Attorney Adviser (General)

Summary

This position is located in the Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center - PDC in Fort Worth, TX. The purpose of the position is to assure the legal sufficiency of all actions and instruments in the processing, closing and disbursing of all disaster loans. Employee receives work assignments and general direction and supervision (depending upon duties) from the Assistant Center Director - Accounts / Deputy Assistant Center Director - Accounts or their designee.

Duties

• As an Attorney Adviser (General) at the GS-0905-11, some of your typical work assignments may include: Provides legal advice to the Applications Processing and/or Accounts departments of the Processing and Disbursement Center, including reviewing draft loan approvals for legal sufficiency, closing loans, or working on special projects as assigned. Reviews draft loan authorizations for loans and for cases involving non-routine conditions, facts or other circumstances. Review is to ensure compliance with all legal requirements: eligibility; capacity; authority of the borrower to incur the debt; validity of the proposed pledge of collateral; clarity and certainty of the language of all conditions and terms; adequacy of all contractual relationships to satisfy the authorization (including, but not limited to, leases, trust, and other instruments critical to the applicant's ability to fulfill conditions of the loan); and legal sufficiency of collateral descriptions and use of proceeds. Uses automated systems to identify all needed closing documents and to provide necessary instructions for proper creation of the documents by others. Instructs and guides legal support staff in the generation of non-standard documents, as needed. Authorizes subsequent disbursement after confirmation of review of receipts, inspection reports and/or other evidence of compliance with the terms and conditions of loan authorization, applicable law and internal policy and procedures. IMPORTANT NOTES: TRAVEL STATEMENT- You may be required to travel to a disaster site during increased disaster activity for extended periods with little or no advanced notice. If so, you may encounter hazardous working and/or living conditions; i.e., no water or electricity and/or minimal lodging facilities. Travel expenses are compensated based on SBA policy and Federal regulations. This position works on an as needed basis. This means that employees are in a pay and duty status only when activated to respond to workload needs, especially in response to heightened disaster activity. When no longer needed, employees return to a non-pay status until the next event necessitates additional staff. However, depending on the workload and/or level of disaster activity, your work schedule may be changed to full-time. Subsequently, if the workload decreases, you may be placed in a non-pay status. Mandatory Overtime: In order to respond quickly and efficiently to disaster survivors, substantial compensated overtime hours may be required while on assignment (up to seven days a week and twelve to fourteen hours a day). A valid driver's license may be required.

Qualifications

Individual Occupational Requirements There are no Individual Occupational Requirements for this series. GS-11: One year of specialized experience, equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service, obtained in either the private or public sector: Utilizing a web-based computer loan processing and/or loan closing system. Communicating orally and in writing ideas, data, and/or information to various levels of management (or audiences), fellow employees and/or customers. Closing and disbursing home (consumer or mortgage) and business (commercial) loans. Reviewing home and business loan documents for legal sufficiency and compliance with applicable regulations and guidelines. These qualifications must be clearly referenced in your resume. Applicant must have successfully completed a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have the first professional law degree (LLB or JD). Applicant must currently be a member in good standing of the bar of a state or territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 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 OPM's Qualifications web site: General Schedule Qualification Standards 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. Generally, time in non-pay status as a federal employee is not creditable towards the specialized experience requirement listed above. All qualification requirements must be met by 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) on 09/14/2026.

Education

APPLICANTS PLEASE NOTE: Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications (particularly positions with a positive education requirement.) Therefore, applicants must report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Verify School accreditation. All education claimed by applicants will be verified by the appointing agency accordingly. If you are selected for this position and qualified based on education (i.e. basic education requirement and/or substitution of education), you will be required to provide an OFFICIAL transcript prior to your first day on duty. *** If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. *** For further information, click on: Foreign Education.

How to apply

Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions will affect your rating. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience your rating may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your abilities. Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include the initial online assessment and submission of the required documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. The application process is as follows: 1. To begin the application process, click the Apply Online button. 2. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. 3. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. 4. After submitting an online application, you will be notified whether or not you are required to take additional online assessments through the USA Hire Competency Based Assessment system. This message will be delivered to you both on screen and via email notification. 5. If you are asked to take the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be presented with a unique URL to access the USA Hire system. Access to USA Hire is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Be sure to review all instructions prior to beginning your USA Hire Assessments. Click here for Computer System Requirements 6. Note, set aside at least 3 hours to take these assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue at a later time, you can re-use the URL sent to you via email and also found on the Additional Application Information page that can be located in the application record in your USAJOBS account. To update your application, including supporting documentation, at any time during the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account. There you will find a record of your application, the application status, and an option to Update Application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To verify the status of your application both during and after the announcement open period, log into your USAJOBS account at https://www.usajobs.gov/ All of your applications will appear on the Welcome page. The application record in your USAJOBS account provides an Additional Application Information page that provides information regarding the documentation you submitted and any correspondence we have sent related to this application. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/