SOL Honors Program
Honors Program
Office of the Solicitor
U.S. Department of Labor
The Honors Program in the Office of the Solicitor is designed for attorneys with exemplary records who are completing law school or judicial clerkships and are interested in a public service career handling a broad range of labor and employment matters in one of the preeminent legal offices in government.
The Office of the Solicitor (SOL) is the legal department of the U.S. Department of Labor. The approximately 500 attorneys in SOL enforce and interpret occupational and mine safety and health laws, civil rights laws, pension and health benefit laws, minimum wage and overtime requirements, and whistleblower protections. SOL also provides legal services to programs that pay Federal benefits to the victims of occupational diseases and accidents, provide grants in support of employment and training programs, and administer unemployment benefits. In all, SOL is responsible for the legal work under more than 180 labor and employment laws. About half of the SOL attorneys are in the National Office in Washington, D.C. and the rest work in one of the 14 regional and branch offices across the country. Those offices are located in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Cleveland, Denver, Nashville, Los Angeles and Arlington, Virginia.
SOL has more independent litigating authority than virtually any other cabinet department outside the Justice Department. Every day, SOL attorneys represent the Secretary of Labor in proceedings before federal district courts, federal courts of appeals, and administrative law judges. SOL attorneys also play a leading role in important and high-profile federal rulemakings.
The Department currently plans to recruit up to ten attorneys to begin the Honors Program in the Fall of 2012. The Program will be recruiting attorneys to work in the SOL National Office and several SOL Regional Offices.
Attorneys in the Honors Program who are located in the National Office will spend their first two years in SOL handling a broad variety of assignments from all divisions in the National Office. An Honors Program attorney might work on a major rulemaking under the Workforce Investment Act or H-2A temporary agricultural employment program, draft and argue an appellate brief addressing the applicability of minimum wage and overtime laws, or review investigative files to determine the appropriateness of an enforcement action under the Occupational Safety and Health Act or a variety of other statutes. Honors Program attorneys may also receive assignments from SOL's Regional Offices, which typically involve trial work, including discovery practice, brief writing, and oral argument. After the first nine months in the program, Honors Program attorneys begin a series of 90-day detail assignments to various SOL divisions in the National Office. National Office Honors Program attorneys may also volunteer to work on a detail assignment in a Regional Office.
After two years, National Office Honors Program attorneys will be permanently placed in a specific office in SOL. All efforts will be made to accommodate attorneys' preferences, consistent with the needs of the office. This placement may be in either a National Office division or a Regional Office.
SOL also hires Honors Program attorneys into SOL's Regional Offices. The focus of the regional Honors Program is developing an attorney's skills as a trial litigator under all the statutes commonly enforced by the Department of Labor. Receiving guidance from experienced courtroom lawyers, an Honors Program attorney will typically carry a varied caseload from beginning to end: analyzing an investigative file, filing a complaint, engaging in negotiations and discovery, preparing briefs and arguing motions, and if a case does not settle, bringing it to trial.
Honors Program attorneys located in Regional Offices also will receive select assignments from the National Office divisions to complement their trial work or to expose them to practice areas usually handled by the National Office. Funding permitting, these attorneys will travel to the National Office in Washington, D.C. to participate with their National Office colleagues in training and networking opportunities. Regional Office Honors Program attorneys may also volunteer to work on a detail assignment in the National Office.
The Honors Program gives attorneys an unprecedented opportunity to help interpret and enforce a broad range of labor and employment laws while working in one of the largest legal offices in the Federal government. Honors Program attorneys will gain a broad knowledge of labor and employment matters that would be difficult to obtain in years of private practice, and will share the honor and privilege of representing the United States Government and engaging in public service. We invite you to apply.
HOW TO APPLY:
We are particularly interested in applicants with a solid academic record, strong writing and oral skills, and a demonstrated commitment to public service. SOL is committed to diversity, and we encourage all qualified individuals to apply. To apply, please submit a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and law school transcript. The program will begin accepting applications on July 1, 2011. Applications must be received by October 21, 2011.
Veterans' Preference Eligibility and Attorney Hiring: Attorney appointments within SOL's Honors Program are positions in the excepted service, not the competitive civil service, and there is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to appointments in the excepted service. SOL nonetheless considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. If you have veterans' preference eligibility, please note that information in your cover letter or resume, and include documentation of that eligibility with your submission (e.g., ICTAP/CTAP eligibility letter, DD-214, DD-215 Forms, or discharge orders).
Please mail, e-mail, or fax the required materials to:
Director, The Honors Attorney Program
U.S. Department of Labor
Office of the Solicitor, Room N-2700
200 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20210
Fax: (202) 693-5774
E-mail: SOLHonorsProgramApplications@dol.gov
