands and deadlines. Applicants must be self-starters and good managers of their time. They must be willing and able to conduct their own legal research and writing, and be substantially self-sufficient in managing cases and deadlines, preparing day-to-day correspondence, memos and filings, and using computer programs and systems (CM/ECF, word processing, Westlaw, Lexis/Nexis, Eclipse, Trial Director, Web Ex,, Zoom, DOJ related program platforms, tc.).
By no later than May 17, 2021, interested applicants must email: (a.) a signed cover letter referencing Vacancy Announcement 21-WAE-SPO-1 and specifically addressing applicant's qualifications as the ideal applicant; (b.) a detailed resume; (c.) a writing sample written solely by applicant (at least 7 pages in length, containing substantive legal analysis; (d.) a current performance evaluation/rating, if any; and (e.) a list with three professional references all in PDF format to:
USAWAE.Jobs@usdoj.gov
United States Attorney's Office
Attn: Lauri Garcia, HR Specialist
920 West Riverside Avenue, Suite 340
Spokane, Washington 99201
No telephone calls please.
Applicants should familiarize themselves and comply with the relevant rules of professional conduct regarding any possible conflicts of interest in connection with their applications. In particular, please notify this Office if you currently represent clients or adjudicate matters in which this Office is involved and/or you have a family member who is representing clients or adjudicating matters in which this Office is involved so that we can evaluate any potential conflict of interest or disqualification issue that may need to be addressed under those circumstances.
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Department Policies
Equal Employment Opportunity: 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, protected genetic information, pregnancy, status as a parent, or any other nonmerit-based 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. For more information, please review our full EEO Statement.
Reasonable Accommodations: 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.
Outreach and Recruitment for Qualified Applicants with Disabilities: The Department encourages qualified applicants with disabilities, including individuals with targeted/severe disabilities to apply in response to posted vacancy announcements. Qualified applicants with targeted/severe disabilities may be eligible for direct hire, non-competitive appointment under Schedule A (5 C.F.R. § 213.3102(u)) hiring authority. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to contact one of the Department’s Disability Points of Contact (DPOC) to express an interest in being considered for a position. See list of DPOCs.
Suitability and Citizenship: 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. Congress generally prohibits agencies from employing non-citizens within the United States, except for a few narrow exceptions as set forth in the annual Appropriations Act (see, https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/working-in-government/non-citizens/). Pursuant to DOJ component policies, only U.S. citizens are eligible for employment with the Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. Trustee’s Offices, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Unless otherwise indicated in a particular job advertisement, qualifying non-U.S. citizens meeting immigration and appropriations law criteria may apply for employment with other DOJ organizations. However, please be advised that the appointment of non-U.S. citizens is 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. All DOJ employees are subject to a residency requirement. Candidates must have lived in the United States for at least three of the past five years. The three-year period is cumulative, not necessarily consecutive. Federal or military employees, or dependents of federal or military employees serving overseas, are excepted from this requirement. This is a Department security requirement which is waived only for extreme circumstances and handled on a case-by-case basis.
Veterans: 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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This and other vacancy announcements can be found under Attorney Vacancies and Volunteer Legal Internships. 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.
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