Paralegal Specialist (Pathways Recent Graduate)

Paralegal Specialist (Pathways Recent Graduate)

This is an exciting opportunity for recent college graduates interested in pursuing a career involving criminal justice and public service!

If selected for this position, you will join a well-respected team in the Superior Court Division (SCD) of the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia (USAO-DC) that is responsible for providing legal support to Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) that prosecute criminal cases in a high-volume, fast-paced, collaborative environment. The SCD handles the highest volume of felony and misdemeanor cases prosecuted by the Office. Types of cases include, but are not limited to, homicides, sexual assaults, carjackings, kidnapping, robberies, burglaries, domestic violence, and narcotics and weapons possession.

Typical work assignments will include:

• Assists with drafting a variety of substantive and technical legal documents.
• Assists attorneys with interviews of witnesses in preparation for grand jury or trial.
• Reviews evidence, including police body worn camera footage and surveillance video.
• Prepares and organizes evidence for discovery.-Monitors the progress of pending cases to ensure compliance with established deadlines.
• Assists with organizing cases for grand jury and trial presentation by performing duties such as preparing and compiling exhibits and witness files.
• Performs basic legal and data searches and other data retrieval assignments.

You will have the opportunity to learn to perform these duties and will receive training to help you grow in this developmental position.  Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress.

The Pathways Recent Graduate program hires individuals who are in the early stages of their careers and provides graduates with one to two-year developmental experiences in Federal agencies.

To qualify for the Pathways Recent Graduate Program, you:

• must have obtained, or will be obtaining within six weeks, an associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, professional, doctorate, vocational, or technical degree, or a certificate from a qualifying educational institution, or have completed a qualifying career or technical education program within the previous 2 years, unless military service interfered with a veteran’s eligibility to apply during that two year time frame.  Veterans meeting the above exclusion may apply within 2 years of discharge or 6 years from the date of receipt of the degree whichever comes first. 
• must be United States citizens or owe permanent allegiance to the United States.  (Currently, natives of American Samoa, Swains Island and certain inhabitants of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are the only groups that owe permanent allegiance to the United States.)
• must successfully complete a background investigation to determine suitability for Federal employment.
• must to sign a Pathways Recent Graduate Participant Agreement.
• must serve a trial period for the entire duration of their excepted service appointment.