Supervisory Attorney-Advisor

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been serving the economic interests of America for more than 200 years. We are responsible for granting US intellectual property rights for patents and trademarks. Our efforts have provided inventors exclusive rights over their discoveries. It's an effort that continues to contribute to a strong global economy, to encourage investment in innovation and to cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit for the 21st century. The USPTO is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, and has over 12,000 employees, including engineers, scientists, attorneys, analysts, IT specialists, etc. all dedicated to accomplishing the USPTO’s mission, vision, strategic goals and guiding principles. For more information about the USPTO, please visit the USPTO Careers Website.

This position is in the Global Intellectual Property Academy(GIPA),Office of Policy and International Affairs(OPIA),United States Patent and Trademark Office(USPTO).GIPA provides training in the field of intellectual property, including the areas of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and enforcement. The participants in each of the GIPA classes must be officials of intellectual property offices of their respective governments or be officials who perform IP related work, for example, customs officers, judges, or employees or owners of private enterprises, or be representatives of U.S. enterprises.

The GIPA Director manages GIPA’s operations, serves as a principal advisor to senior management, and supervises the activities, performance and conduct of other GIPA employees who perform legal, administrative support, analytical and evaluative work to achieve organizational mission and goals.

KEY REQUIREMENTS

-- You must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
-- Your resume and question responses must demonstrate the job-related KSAs.
-- You must meet the definition of specialized experience.
-- You must possess a Law Degree.
-- You must possess an active bar membership of any state.

DUTIES:

-- Plans programs, and establishes organizational goals to assure efficiency and economy of GIPA operations. Executes day-to-day GIPA planning and administration. Plans and assigns work to subordinate staff based on overall mission objectives, priorities, skills and resource availability. Determines and recommends required staffing to accomplish work and present training.
-- Develops internal procedures and controls, participates with supervisor and fellow legal subject matter experts in the definition of GIPA organizational policies and goals. Participates fully with the Chief and Deputy Chief Policy Officers in: reviewing and evaluating the GIPA program for attainment of objectives; developing plans for the overall management of a program having domestic, as well as international impact; and providing advice and assistance to the OPIA in the control and utilization of resources in support of plans and operations in the establishment and application of all matters regarding the GIPA.
-- When appropriate and needed, consults with OPIA senior level subject matter specialists to develop an annual strategic plan for GIPA; and to ensure that the substance of GIPA’s course offerings, educational course material, and catalogue of GIPA educational offerings are current, legally accurate, and clearly written to further USPTO strategic and policy goals. Integrates the GIPA training program with policy work.
-- Reviews, interprets, and informs management of the impact of changes to IP law and regulations. Maintains close working relationship with and assists in the IP training.
-- Provides timely, authoritative and sound, oral and written, legal advice and recommendations on assigned IP matters. As delegated by OPIA senior management, coordinates assigned functions with Department of Commerce and maintains continuous contact to ensure awareness of new policies and regulations and state-of-the-art developments affecting GIPA operations. Presents oral summaries of studies/assessments at management levels and to higher echelon representatives as directed by supervisor. Participates in meetings and conferences with counterparts and technical experts in other government agencies, industry, and technical communities.
-- Utilizes legal expertise to evaluate/assess the GIPA program effectiveness through review of course attendee responses, reports and discussion with subordinates. Reviews operation supervised, including the meeting of program milestones, timeliness of special projects, efficiency of methods, procedures and controls. Takes action to correct deficiencies noted. Recommends major changes to senior management to enhance the program to meet GIPA and OPIA current and long-range strategic goals. Once approved, proceeds with implementation.
-- Incumbent provides broad guidance and direction to subordinates to: ensure administrative support is available for conducting GIPA’s educational programs; ensure GIPA electronic systems (including DVC and WebEX) are functional when needed; manage appropriate contract award, contract administration, protests against award, termination and settlement, and other contract activities not covered by policy; manage the GIPA budget including travel and contracts; maintain GIPA’s Manual of Standard Operating Procedures, and assist various professionals - - including OPIA attorneys who conduct GIPA programs and GIPA staff - - in following the procedures identified in the manual; draft and distribute administrative documents (including memoranda of agreements) necessary for executing GIPA’s educational programs; and ensure compilation of reports of GIPA’s activities.

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED:

You must meet the United States Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) qualification requirements (including specialized experience and/or educational requirements) for the advertised position. You must meet all eligibility and qualifications requirements by the closing date of the job announcement. Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review on the OPM Website.

Specialized Experience: is experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level. Candidates for the GS-15 grade level must have at least 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower GS-14 grade level in the Federal service. A candidate may be found to have had.

specialized experience for this position is experience in at least one of the following:

-- supervising and/or leading teams; and/or
-- developed or managed educational programs; and/or
-- analyzed or managed budgets.

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.

Education, if applicable: To meet minimum eligibility requirements for this position, applicants must possess at least a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree or Juris Doctor (J.D) degree from an ABA accredited law school.

HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED:

Your eligibility for consideration and qualifications for the position will be determined based upon a review of your detailed resume and your responses to job specific self-assessment questions. Your resume will be evaluated based on evidence of your ability to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) for this position, possession of any specialized experience, and how well your background and experience relates to the self-assessment questions in the job announcement. The self-assessment questions relate to the following knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies:

KSA 1 - Demonstrated experience in solving complex legal problems that are similar or comparable in nature to the ones examined in GIPA course offerings.

KSA 2 - Skill in evaluating and analyzing complex legal documents and issues to make recommendations or decisions relating to GIPA or OPIA activities.

KSA 3 - Ability to express orally and in writing legal issues to various audiences

Your responses to the self assessment questions serve as the basis for your initial rating. You will receive a numerical score based on your responses to these questions. Next, your responses will be evaluated by a Human Resources Specialist and/or a subject matter expert against the information provided in your resume and optional cover letter. Your resume must support your answers to the self assessment questions, or your score may be adjusted or lowered accordingly which may affect your overall final rating. Falsifying your background, education, and/or experience is cause for not hiring you or for changing your scored responses to questions you’ve answered, which may affect your overall final score.

Please note that a complete application is required for consideration. (Please review the “Required Documents” section of this job announcement to see what must be included in a complete application). 

To preview questions please click here.

BENEFITS:

You can review our benefits at: https://careerconnector.jobs.treas.gov/doc/vacancy/preview!benefits.hms?orgId=17&jnum=105602

Reasonable Accommodation Policy Statement

Federal agencies, including the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), must provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. USPTO job applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should request accommodation(s) from the USPTO at http://www.uspto.gov/accommodation. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:

A complete application consists of:

1. A resume or any other written format you choose to describe your job-related qualifications; optional cover letter: Your resume should indicate your citizenship and should list your educational and work experience including job titles, salary, employment dates, duties and accomplishments, experience and how it relates to the KSAs in the job announcement.

Please Note: Responses to job questions that are not fully supported by the information in your resume may result in adjustments to your rating. Any experience claimed in a cover letter should be substantiated by information contained in your resume. A Human Resources representative will validate the qualifications of those candidates eligible to be referred to the hiring official.

2. Transcripts: (for Individual Occupational Requirements and/or Substitution of Education for specialized experience) You MUST submit copies of your college transcripts for verification of the education requirements. Unofficial copies are acceptable, however, if selected you will be required to furnish official transcripts. It is your responsibility to provide adequate proof that you meet the above educational requirements. Inadequate or illegible information could result in non-qualification and loss of consideration.

3. Bar Membership Documentation: You MUST submit documentation showing that you are an active member of the Bar in Good Standing of any State, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or any Territorial Court under the U.S. Constitution. This letter and/or certificate should be dated within the last six months of the closing date of this job announcement. If you are unable to obtain this information by the closing date of this announcement, you must contact the HR Specialist listed on this announcement to make other arrangements prior to the closing date of the announcement.

PLEASE NOTE: Applicants who meet the minimum eligibility and qualification requirements for this position may be contacted within 7 business days of the closing date of this announcement to submit follow-up supporting documentation if applicable. Applicants claiming veterans’ preference entitlement who fail to submit supplemental documentation within 5 business days of receiving the request will not lose consideration for this position, however they will not be entitled to special or priority consideration.

Supporting documents that may be requested of applicants after the closing date of this announcement are:

1. Writing Samples - You may be asked to submit two writing samples. PLEASE NOTE: You may choose to upload these writing samples as supporting documents during the online application process. Should you choose to do so, you will not be contacted after the close of this announcement for writing samples.

2. Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) - For current and/or former Federal employees, your status eligibility and highest permanent grade/step/salary held in the Federal service will be validated with a copy of your most recent SF-50, "Notification of Personnel Action".

3. Veterans’ Preference Documentation: If you are a veteran with preference eligibility, you will be asked to submit a Member 4 copy of your DD-214. If you are a preference eligible claiming a service connected disability of 10 percent or more, you will be asked to submit documentation (i.e. a letter dated 1991 or later from the Department of Veterans Affairs or from a branch of the Armed Forces) certifying to the veteran’s present receipt of compensation. Veterans must include dates of military service within the automated application process, and submit Member 4 copy of each Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, DD-214. For more information, please visit Special Appointing Authorities for Veterans. For excepted service positions, Veterans' Preference does not apply; however, Veteran's will receive positive consideration.

4. Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) documentation: Applicants will be asked to submit: (1) A copy of your specific RIF notice, written notice of your expected separation or other documentation of priority consideration status; (2) A copy of your latest SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location; (3) A copy of your last performance appraisal; and (4) Any documentation from your agency that shows your current promotion potential.

You can choose ONE of the following methods to submit Supporting Documents:

1) You can upload your documents when you register or update your information on the Department of Commerce application site which you access through the USAJobs site.

OR

2) You can fax your documents to 571-258-4254 using the system generated fax cover sheet.

Your application and all required documentation must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date of this job announcement.

AGENCY CONTACT INFO:

Mrs. Deveel Bullock
Phone: 571-272-4498
Fax: 000-000-0000
Email: deveel.bullock@uspto.gov
Agency Information:
PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
550 Elizabeth Lane
Elizabeth Townhouse
Alexandria, VA
22314

WHAT TO EXPECT NEXT:

You will receive a notice generated by the USAJobs System when you have successfully submitted your application. After all application packages have been received, we will review your application and transcript(s) (if you are qualifying based on education) to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. We will evaluate each applicant who meets the basic qualifications on the information provided and you may be contacted for follow-up supplemental documentation. It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide any supplemental documents or information requested by the Office of Human Resources within the allocated timeframes. Failure to submit requested documents or information within 5 business days of receiving the request may result in your application not receiving further consideration.

You can check the status of your application by logging into USAJOBS. You may also sign up to receive automatic emails anytime the status of your application has changed by logging into your USAJobs Account, editing your profile and changing the ‘Notification Settings’ to indicate that you want to be notified by email when the status changes. Information regarding the status of your application should be updated in the system within 2 weeks after the closing date of this job announcement.

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