UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY William T. Walsh, Clerk Career Opportunity Announcement # 21- 01
Position Title: Staff Law Clerk (Excepted Temporary Appointment) (Up to two positions – Either two full-time or one-full time and one ½ time) Classification Level/ JSP 12- 13 ($88,651 - $137,045)** Salary Range Qualifications based on experience pursuant to AO guidelines. ** Salary range is divided in half for a part-time position. (A part-time position is for up to 20 hours per week) Duty Station: Trenton, New Jersey Posting Period: October 5, 2020 – October 16, 2020 __________________________________________________________________________________________ POSITION SUMMARY The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey is hiring two (2) Staff Law Clerks (either two full-time or one-full time and one-half time) to join its Prisoner Litigation Office for a period up to December, 2021. The Staff Law Clerks report to the Supervisory Staff Law Clerk, a designee of the Chief Judge. The Chief Judge is the appointing authority for all Staff Law Clerk positions. If hired, the positions may be extended beyond December, 2021 depending upon the needs of the office and funding. The Staff Law Clerk provides assistance to the Court regarding substantive legal and procedural review of prisoner civil litigation instituted with or without an attorney, including State and Federal prisoner habeas corpus petitions and civil rights complaints. REPRESENTATIVE DUTIES Responsibilities of this position include, but are not limited to: • Substantively screens petitions and complaints; • Drafts appropriate opinions and orders for review by District Judges, including motions to dismiss and for summary judgment and final habeas opinions; • Monitors dockets to assure the proper progress of cases; • Provides information, guidance, and advice to judges and chambers law clerks on legal issues relating to prisoner and pro se cases; • Compiles statistics and prepares periodic reports to reflect the status of cases; and • Performs other duties as assigned, including attending some court hearings. Some travel within the district may be required. QUALIFICATIONS Ideal candidates are law school graduates who have: • At least one year of legal work experience after receipt of J.D.; • A strong academic background, and demonstrated research and writing ability; • Strong verbal and written communication skills, and the ability to work effectively with a variety of people in person, on the phone, and via email; • Excellent organizational skills and experience handling multiple tasks and projects; • Ability to work with strict deadlines and in a fast-paced environment; • Maturity, good judgment, and high ethical standards; and • Ability to work independently or as a team player, with a positive work attitude. Note: The outside practice of law is prohibited except as provided by the Code of Conduct for Judicial Employees. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS Working knowledge of prisoner and constitutional law; federal clerkship experience; two years of legal work experience in a high volume, production-oriented environment. Prior experience handling prisoner litigation is helpful. CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT Applicants must be U.S. citizens or eligible to work in the U.S. A background investigation including fingerprint and criminal record check will be conducted. Any applicant selected for a position will be hired provisionally pending favorable suitability determination of the background investigation. INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS The Court reserves the right to modify the conditions of this job announcement, or to withdraw the job announcement, or to fill the position sooner than the closing date, if a closing date is shown, any of which action may occur without prior written notice. The Court will only communicate with those qualified applicants who are selected for an interview. If a subsequent vacancy of the same position becomes available within a reasonable time after the original announcement, the Court may elect to select a candidate from the original qualified applicant pool. Judiciary employees serve under excepted appointments, and are considered “at will” and can be terminated with or without cause by the Court. All information provided by applicants is subject to verification and false statement or omissions of information on any application materials may be grounds for non-selection, withdrawal of an offer of employment or dismissal after being employed. Staff Law Clerks with Excepted Temporary Appointments are not covered under the Leave Act. APPLICATION PROCESS Qualified applicants must submit electronically in PDF format (1) a cover letter and (2) an updated resume to the attention of Emma C. Fernandez-Regan, Human Resources Manager via the following recruitment link: http://ajis.njd.uscourts.gov/application/default on or before October 16, 2020 by 5:00 p.m. The cover letter should expressly state whether the candidate is interested in a full-time, half-time or either position.
THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER