Summary
Join a dynamic team of information law attorneys providing fast-paced legal advice and guidance to clients at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) Government Information Law Division (GILD) as Counsel and leverage your legal experience to protect the homeland in this ever-evolving area of law. One or more positions may be filled from this announcement. This is an in-person position.
Duties
OPLA is the largest legal program in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), employing over 3,000 attorneys nationwide to provide a full range of legal services to all ICE programs and offices. OPLA's Enforcement, General Law, and Litigation (EG&L) divisions, through close client engagement, advance ICE's homeland security and public safety mission by providing expert legal advice and guidance to ICE personnel enforcing our nation's immigration, customs, and criminal law and policies. Counsel in EG&L also defend the operational authorities and decisions of ICE officers and agents in federal courts and support the advocacy of ICE attorneys before immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals, with special emphasis on cases involving criminal aliens, human rights violators, and aliens who threaten our national security. EG&L divisions also advise and provide legal and prudential counsel to an array of operational and policy clients within ICE on contracts, fiscal, and information law issues, as well as ethics and regulatory matters. GILD attorneys are responsible for: Providing legal advice and support to ICE programs on FOIA, the Privacy Act, E-Government Act, Federal Records Act, Paperwork Reduction Act, and general matters relating to information disclosure; Serving as an agency counsel in defending ICE against various civil litigation, to include FOIA, Privacy, and other APA-related lawsuits filed in U.S. Federal Courts; Providing crucial assistance in responding to Members of Congress, media outlets, and other entities; handling third-party requests for agency information; and reviewing domestic and international information sharing agreements, to include Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties and Customs Mutual Assistance Agreements; Providing legal advice and guidance on confidentiality-related statutes, regulations, and policies; and Liaising with DHS's Office of General Counsel Headquarters and OPLA's legal counterparts in other DHS components, the Department of Justice, and local and state partners, on various issues pertaining to information law. Providing training to ICE operational programs and other stakeholders on information sharing, FOIA, the Privacy Act, confidentiality statutes, and other information disclosure related matters. Selected attorneys will immediately be given significant responsibilities and will be expected to craft persuasive, legally supportable positions to address the needs of agency operational components. Selected attorneys will be expected to routinely provide timely legal opinions to ICE officers and agents, division management, and leadership within OPLA, ICE, and the DHS Office of the General Counsel Headquarters. OPLA will ensure that applicants with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations when appropriate. If reasonable accommodation is required for any part of the application process, please contact the OPLA representative listed on this announcement.
Education
Applicants must be a graduate of an accredited law school with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) or LLM degree. Please see Required Documents for more information. A student loan repayment incentive may be available, in which case a service agreement will be required.
How you will be evaluated
All information and documents submitted as set forth in the Required Documents section will be reviewed to ensure you meet the minimum qualification requirements. Qualified candidates will be rated by comparing each candidate's qualifications to the skills and experience pertinent to the position to be filled. Experience, education, training, awards, and performance will be considered. An applicant need not have specific knowledge and experience regarding each item listed in the Qualifications section in order to qualify for the position. National Service Experience (i.e., volunteer experience): 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.