Legal Assistant (Legal Access Officer)

Duties

Responsible for maintaining and addressing legal access for legal visits, legal phone calls, legal correspondence, access to discovery, legal access in emergent situations and access for populations with specific needs.

Support the implementation of policies, programs, and procedures related to legal access and will have a significant impact on the formulation or execution of institutional decisions on legal access.

Independently handles inquiries regarding legal access and serves as a resource to staff at their location, and to the public concerning legal access in the facility. This includes supporting the facility in providing a consistent process for communication around unexpected cancellation of legal visitation or scheduled legal calls by the facility.

Elevate legal access as an operational priority in the facility, improve legal access during the detention process, including access to counsel under the constitution, and may involve direct assistance to institutional staff by performing a segment of their work to achieve that goal.

Along with all other correctional institution employees, incumbent is charged with responsibility for maintaining security of the institution. The staffs correctional responsibilities precede all others required by this position and are performed on a regular and recurring basis.

Qualifications

To be considered for the position, you must meet the following qualification requirements:

Education:

As a general rule, education is not creditable above GL-05 for most positions covered by this standard; however, graduate education may be credited in those few instances where the graduate education is directly related to the work of the position.

OR

Experience:

You must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the next lower grade level in federal service. To be creditable, this experience must have equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to successfully perform the duties of the position, and must typically be in or related to the position to be filled.

Some examples of this qualifying experience are:

• Experience with independently analyzing and interpreting information or sources relative to legal access and making appropriate recommendations to stakeholders.
• Experience understanding criminal trial process as it relates to legal access and distinguishing between a variety of legal instruments including court order, petitions and complaints, Habeas, Bivens, Tort, Mandamus and various injunctive relief requests.
• Experience serving as liaison between a facility and external stakeholders for legal access.
• Experience with public speaking and communication, related to navigating complex legal access situations, and identifying ways to improve processes.

If applicable, credit will be given for paid and unpaid experience. To receive proper credit, you must show the actual time (such as the number of hours worked per week) spent in activities.

**Your eligibility for consideration will be based on your responses to the questions in the application.**

Education

See Qualifications Section for education requirements, if applicable.

ONLY if education is a requirement/substitution for specialized experience, applicant MUST upload legible transcripts as verification of educational requirement. Transcripts MUST be uploaded and electronically linked from USAJOBS at the time you apply and MUST include identifying information to include School Name, Student Name, Degree and Date Awarded (if applicable). All academic degrees and coursework must be completed at a college or university that has obtained accreditation or pre-accreditation status from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools that meet this criteria, Click Here.

Foreign Education: For information regarding foreign education requirements, please see Foreign Diploma and Credit Recognition at the U.S. Department of Education website: Recognition of Foreign Qualifications.

If you are selected for this position and qualified based on education (i.e. basic education requirement and/or substitution of education), you will be required to provide an OFFICIAL transcript prior to your first day on duty.

Additional information

This position IS included in the bargaining unit.

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 3307, a maximum entry age of 36 has been established for initial appointment to a position in a Bureau of Prisons institution. If you are above the maximum entry age and have prior federal law enforcement coverage, you MUST submit an SF-50 to verify prior coverage. 

Qualified Preference Eligible Veterans may be exempt from meeting the maximum age. Please refer to the Required Documents Section for the appropriate documentation to submit to validate veteran eligibility.

What Competencies/Knowledge, Skills and Abilities are Required for this Position?

The following Competencies/Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA's) are required:

• Ability to plan, organize, and determine priorities.
• Ability to analyze and interpret information and make recommendations.
• Ability to communicate in writing, interpret, and edit written documentation.
• Ability to communicate orally.