Paralegal Specialist (Financial Litigation)

Summary

This announcement is for Current Federal employees in permanent competitive service positions in the Department of Justice (status candidates), including well-qualified surplus and displaced DOJ employees (CTAP) in the local commuting area. Merit Promotion/Internal Employees/Agency Employees Only.

Learn more about this agency

Summary

This announcement is for Current Federal employees in permanent competitive service positions in the Department of Justice (status candidates), including well-qualified surplus and displaced DOJ employees (CTAP) in the local commuting area. Merit Promotion/Internal Employees/Agency Employees Only.

Learn more about this agency

Overview

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Accepting applications

Location

1 vacancy in the following location:

Houston, TX

No matching locations found.

Work site options

Telework eligible No Remote job No Relocation expenses reimbursed No Salary $86,123 - $111,966 per year Pay scale & grade

GS 11

Promotion potential None

Learn more about pay scale and grade

Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.

Work schedule Full-time Travel Required Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Appointment type Permanent

Occupations and job series

• 0950 Paralegal Specialist

Supervisory status No Federal service type This job is in the Competitive Service Represented by a union No

Drug test Yes Security clearance Not Required Position sensitivity and risk NCS/High Risk

Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.

Background check type

• Suitability/Fitness

Financial disclosure required No

Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.

Announcement number 26-SDTX-13051686-MS Control number 885971500

This job is open to

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Internal to an agency

Current federal employees of the hiring agency that posted the job announcement.

Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL)

Federal employees whose job, agency or department was eliminated and are eligible for priority over other applicants.

Clarification from the agency

Applications will be accepted for Current Federal employees in permanent competitive service positions in the Department of Justice (status candidates), including well-qualified surplus and displaced DOJ employees (CTAP) in the local commuting area. Merit Promotion/Internal Employees/Agency Employees Only.

Duties

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The duties and responsibilities for a GS-0950-Paralegal Specialist (Financial Litigation)-11 generally include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Review, organize, and manage complex factual and documentary materials for investigations and trials.
• Prepare legal documents efficiently, including exhibits, jury instructions, charts, graphs, and tables.
• Maintain litigation case management systems and enter detailed case data into databases.
• Conduct research to identify debtor financial assets and assess ability to pay through examinations and meetings.
• Create legal documents and processes related to the seizure of financial assets and collection of fines or restitution.
• Provide overall support for trial preparation, including organizing materials for court presentation.

Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a United States Citizen or National.
• You must successfully pass a security/background investigation and a drug screening.
• You must be a current permanent Department of Justice employee with competitive status or a CTAP/RPL eligible candidate.
• You must meet all applicable time-in-grade requirements by the closing of this announcement.
• If selected, you may be required to complete a one year probationary period.
• You must be registered for Selective Service, if applicable.
• You must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements within 30 days after the closing date of this announcement and before placement in the position.

Qualifications

To qualify for the position of Paralegal Specialist (Financial Litigation), at GS-0950-11, you must meet the qualification requirements listed below.

There may also be a positive education requirement for some occupations, please see the Education section for details. If there are licensing or certification requirements, please see the Required Documents section for details on how to verify you license or certificate.

GS-11: To be eligible at the GS-11 level, you must meet at least ONE of the following conditions, as defined below:

Specialized Experience, Education, OR a Combination of Education and Experience.

Specialized Experience is defined as experience performing a variety of paralegal or legal work in financial litigation, bankruptcy, commercial, creditors rights, tax, or real property litigation such as analyzing and evaluating legal decisions and case files; conducting legal research on a variety of legal topics and points of law; drafting financial litigation documents and correspondence, and communicating with debtors to present options for debt payments.

Education: One of the following types of education in a related field (e.g., Criminal Justice, Law): a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; OR three full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in law, criminal justice, public administration, business administration, or a closely related field that provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of a Paralegal Specialist (Litigation Specialist).

Combining Education and Experience: Combination of specialized experience as described above and graduate-level education as described above which when combined equal 100% of the requirements. To calculate your percentage of graduate education, first determine the total number of graduate hours that exceed 36 semester hours (or your schools definition of two years of graduate study), then divide the total number of your excess graduate semester hours by 18 (or your schools definition of one year of graduate study). To calculate your percentage of qualifying experience, divide your total number of months of qualifying experience by 12. Now, add the two percentages together. The sum of the percentages must equal at least 100%. (Only graduate education in excess of the first two years may be used in this calculation.)

You MUST meet all qualification requirements, including time-in-grade, by 10/08/2026 of this announcement.

Your resume must support your responses to the application questionnaire and the qualification requirements. Failure to do so may result in an ineligible rating.See the Required Documents section for important notes about what must be included in your resume.

Education

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements, please see the statements below.

Education must be reviewed and certified by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, in order for it to be creditable towards your qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from accredited institution.

FOREIGN EDUCATION: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the requirements. You must show proof the education credentials have been deemed to be at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. education program. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. For special instructions pertaining to foreign education and a list of organizations that can evaluate foreign education, see the Department of Education website. If you are qualifying on foreign education, you MUST submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. All documentation must be in English or include an English translation.

Additional information

Additional selections may be made from this announcement.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution. Candidates will not be hired based on their race, sex, color, religion, or national origin.

EEO Statement/Policy: The United States government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service or other non-merit factor. More information can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/jmd/media/1425556/dl?inline.

DOJ Reasonable Accommodation Policy: Federal agencies must provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should contact the hiring agency directly. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. The DOJ Reasonable Accommodation policy can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/jmd/reasonable-accommodation#policy

Selective Service: If you were born male, on or after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. Additional information is found at: www.sss.gov.

Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs: The Fair Chance Act prohibits Federal agencies from requesting an applicants criminal history information before the agency makes a conditional offer of employment. If you believe a DOJ employee or Federal contractor acting on its behalf has violated your rights under this Act, you may submit a written complaint within 30 days of the date of the alleged non-compliance directly to cassandra.vela@usdoj.gov. Note: In accordance with 5 U.S. Code § 9202(c) and 5 C.F.R § 920.201(b) certain positions are exempt from the provisions of the Fair Chance Act.

This position is excluded from the bargaining unit.

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Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

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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.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Once the announcement closes, a review of your resume and supporting documentation will be conducted by the HR Specialist. This information will be compared against your responses to the application questionnaire to determine your eligibility for Federal employment, and then whether you are qualified for this particular position. If a determination is made that you have inflated your responses when compared to your background information, you may be deemed ineligible.

Additionally, you must meet the area of consideration (see above). Applicants who do not meet this are ineligible for consideration.

Basis of Rating: DOJs Merit Promotion Procedures will be used to evaluate candidates.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, and other characteristics):

• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

If you would like to preview the application questionnaire, please see: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13051686

Benefits

Help

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

Required Documents

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It is your responsibility to carefully review the list of required documents below and submit the necessary documentation based on your eligibility.

• Resume

Resume - All Applicants: You must submit a resume (a two page or less resume is required) containing the following pieces of information for each job entry listed in your employment history:

• Official position title,
• Employer name and contact information,
• Start and end dates (including month and year),
• Indicate full-time or number of hours worked per week if part-time, and
• A list of duties performed and accomplishments.

SF-50: You must submit your most recent SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action). Do not submit an award SF-50, these do not contain sufficient information about your appointment. Your SF-50 should list the full position title, series, grade and step, organization, duty location, service computation date, effective date, and your service type and tenure status.

• Most recent performance appraisal: Must submit a signed copy of your most recent performance evaluation or appraisal showing your final rating. If a performance appraisal is not available submit a statement explaining why one is not available.
• Awards: Submit a list of any awards (e.g. superior performance awards, special act or achievement awards, quality step increase, etc.) you received in the last 5 years. If you do not have your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation, please submit a statement as to why it is not available.

CTAP eligibility documentation:

• A copy of your RIF separation notice; notice of proposed removal for declining a directed geographic relocation outside of the local commuting area; a Certificate of Expected Separation ; or certification that you are in a surplus organization or occupation (this could be a position abolishment letter, or a notice of eligibility for discontinued service retirement).
• A copy of your most recent performance appraisal and SF-50 "Notification of Personnel Action" noting current position, grade/band level, promotion potential, and duty location.

College Transcripts: If you are using education to qualify for this position, or education is required.

you must submit a transcript, which may be unofficial, as long as it contains a full listing of courses, credit earned, grade and grade-point-average, subject area, degree(s) earned, and dates of award. Note: If you are selected for this position, official transcripts will be required prior to your first day.

• Your transcript must come from a nationally accredited educational institution recognized by the Department of Education.
• If submitting a foreign transcript, you must have the transcript reviewed by an approved foreign education review organization recognized by the Department of Education.
• Please do not submit electronic transcripts with documentation security protection, these may prevent our application system from accepting and processing the document.

How to Apply

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To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit your supporting documentation. Your complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 10/08/2026 to receive consideration.

• 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.

NEED HELP?

If you need help with USAJOBs or the application process, please see the USAJOBS Help or Application Manager Online Help websites which includes information on managing your account, creating an application, uploading documents, etc.

Reasonable Accommodation: To request reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please contact Cassandra Vela at cassandra.vela@usdoj.gov or (956) 992-9414 for assistance.

Agency contact information

Cassandra Vela

Phone 956-992-9414 Email Cassandra.Vela@usdoj.gov Address Southern District of Texas

1000 Louisiana Street

Suite 2300

Houston, TX 77002

US

Next steps

You will receive e-mail notifications as your application status is updated by DOJ. However, you can also see your application status any time by logging in to your USAJOBS account and looking on the "Applications" page. Click the position title to expand the display for each application in the list.

We strive to extend a final offer of employment within 90 days from the close of this announcement. Additional selections may be made from this announcement within 90 days.

Fair and transparent

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

Criminal history inquiries Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy

Financial suitability New employee probationary period

Privacy Act Reasonable accommodation policy

Selective Service Signature and false statements

Social security number request

Required Documents

Help

It is your responsibility to carefully review the list of required documents below and submit the necessary documentation based on your eligibility.

• Resume

Resume - All Applicants: You must submit a resume (a two page or less resume is required) containing the following pieces of information for each job entry listed in your employment history:

• Official position title,
• Employer name and contact information,
• Start and end dates (including month and year),
• Indicate full-time or number of hours worked per week if part-time, and
• A list of duties performed and accomplishments.

SF-50: You must submit your most recent SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action). Do not submit an award SF-50, these do not contain sufficient information about your appointment. Your SF-50 should list the full position title, series, grade and step, organization, duty location, service computation date, effective date, and your service type and tenure status.

• Most recent performance appraisal: Must submit a signed copy of your most recent performance evaluation or appraisal showing your final rating. If a performance appraisal is not available submit a statement explaining why one is not available.
• Awards: Submit a list of any awards (e.g. superior performance awards, special act or achievement awards, quality step increase, etc.) you received in the last 5 years. If you do not have your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation, please submit a statement as to why it is not available.

CTAP eligibility documentation:

• A copy of your RIF separation notice; notice of proposed removal for declining a directed geographic relocation outside of the local commuting area; a Certificate of Expected Separation ; or certification that you are in a surplus organization or occupation (this could be a position abolishment letter, or a notice of eligibility for discontinued service retirement).
• A copy of your most recent performance appraisal and SF-50 "Notification of Personnel Action" noting current position, grade/band level, promotion potential, and duty location.

College Transcripts: If you are using education to qualify for this position, or education is required.

you must submit a transcript, which may be unofficial, as long as it contains a full listing of courses, credit earned, grade and grade-point-average, subject area, degree(s) earned, and dates of award. Note: If you are selected for this position, official transcripts will be required prior to your first day.

• Your transcript must come from a nationally accredited educational institution recognized by the Department of Education.
• If submitting a foreign transcript, you must have the transcript reviewed by an approved foreign education review organization recognized by the Department of Education.
• Please do not submit electronic transcripts with documentation security protection, these may prevent our application system from accepting and processing the document.

How to Apply

Help

To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit your supporting documentation. Your complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 10/08/2026 to receive consideration.

• 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.

NEED HELP?

If you need help with USAJOBs or the application process, please see the USAJOBS Help or Application Manager Online Help websites which includes information on managing your account, creating an application, uploading documents, etc.

Reasonable Accommodation: To request reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please contact Cassandra Vela at cassandra.vela@usdoj.gov or (956) 992-9414 for assistance.

Expand Hide how to apply

Agency contact information

Cassandra Vela

Phone 956-992-9414 Email Cassandra.Vela@usdoj.gov Address Southern District of Texas

1000 Louisiana Street

Suite 2300

Houston, TX 77002

US

Next steps

You will receive e-mail notifications as your application status is updated by DOJ. However, you can also see your application status any time by logging in to your USAJOBS account and looking on the "Applications" page. Click the position title to expand the display for each application in the list.

We strive to extend a final offer of employment within 90 days from the close of this announcement. Additional selections may be made from this announcement within 90 days.

Expand Hide next steps

Fair and transparent

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

Criminal history inquiries Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy

Financial suitability New employee probationary period

Privacy Act Reasonable accommodation policy

Selective Service Signature and false statements

Social security number request