Legal Careers
Deputy Assistant Attorney General
The Civil Rights Division (CRT or Division) of the Department of Justice, created by the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, works to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The Division enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), disability, religion, familial status, national origin, and citizenship status.
The Division is seeking an experienced attorney to serve as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) in the Office of the Assistant Attorney General. The DAAG assists with general supervision of the activities of CRT. Duties include policy and planning, management of assigned Sections, and task forces for regulatory reform.
As the federal agency whose mission is to ensure the fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans, the Department of Justice is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. To build and retain a workforce that reflects the diverse experiences and perspectives of the American people, we welcome applicants from the many communities, identities, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, religions, and cultures of the United States who share our commitment to public service.
As a Deputy Assistant Attorney General, the successful candidate:
Serves as consultant and advisor on all matters of major policies requiring the personal attention of the Assistant Attorney General (AAG).
Reviews and supervises the work of one or more CRT sections and meets regularly with section managers to communicate the enforcement and policy priorities of the AAG and to ensure that each section's work aligns with those priorities.
Advises on and decides questions of policy and procedure arising in connection with the initiation, conduct, and termination of civil rights litigation, both civil and criminal, subject to review by the AAG.
Confers with, advises, and instructs senior members of CRT, special counsel, and other Division and Department attorneys on matters relating to the enforcement of statutes, Executive Orders, and other regulations assigned to CRT.
Upon assignment or on own initiative, represents the AAG in conferences and negotiations with Members of Congress, representatives of other departments and agencies, and representatives and counsel for claimants, defendants, and other interested parties with respect to those matters coming under the jurisdiction of CRT.
Upon assignment or on own initiative, represents the AAG in conferences with responsible State and local officials in connection with the enforcement of civil rights statutes and in the elimination of discriminatory practices involving federally protected civil rights.
Is expected to conceive and formulate policies and programs for elimination of unconstitutional practices of discrimination involving federally protected civil rights, anticipating, minimizing, or obviating wherever possible apparent federal and state conflicts with respect to enforcement of civil rights. In emergencies, conducts field surveys and inspection trips to troublesome areas in civil rights matters for the purpose of advising and aiding the AAG in the formulation of departmental policy and determining when the Department must take prosecution or other corrective action.
Drafts, reviews, and comments on the Department's legislative program on civil rights, with a view to determining their adequacy under the Constitution and the need of such legislation in the enforcement of federally protected civil rights.
Confers with individuals and groups who call upon the Department in connection with civil rights matters, advises such individuals and groups thereon, and initiates appropriate action.
Acts as liaison and representative of the AAG with the Commission on Civil Rights and other agencies of the Government and with private and semi-private organizations and educational institutions regarding civil right matters.
In addition to these responsibilities as the DAAG, directs and participates personally in the handling of civil rights cases of first impression and in precedent-setting or extremely difficult and significant legal cases, civil and criminal, in trial and appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is required by law to review the executive qualifications of each new career appointee to the Senior Executive Service (SES) prior to appointment. To be considered for this position, you must submit a written statement addressing the five (5) Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and three (3) Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs) listed below. Failure to address both the ECQs (as applicable) and MTQs separately as set forth below will remove you from consideration for this position. If you are a current Senior Executive Service (SES) career appointee, a former SES member having reinstatement eligibility, or an OPM-certified graduate of an approved SES Candidate Development Program you are not required to submit the ECQ narratives.
You must submit a separate narrative statement that addresses each of the Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs) related to this position; limit your responses to no more than one page for each MTQ. The ECQ narrative is limited to no more than two pages per ECQ (must not exceed 10 pages total). You must address how you have demonstrated progressively responsible leadership experience that is indicative of senior executive level managerial capability and directly related to the skills and abilities outlined in this job announcement. Qualified candidates typically gain experience of this nature at or above the GS-15 grade level in the Federal service or its equivalent with state or local government, the private sector, or nongovernmental organizations. For examples and guidance on writing effective ECQ narrative statements, you are strongly encouraged to review the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Guide to Senior Executive Service Qualifications. You must use the Challenge - Context - Action - Result (CCAR) model when describing your accomplishments.
Mandatory Technical Qualifications:
MTQ 1 - Demonstrated experience developing, litigating, and supervising matters involving one or more statutes enforced by the Civil Rights Division, such as federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), disability, religion, familial status, national origin, and citizenship status.
MTQ 2 - Ability to establish an organizational vision, develop a strategic plan and implement strategic change, develop and advance policy initiatives, and build coalitions, both within the organization and outside the organization, to effectively enforce the applicable statutory provisions.
MTQ 3 - Demonstrated experience communicating effectively on complex legal and technical issues through oral and written communication, including the ability to advocate successfully with diverse stakeholders, external partners and individuals or groups having differing and often conflicting interests, on matters related to the successful execution of a large-scale organization's mission, programs and projects.
Executive Core Qualifications:
- Leading Change: This core qualification involves the ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment. Leadership Competencies for ECQ-1: creativity and innovation, external awareness, flexibility, resilience, strategic thinking, vision.
- Leading People: This core qualification involves the ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts. Leadership Competencies for ECQ-2: conflict management, leveraging diversity, developing others, team building.
- Results Driven: This core qualification involves the ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks. Leadership Competencies for ECQ-3: accountability, customer service, decisiveness, entrepreneurship, problem solving, technical credibility.
- Business Acumen: This core qualification involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically. Leadership Competencies for ECQ-4: financial management, human capital management, technology management.
- Building Coalitions: This core qualification involves the ability to build coalitions internally and with other federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals. Leadership Competencies for ECQ-5: partnering, political savvy, influencing/negotiating.
Applicants must possess a J.D. degree from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association and be a member in good standing of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico bar. (Include in your resume the month and year in which you obtained your degree and the name of the College or University from which it was conferred/awarded.)
The complete Application Package must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time Zone) on Monday, March 14, 2022.
To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:
- Complete Resume
- Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs)
- Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs)
To apply for this position, see page at https://www.usajobs.gov/job/634097900.
$135,468 - $203,700 per year
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Department Policies
Equal Employment Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Justice is an Equal Opportunity/Reasonable Accommodation Employer. Except where otherwise provided by law, there will be no discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex - including gender identity, sexual orientation, or pregnancy status - or because of age (over 40), physical or mental disability, protected genetic information, parental status, marital status, political affiliation, or any other non-merit based factor. The Department of Justice welcomes and encourages applications from persons with physical and mental disabilities. The Department is firmly committed to satisfying its affirmative obligations under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, to ensure that persons with disabilities have every opportunity to be hired and advanced on the basis of merit within the Department of Justice. For more information, please review our full EEO Statement.
Reasonable Accommodations: This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify the agency. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Outreach and Recruitment for Qualified Applicants with Disabilities: The Department encourages qualified applicants with disabilities, including individuals with targeted/severe disabilities to apply in response to posted vacancy announcements. Qualified applicants with targeted/severe disabilities may be eligible for direct hire, non-competitive appointment under Schedule A (5 C.F.R. § 213.3102(u)) hiring authority. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to contact one of the Department’s Disability Points of Contact (DPOC) to express an interest in being considered for a position. See list of DPOCs.
Suitability and Citizenship: It is the policy of the Department to achieve a drug-free workplace and persons selected for employment will be required to pass a drug test which screens for illegal drug use prior to final appointment. Employment is also contingent upon the completion and satisfactory adjudication of a background investigation. Congress generally prohibits agencies from employing non-citizens within the United States, except for a few narrow exceptions as set forth in the annual Appropriations Act (see, https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/working-in-government/non-citizens/). Pursuant to DOJ component policies, only U.S. citizens are eligible for employment with the Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. Trustee’s Offices, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Unless otherwise indicated in a particular job advertisement, qualifying non-U.S. citizens meeting immigration and appropriations law criteria may apply for employment with other DOJ organizations. However, please be advised that the appointment of non-U.S. citizens is extremely rare; such appointments would be possible only if necessary to accomplish the Department's mission and would be subject to strict security requirements. Applicants who hold dual citizenship in the U.S. and another country will be considered on a case-by-case basis. All DOJ employees are subject to a residency requirement. Candidates must have lived in the United States for at least three of the past five years. The three-year period is cumulative, not necessarily consecutive. Federal or military employees, or dependents of federal or military employees serving overseas, are excepted from this requirement. This is a Department security requirement which is waived only for extreme circumstances and handled on a case-by-case basis.
Veterans: There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of Justice considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. Applicants eligible for veterans' preference must include that information in their cover letter or resume and attach supporting documentation (e.g., the DD 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty and other supporting documentation) to their submissions. Although the "point" system is not used, per se, applicants eligible to claim 10-point preference must submit Standard Form (SF) 15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference, and submit the supporting documentation required for the specific type of preference claimed (visit the OPM website, www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/SF15.pdf for a copy of SF 15, which lists the types of 10-point preferences and the required supporting document(s). Applicants should note that SF 15 requires supporting documentation associated with service- connected disabilities or receipt of nonservice-connected disability pensions to be dated 1991 or later except in the case of service members submitting official statements or retirement orders from a branch of the Armed Forces showing that their retirement was due to a permanent service-connected disability or that they were transferred to the permanent disability retired list (the statement or retirement orders must indicate that the disability is 10% or more).
USAO Residency Requirement: Assistant United States Attorneys must reside in the district to which appointed or within 25 miles thereof. See 28 U.S.C. 545 for district specific information.
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This and other vacancy announcements can be found under Attorney Vacancies and Volunteer Legal Internships. The Department of Justice cannot control further dissemination and/or posting of information contained in this vacancy announcement. Such posting and/or dissemination is not an endorsement by the Department of the organization or group disseminating and/or posting the information.