Paralegal Specialist

Duties

The American Law Division (ALD) of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) is seeking two (2) Paralegal Specialists to serve the United States Congress and support ALD's Legislative Attorneys.

As a Paralegal Specialist, you will support ALD’s Legislative Attorneys by researching and verifying legal citations; formatting written products consistent with applicable style manuals including the Bluebook; analyzing legal and factual issues within ALD’s responsibility; proofreading and editing a wide variety of ALD products; providing technical assistance on the use of legal software and databases; updating, maintaining, and troubleshooting ALD’s internal and public-facing websites; and providing support for major CRS legal programs and initiatives, including congressional client outreach, seminar programs, constitutional print and web publications, and legal citation training and support. Strong cite-checking, Bluebooking, writing, legal research, and technological skills are essential. Experience with XML tagging is beneficial but not required.
CRS works exclusively for the United States Congress, providing policy and legal analysis to committees and Members of both the House and Senate, regardless of party affiliation. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS has been a valued and respected resource on Capitol Hill for more than a century.

CRS is well known for analysis that is authoritative, confidential, objective, and nonpartisan. Its highest priority is to ensure that Congress has immediate access to the nation's best thinking on public policy issues of interest to its Members and Committees.

Paralegal Specialist duties include:

Cite-checks ALD written products and researches legal citations to ensure propositions are accurate, correct, complete, and fully supported by valid legal authorities. Revises textual citations and footnotes to comply with applicable style manuals, including the Bluebook.

Gathers authoritative legal information, using both traditional and electronic resources. Assists ALD Legislative Attorneys in analyzing legal and factual issues. Selects, assembles, summarizes, and compiles substantive legal information, including legislative histories. Analyzes and organizes legal, factual, and archival records. Uses legal software and online research databases to assist Legislative Attorneys in authoring, editing, and publishing written content.

Proofreads and edits a wide variety of ALD written products, including reports, presentations, outreach communications, and testimony. Advises ALD Legislative Attorneys to ensure products conform to CRS editorial standards using applicable style manuals, including Bluebook and the CRS Style Guide, and to resolve editorial and publishing issues.

Updates, maintains, and troubleshoots ALD’s internal and public-facing websites. Provides technical and troubleshooting assistance with ALD software, hardware, custom web applications, legal research databases, and more. Researches IT tools and internal publishing applications systems to support ALD’s publications. Refines and modifies ALD products to conform to changing system requirements and capabilities, and communicates these requirements and capabilities to ALD staff. Recommends technical and editorial standards for published material.

Manages competing priorities and ensures deadlines are met. Supports major CRS legal programs and initiatives, including congressional client outreach, seminar programs, constitutional print and web publications, and legal citation training.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

Library of Congress employees are prohibited from using illegal drugs, including marijuana. The Library is part of the Federal Government and abides by federal law, so regardless of individual state or District of Columbia laws, marijuana use is illegal, considered criminal activity, and can affect your employment at the Library. In addition, past or current drug use and activities (e.g., selling or distributing) may deem you ineligible for employment.

How You Will Be Evaluated

• Benefits

  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. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

  Review our benefits

  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

  As a new or existing federal employee, you and your family may have access to a range of benefits. Your benefits depend on the type of position you have - whether you're a permanent, part-time, temporary or an intermittent employee. You may be eligible for the following benefits, however, check with your agency to make sure you're eligible under their policies.

  Current or former federal employees must submit their most recent Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50 or equivalent).

  Applicants with disabilities may be considered under special hiring procedures and must submit an appropriate certificate of eligibility when applying for this position. The proof or disability/certification may be issued by the State Vocational Rehabilitation Office, Disability Services or Career Services office of the applicant’s college or university, or the Department of Veterans Affairs. The letter must verify that the applicant has a severe disability and must be dated within three years of the date of the application. The program does not accept certification from health care providers. For more information contact the Library's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Programs at 202-707-6024 or email spp@loc.gov. FAILURE TO SUBMIT YOUR CERTIFICATION WILL CAUSE YOUR APPLICATION TO NOT BE CONSIDERED UNDER THE SELECTIVE PLACEMENT PROGRAM.

• How to Apply

  Please carefully follow all instructions under the How to Apply tab to ensure you are considered for the position.

  You are required to apply online for this announcement. We are unable to accept mailed or emailed documents. You must complete the entire application process, including submission of all documents BEFORE this announcement closes. To do so, complete the following steps.

  Step 1: If you do not already have one, create a resume on USAJOBS. Although you must enter your Social Security Number for USAJOBS, this information will not be provided to the Library of Congress.

  Step 2: Review the Job Announcement. We recommend you go to the end of the Qualification and Evaluation section of the job announcement to preview the online questions that you will answer in Step 4. You may wish to customize your USAJOBS resume to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions.

  Step 3: Click on the "APPLY ONLINE" button to the right of this announcement. Follow USAJOBS' instructions to access your account and submit your resume. You will be redirected to the Hiring Management website to complete the application process. If this is your first time in Hiring Management, you will be asked to answer questions related to your eligibility for Federal employment. You will be able to update this information and save it to our account for future announcements.

  Step 4: Once you have completed the eligibility questions, you will be taken directly to the vacancy application questions. Answer all questions honestly and thoroughly.

  Step 5: Hiring Management offers three options that will electronically attach your documentation to your online application once you finish answering the questions in the job announcement.
  (1) You may select a document that you have already uploaded to USAJOBS for a previous announcement.
  (2) You may electronically upload a document directly from your computer to your application. Be certain to review your complete application for confirmation of the document uploaded and click on "Finished" to be returned to USAJOBS.

  IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have multiple documents of the same kind, e.g. 2 undergraduate transcripts from different schools or 2 SF-50s, etc., be sure that they are all in the same file on your computer or in your USAJOBS profile before uploading them. If you try uploading them individually, only the last one sent will be visible in our system. If you have any questions about this information, please contact the person on this announcement BEFORE the closing date.

  Step 6: Click on "Finish" after you have completed your application. Once you have submitted your application, you can check your status online through your Hiring Management or MY USAJOBS account. Your complete online application and any required supplemental documentation (e.g., SF-50, etc.) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the closing date of the announcement. It is your responsibility to ensure that all documents are received on time and that the materials are readable. Failure to do so will result in your application being excluded from consideration for this announcement.

  If you are experiencing any technical difficulty with the online process, you MUST CONTACT THE POINT OF CONTACT FOR THIS ANNOUNCEMENT BEFORE THE CLOSING DATE. For all technical issues please contact jobhelp@loc.gov , no later than 4:30pm EST of the Closing Date. REQUESTS FOR EXTENSIONS WILL NOT BE GRANTED.

  Agency contact information

  Customer Service Center

  Phone

  202-707-5620

  Fax

  000-000-0000

  Email

  JobHelp@loc.gov

  Address

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
  101 Independence Ave. SE
  LM107
  Washington, District of Columbia 20540
  United States

  Next steps

  Please review our evaluation process under Evaluation. You may check the status of your application for this position at any time by logging onto the USAJOBS "My USAJOBS" tab and clicking on "My Applications." You will receive final notification via e-mail when the vacancy has been filled.

• Fair and Transparent

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

  • Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy
  • Reasonable accommodation policy
  • Financial suitability
  • Selective Service
  • New employee probationary period
  • Signature and false statements
  • Privacy Act
  • Social security number request

Required Documents

Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens.