This position is located in the Little Rock, Arkansas Branch Office of the Office of the General Counsel (OGC), Department of Agriculture. The office is physically located in the Federal Building at 700 West Capitol Street, in Little Rock. The incumbent serves as Associate Regional Attorney and supervises and manages a Branch Office, which, under the direct supervision of the Regional Attorney, provides legal services to field offices of USDA agencies administering programs within a geographical area assigned to the office.

Responsibilities

As a Supervisory General Attorney (Associate Regional Attorney), you will be responsible for the following:

Participates in the interpretation, application, implementation and resolution of legal issues and office policies, and directing, supervising, and participates in the provision of all types of legal services for USDA agencies performing activities in the assigned area. The Associate Regional Attorney also supervises the staff of the Branch Office.

Provides oral and written advice; preparing and reviewing documents; researching and analyzing pertinent law; developing legal theories, tactics and procedures; conducting litigation and litigation-related activities; advising client agencies on dealing with special interest groups; assisting client agencies in negotiations; advising in the development of training programs for client agencies; and ensuring legal support for the operation of programs of the Department within the assigned geographical area.

Interpreting federal, state and local laws; preparing numerous types of legal documents such as deeds, easements, rights-of-way, leases, mortgages, deeds of trust, contracts, subordination agreements, assignments, and powers of attorney; preparing documents for litigation by Assistant United States Attorneys and Department of Justice Attorneys, including complaints, answers, motions, briefs, and memoranda of law, and providing litigation assistance to these attorneys and their staffs, including participating in trials.

Reports to the Regional Attorney who occupies an SES-level position. The incumbent is directly responsible for supervision of office staff and management of the Branch or Regional Office. This includes responsibility for civil rights, fair and unprejudiced employment practices, affinitive action on EEO objectives, training, promotion, awards, and career development.

Directs legal work and activities, supervises Branch or Regional Office staff and manages the resources of the office; is responsible for developing plans, preparing budget requests, establishing internal office procedures, and assigning and evaluating work; provides reports to the Regional Office and senior staff in the Washington Office as requested; ensures that written work is of the highest professional quality and is timely in relation to the issues presented; assures that oral presentations in courts, before public bodies, or in other forums are of high quality; and is responsible for personnel management and practices, equal employment opportunities, recommending promotions and employee selection, and training, motivation, and evaluation of the staff.

Communicates frequently with numerous officials including senior agency field personnel, United States Attorneys and their staffs, senior field officials in other federal departments, the Attorney General and staff for states within the assigned Branch or Regional Office area, members of federal regional councils, client agency constituents including persons and organizations, persons at high management levels in the private sector and their attorneys and persons in interest group organizations and their attorneys. Through these contacts, information is obtained and exchanged, negotiations occur, and the legal basis for client agency decisions is furnished and analyzed.

The position directs the work of GS-14 and GS-15 level attorneys and support staff that may include paralegals, legal assistants and administrative officers. The work of the organization is accomplished through supervision of non-supervisory positions.

Legal advice and opinions issued by the Associate Regional Attorney and by the Branch or Regional Office staff embrace many fields of law, may affect large areas of land, and influence to a significant degree the actions and decisions of agency officials in meeting statutory obligations. Faulty legal advice could result in unlawful actions by agency officials adverse to the statutory purposes for the programs and/or the policies of the Department, and failure to recover substantial amounts on debts due the United States.
 
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