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Senior Level Counsel (PA)

Internal Revenue Service
$141,022.00 - $195,000.00 / yr
United States, Ohio, Cleveland
Feb 20, 2024
Duties

The Senior Level Counsel serves as a confidential advisor to the Associate Chief Counsel, Procedure and Administration (PA) on a variety of matters, including complex litigation, federal tax matters, and as the Chief Counsel's primary attorney contact and leading expert in electronic litigation. Serves as program manager and technical senior advisor to the Associate Chief Counsel on a broad array of activities designed to fulfill Counsel's responsibilities to handle complex litigation and to provide legal support to the Internal Revenue Service, including overseeing all facets of electronic litigation. Serves as the Office's attorney representative and liaison with the IRS, and the Departments of Justice and Treasury on significant matters involving electronic litigation and electronic discovery. Acts as a personal consultant to executives on a variety of sensitive and extremely complex legal, technical, and tax matters in their assigned area of expertise. Assists the executive in the formulation of legal policies and programs for the operation of the Associate office, including those relating to electronic litigation, complex litigation, and federal tax matters, and performs special assignments of the highest complexity and impact of a case or project nature. The incumbent serves as an expert on complex litigation and in the management and retrieval of electronically stored information and other Chief Counsel records of significance to the electronic discovery process. This includes serving as the point of contact and coordinator in electronic discovery and information governance projects, including the collection, processing, review, and production of electronically stored information.

Major duties and responsibilities include but not limited to:


  • Acts as legal and technical expert to the Office executives on the most difficult, important, and complex professional legal matters arising in the administration of the Internal Revenue laws and in related litigation.
  • Manages highly complex and significant special projects including complex tax litigation; selecting and reviewing proposals, monitoring work group needs and progress, facilitating and expediting recommendations regarding these matters through the decision-making process.
  • Serves as an office expert on Procedure and Administration's areas of tax litigation and as the primary liaison to Division and Associate Chief Counsel offices in the coordination and direction of activities to support IRS needs and objectives.
  • Serves as primary attorney liaison to Division and Associate Chief Counsel Offices, the IRS, and the Departments of Justice and Treasury in the coordination and direction of electronic litigation; handles electronic discovery in complex federal tax matters and other matters involving the IRS.
  • Develops, implements, and updates policies and procedures regarding electronic litigation, information governance, electronic record retention, storage, and retrieval issues, and litigation holds.
  • Takes the lead on the largest, most complex projects and policy proposals in the Office.
  • Interfaces with IRS Information Technology on data collection for tax cases and other matters and determines parameters for data collection.
  • Outlines requirement needs to the Business Systems Planning Division (BSP) on software, hardware and equipment requirements for electronic discovery and electronic litigation support to ensure Counsel is using state of the art, innovative and cost-effective technology for all aspects of electronic litigation.

Requirements
Conditions of Employment

  • Refer to "Additional Information"
  • Click "Print Preview" to review the entire announcement before applying.
  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National


Qualifications

To qualify for this position of Senior Level position (Procedure and Administration) you must meet the following requirements:



  • Possess at least the first professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.) from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association; AND
  • Applicants must be an active member in good standing of the bar of a State, U.S. Commonwealth, U.S. territory, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
  • Desired Education/Experience: An LL.M. in Taxation is desired but not required. 7 years of relevant professional legal experience is desired.


To meet the minimum requirements for a Senior Level Counsel position, candidates must be a recognized subject matter expert with directly related experience. Typically, experience of this nature will have been gained at the GS-15 grade level or its equivalent in Federal service. Candidates must demonstrate their experience in the narrative responses to the Mandatory Technical Qualifications; and this experience must have been at a sufficiently high level of difficulty to clearly show the candidate possesses the required subject matter expertise and technical qualifications set forth below. This specialized experience should also be reflected within the resume.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs):

All candidates must show evidence of the following mandatory technical competencies to meet basic qualifications for this position. The narrative statements should demonstrate your specialized knowledge and technical competence. Please give concrete examples of your experience and demonstrate the complexity of the knowledge and skills you possess. You should address each MTQ separately, with the total narrative not exceeding ten pages.

Mandatory



  1. Demonstrated experience and expert knowledge of the rules of practice and procedure for the United States Tax Court, the United States District Courts, the United States Court of Federal Claims, and the United States Courts of Appeals to serve as a nationwide authority on complex tax and general litigation.
  2. Comprehensive in-depth knowledge and the understanding of an expert in electronic litigation including the Electronic Discovery Reference Model, discovery and production standards and best industry practices as they relate to electronic litigation; and in-depth knowledge of electronic discovery systems and electronic search software including document management software, document scanning software, courtroom presentation systems, case collaboration tools, cloud computing systems relevant to information management and litigation, proprietary software, etc.
  3. Extensive knowledge of the legal requirements for preserving, collecting, preparing, producing, and obtaining electronically stored information.
  4. Demonstrated ability and highly skilled in preparing/writing legal tax documents ranging from complex tax documents designed for legal practitioners to non-technical/educational materials targeted for more general use.
  5. Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with legal staff on the most complex legal issues and to enable attorneys to understand the electronic litigation and electronic discovery and the legal requirements relating to the storage, preservation, retrieval, analysis and production of electronically stored information.


(Note: Failure to address these factors will result in your application being rated ineligible.) Narrative responses to the MTQs and Desirable Qualifications should not be more than two pages for each. Please provide responses to MTQs and Desirable Qualifications each on separate sheets of paper.

Education

For positions with an education requirement, or if you are qualifying for this position by substituting education or training for experience, submit a copy of your transcripts or equivalent. An official transcript will be required if you are selected.

A college or university degree generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools which meet these criteria, please refer to .

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. If you are qualifying based on foreign education, you must submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. For further information, visit: .

Additional information

  • This is aNon-Bargainingunit position.
  • We offer opportunities for telework.
  • We offer opportunities for flexible work schedules.
  • The salary range indicated in this announcement covers multiple locality areas.


Conditions of Employment Continued:

  • Subject to a 1-year trial period (unless already completed).
  • Have your salary sent to a financial institution of your choice by Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer.
  • Public Trust (85PS) Background Investigation required
  • Obtain and use a Government-issued charge card for business-related travel.
  • File a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report OGE-278e within 30 days of appointment and annually from then on.
  • Undergo an income tax verification.
  • The employment of any candidate, including a current employee or a new hire, selected for this position may be conditional upon classification and/or audit of federal tax returns. This audit may include up to 2 years of returns.
  • This position requires that the successful candidate undergo personnel vetting, which includes a background investigation and enrollment upon onboarding into "Continuous Vetting." Enrollment in Continuous Vetting will result in automated record checks being conducted throughout one's employment with Treasury. The successful candidate will also be enrolled into FBI's Rap Back service, which will allow Treasury to receive notification from the FBI of criminal matters (e.g., arrests, charges, convictions) involving enrolled individuals in near real-time.

    There are three key documents that contain important information about your rights and obligations. Please read and retain these documents:



  • A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. .

    Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.



Required Documents

A complete application includes 1. A resume 2. Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs) 3. Vacancy question responses and 4. Submission of any required documents.

Please note that if you do not provide all required information, as specified in this announcement, you may not be considered for this position (or may not receive the special consideration for which you may be eligible).

1. RESUME: All applicants are required to submit a resume either by creating one in USAJOBS or uploading one of their own choosing. (Cover letters are optional.) To receive full credit for relevant experience, please list the month/year and number of hours worked for experience listed on your resume. We suggest that you preview the online questions, as you may need to customize your resume to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions. Please view . Resume should clearly state your experience related to this position as described in the Duties section and Qualifications section.

2. MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (MTQs): To meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, you MUST address each Mandatory Technical Qualification separately, not to exceed a total of ten (10) pages. If you fail to do so, your application will be rated ineligible. Please include your full name on all documents submitted.

3. VACANCY QUESTION RESPONSES: Responses are automatically submitted through USA Jobs when you apply to this vacancy.

4. ADDITIONAL REQUIRED DOCUMENTS: In addition, applicants are required to submit the following supporting documentation:



  • Memorandum of Interest summarizing your interest in the position.
  • A Supervisory Report (ERB Form 1-88, 4/11) regarding your suitability for the position as completed by your current or most recent supervisor. You are responsible for notifying your supervisor that this report must be received no later than five workdays after the closing date of this announcement.


EDUCATION DOCUMENTATION: For positions with an education requirement, submit a copy of your transcripts or equivalent. An official transcript will be required if you are selected and not already on file. See "Education" for more details.

PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION: If selected, you will be required to submit an original Certificate of Good Standing from your State Bar if not already received by the agency.
How to Apply

The following instructions outline our application process. You must complete this application process and submit any required documents by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on 03/13/2024 and/or cut-off dates in this announcement. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. ET, Monday - Friday). To preview the Application Questionnaire, please click the following link:



  • To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application.
  • Follow the prompts to select your resume and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
  • After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.
  • You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.
  • It is your responsibility to verify that your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. Uploaded documents may take up to one hour to clear the virus scan.

Agency contact information

Carrie Middleton

Phone

Fax

855-562-3827


Email
Address

Office of Chief Counsel, IRS

Staffing and Classification Branch

1111 Constitution Ave, NW

Washington, DC 20224

US

Next steps

To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: .

Fair & Transparent

The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.



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