Attorney Advisor for Grants, NFIP and Environmental Litigation

Job Description

PLEASE READ THE APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS AND QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS CAREFULLY. INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS, INCLUDING THOSE WITHOUT A COVER LETTER, WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED

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Federal Emergency Management Agency, Office of Chief Counsel

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Position Title: Attorney Advisor for Grants, NFIP and Environmental Litigation

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Duty Station: FEMA Headquarters (Washington, DC)

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Grade: GS-13/14 | Job Series 0905

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OPENING DATE: October 7, 2026

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CLOSING DATE: October 21, 2026

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POSITION TITLE AND LEGAL DIVISION:

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Attorney Advisor, Grants, NFIP and Environmental Litigation, FEMA Office of Chief Counsel (OCC), Resilience Legal Division (RLD).

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SERIES, PAY PLAN, GRADE, SECURITY CLEARANCE, AND TRAVEL:

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This position is in the job series 0905-Attorney-Advisor, GS-13/14. This is a public trust position and does not require a security clearance. Occasional travel may be required.

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DUTY STATION LOCATION AND REMOTE WORK ELIGIBILITY:

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The position has a duty station in Washington, DC. This position is not eligible for remote work, as defined by FEMA policy. This position is eligible for limited telework only pursuant to FEMA policy.

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POSITION TYPE:

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This is a Permanent Full Time (PFT) Attorney Advisor position. This position is being announced under FEMA’s General Schedule (GS) program. This is an Excepted Service position and will be filled at the GS-13/14 level.

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POSITION SUMMARY AND IDEAL CANDIDATE:

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The Resilience Legal Division (RLD) of the FEMA Office of Chief Counsel seeks an experienced litigator to provide critical support to the Litigation Branch. RLD is organized into five branches: Risk Management & Mitigation (RM), Federal Insurance & Fund Management (FIFM), Litigation, Preparedness and Continuity (P&C), and Grants.

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The ideal candidate will play a key role in defending the agency against legal challenges to FEMA programs, including the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), Environmental and Historic Preservation, and the Grant Programs Directorate (GPD). Litigation may involve complex claims under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), Clean Air Act (CAA), Administrative Procedure Act (APA), DHS Standard Terms and Conditions for grants, Presidential Executive Orders, and a range of challenges to the NFIP, including challenges to the implementation of Risk Rating 2.0, flood plain management and mapping initiatives.

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The successful candidate will demonstrate:

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• Experience in federal court litigation, including handling injunctions and constitutional claims.
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• Familiarity with FEMA grant systems (e.g., FEMA GO), OMB grants regulations (2 CFR Part 200), DHS Standard Terms and Conditions, and relevant environmental laws (NEPA, ESA, etc.).
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• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple and complex matters simultaneously, shifting priorities as needed.
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• Excellent written and oral communication skills, legal research and analysis abilities, and effective case management practices.
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• The ability to work collaboratively with other RLD attorneys, and litigators, and represent FEMA professionally in both internal and external settings.
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This is a dynamic, high-visibility role requiring adaptability, sound judgment, and the ability to provide strategic legal advice across a diverse portfolio of matters.

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DUTIES OF THE POSITION:

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• Provide solution-oriented, articulate, legally sufficient, and timely written and oral legal advice on a wide range of NFIP matters involving complex legal or factual questions.
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• Provide legal advice on FEMA’s implementation of its mission support and program responsibilities.
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• Support active litigation involving FEMA’s preparedness and mitigation grant programs.
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• Liaise and strategize with DHS Office of General Counsel (OGC) on high-profile litigation matters to ensure accuracy and consistency with legal positions with the impacted program activity or operation.
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• Collaborate with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide information for lawsuits including drafting declarations, gathering and assembling administrative records and reviewing and providing substantive comments on briefs as well as educating DOJ on substantive legal issues.
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• Brief leadership in Resilience, RLD, OCC, and various client programs as to the status of ongoing litigation.
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• Work with e-discovery platforms (Veritas and Relativity) and processes to support litigation and document management.
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• Maintain accurate records of litigation matters and practice good case management skills.
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• Draft declarations, answers and legal memoranda.
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• Gather and prepare Administrative Records.
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• Review documents for litigation concerns.
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• Participate in team meetings.
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QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED/SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE:

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Applicants must meet the qualifications requirements for the grade level to which they are applying by the closing date of this announcement.

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Minimum Requirements include:

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• U.S. Citizenship,
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• Ability to successfully pass a background investigation (public trust),
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• Ability to obtain and maintain a government travel card,
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• Selective Service registration for males born after 12/31/59,
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• A graduate of a law school accredited by the American Bar Association,
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• Membership in good standing of the Bar of a State, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and
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• Agreement with Every Employee is an Emergency Manager requirement.
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Minimum Experience:

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Applicants must meet the qualification requirements for the grade level to which they are applying to by the closing date of this announcement.

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You qualify for this position at the GS-13 level if you possess the requisite specialized experience and other qualifications: At least two years of full-time professional legal experience gained after being admitted to the bar. The minimum two-year work experience requirement includes at least one year of specialized experience that is directly related to the position being filled and that is at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to that of an attorney at the GS-12 level. Attorneys at a GS-13 level are mid-level attorneys and are expected to work independently. GS-13 attorneys are generally expected to:

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• Perform substantive work on moderately complex, novel, or significant matters.
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• Have excellent writing skills, conduct demanding legal analysis, draft and review motions, subpoenas, complaints, memoranda, and comparable legal documents.
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• Possess strong communication skills.
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• Contribute to tactical and legal policy decisions.
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• Be able to assume some supervisory role over legal interns, GS-11/12 attorneys, or non-attorney staff on a project-specific basis.
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• Require only moderate level of supervision or review of written work product.
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You qualify for this position at the GS-14 level if you possess the requisite specialized experience and other qualifications: At least 3 years of full-time professional legal experience required that includes at least two years of specialized experience that is directly related to the position being filled. At least some of the two years must be at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to that of an attorney at the GS-13 level. Attorneys at a GS-14 level are mid-level to senior-level attorneys and thus must be capable of working independently on complex legal issues. GS-14 attorneys are generally expected to:

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• Take charge and lead basic matters, perform substantive work on moderately complex and novel matters, and make substantial contributions to the most complex, novel, or significant matters.
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• Have excellent writing skills, conduct demanding legal analysis, draft and review draft motions, subpoenas, complaints, memoranda, and comparable legal documents.
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• Have excellent communication skills.
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• Be able to review the work of less experienced, lower-grade attorneys.
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• Work well on teams and consistently exercise sound judgment.
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• Coordinate substantive legal matters with other OCC and OGC divisions, components, and where appropriate, with clients to achieve consensus regarding substantive legal discussions.
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• Be able to undertake some level of supervisory responsibility or undertake lead counsel responsibility on a project-specific basis.
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• Require only minimal supervision and cursory review of written work product. (Supervisor should be reviewing and editing work product only for nuances at this level)
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• Independently managing and litigating a heavy caseload of administrative cases;
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• Independently producing well-articulated legal opinions, memoranda, and briefs regarding complex legal issues.
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REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:

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At time of application, the applicant must submit a:

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• Resume (no more than 2 pages),
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• Short writing sample, and
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• Cover letter of 1 page or less explaining their interest in the position.
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Prior to tentative job offer, the applicant must also provide:

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• Proof of current bar admission, and
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• Law school transcript from an American Bar Association accredited law school.
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OCC LEGAL AFFAIRS CADRE AND EMERGENCY MANAGER ASSIGNMENT:

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In addition, every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee’s official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.

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HOW TO APPLY:

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Interested applicants should submit a resume and cover letter to Chris Pennebaker at RLD- View email address on ziprecruiter.com by the closing date of this announcement. The subject line of the email should refer to the title of this position. Please let us know in your email or cover letter where you saw this announcement.