Trial Attorney - Environmental Enforcement Section

  • Environmental Enforcement Sect
  • Denver, Colorado
  • Full Time
Trial Attorney - Environmental Enforcement Section

Department of Justice

Offices, Boards and Divisions

Environment and Nural Resources Division - Environmental Enforcement Section

Summary

The Environmental Enforcement Section is responsible for nionwide civil enforcement of federal environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Wer Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compension, and Liability Act (the Superfund law). Our torneys pursue enforcement actions th result in significant benefits for public health, from reducing air pollution to cleaning up contamined lands.

1 or more vacancies in the following locions: Washington, DC and Denver, CO

Learn more about this agency

Summary

The Environmental Enforcement Section is responsible for nionwide civil enforcement of federal environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Wer Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compension, and Liability Act (the Superfund law). Our torneys pursue enforcement actions th result in significant benefits for public health, from reducing air pollution to cleaning up contamined lands.

1 or more vacancies in the following locions: Washington, DC and Denver, CO

Learn more about this agency

Overview

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Accepting applicions

Posted today

Apply by 06/25/26

Due by 11:59 p.m. ET on June 25, 2026

Locion

Denver, CO

Washington, DC

No mching locions found.

Work site options

Telework eligible

YesIn accordance with Division and Department policies.

Remote job

No

Relocion expenses reimbursed

No

Salary

$99,800 - $197,200 per year

Pay scale & grade

GS 12 - 15

Learn more about pay scale and grade

Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.

Work schedule

Full-time

Travel Required

25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Appointment type

Permanent

Occupions and job series

0905 Attorney

Supervisory stus

No

Federal service type

This job is in the Excepted Service

Represented by a union

No

Drug test

Yes

Security clearance

Other

Position sensitivity and risk

High Risk (HR)

Jobs require a

background check and some require a

security clearance . The type depends on the job.

Background check type

Credentialing

Suitability/Fitness

Financial disclosure required

Yes

Some jobs require

financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.

Announcement number

ENRD-26-030-EXC

Control number

869710700

This job is open to

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The public

U.S. Citizens, Nionals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

Clarificion from the agency

U.S. citizens or nionals

Duties

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EES is responsible for nionwide civil enforcement of federal environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Wer Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compension, and Liability Act (the Superfund law). EES torneys pursue enforcement actions th result in significant benefits for public health, from reducing air pollution to cleaning up contamined lands.

The affirmive nure of EES cases requires torneys to advance cases through negotiions and all stages of federal court litigion, beginning with the internal deliberions of the government, especially with other federal agencies, and continuing through extensive discovery, including fact and expert depositions, and litigion to judgment. EES torneys frequently negotie settlements involving complex and technical injunctive relief and payment of civil penalties, while simultaneously preparing a case for trial. These responsibilities require outstanding communicion skills, both oral and written, and the ability to collabore with DOJ and agency colleagues to achieve the best outcome for the United Stes.

For more informion about the Environment and Nural Resources Division and the Environmental Enforcement Section, the Justice Department's web site :

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

You must be a U.S. citizen or nional.

You must complete a background investigion to include pre-employment drug testing.

Selective Service Registrion is required, as applicable.

You must maintain a bank account for direct deposit of salary.

J.D. degree required, must be an active member of the bar, any jurisdiction.

Financial Disclosure: If selected, you may be required to disclose financial informion in accordance with DOJ and Federal ethics guidelines.

Qualificions

Applicants must possess a J.D. Degree (or equivalent), be an active member in good standing of the bar (any U.S. jurisdiction), and be a U.S. citizen or nional. Applicants must have the years of post J.D. (or equivalent) legal experience for the specific grade level requirements listed below:

At least 1 year of post J.D. litigion and/or judicial experience to qualify for the GS-12 grade level.

At least 1.5 years of post J.D. litigion and/or judicial experience to qualify for the GS-13 grade level.

At least 2.5 years of post J.D. litigion and/or judicial experience to qualify for the GS-14 grade level.

At least 4 years of post J.D. litigion and/or judicial experience to qualify for the GS-15 grade level.

Applicants also must have strong, demonstred qualificions in the following areas: skill and experience working collaborively and productively with others; excellent written and oral communicion skills; the ability to analyze a variety of legal issues; initiive; professional judgment; organizional skills; and the ability to manage multiple demands simultaneously and to excel in a fast-paced environment.

Preferred Qualificions:

The Section will consider any of the following qualificions, which are desirable, but not required:

Federal or ste court litigion and trial experience, including experience with electronic discovery and document management;

Experience with multi-party negotiions and mediions;

Knowledge of the laws enforced by the Environmental Enforcement Section;

Experience supervising the work of, and deleging responsibility to, professional staff; and

Skill and experience working cooperively and productively with a range of people, including co-counsel and professional staff, the staff of other federal agencies, fact and expert witnesses, opposing counsel, and judicial officials.

While the following are also desirable, no candide excluded from considerion in the absence of these experiences: Judicial clerkships (especially in federal court), law review, moot court, and clinical experience.

Applicants should have a strong interest in federal litigion and/or trial work and a strong academic background. The ideal candides will have between two and seven years' post-JD experience (including judicial clerkships, if any) and able to demonstre an interest in public service.

Years of experience will determine the approprie salary level. The possible salary range is:

Washington DC:

GS-12 ($102,415 - $133,142)

GS-13 ($121,785 - $158,322)

GS-14 ($143,913 - $187,093)

GS-15 ($169,279 - $197,200)

Denver, CO:

GS-12 ($99,800 - $129,742)

GS-13 ($118,675 - $154,280)

GS-14 ($140,239 - $182,316)

GS-15 ($164,956 -$197,200)

YOUR RESUME MUST provide specific details as to how your experience meets the specialized experience as described in the vacancy announcement if you are using experience to meet all or part of the qualificion requirements. Please ensure th your resume includes the month and year th you began and ended each position held or th position will not be credited toward meeting the experience requirement. Part-time employment prored in crediting experience. Failure to provide details will result in an ineligible ring.

Only experience and educion obtained by the closing de of this announcement

Educion

All academic degrees and coursework must be completed a college or university th has obtained accredition or pre-accredition stus from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Educion. For a list of schools th meet this criteria, see www.ed.gov .

Educion completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the above educion requirements if you can show th the foreign educion is comparable to th received in an accredited educional institution in the United Stes. It is your responsibility to timely provide such evidence by submitting proof of creditability of educion as evalued by a credentialing agency with your applicion merials. More informion may be found .

All documention must be in English or include an English translion. .

Additional informion

Veterans Preference : If you are entitled to or claim veteran preference (VP), you should indice the type of veteran preference (5 or 10 points) you are claiming on your resume. In order to determine your eligibility, you can find additional informion : . To verify your veteran preference entitlement, submit a copy of the Member Copy 4 of your DD-214 th shows your military service was performed under honorable conditions.

Suitability and Citizenship : It is the policy of the Department to achieve a drug-free workplace and persons selected for employment required to pass a drug test which screens for illegal drug use prior to final appointment. Employment is also contingent upon the completion and sisfactory adjudicion of a background investigion. Only U.S. citizens are eligible for employment with the Executive Office for Immigrion Review and the United Stes Attorneys' Offices. Unless otherwise indiced in a particular job advertisement, non-U.S. Citizens may apply for employment with other organizions, but should be advised th appointments of non-U.S. Citizens are extremely rare; such appointments would be possible only if necessary to accomplish the Department's mission and would be subject to strict security requirements. Applicants who hold dual citizenship in the U.S. and another country considered on a case-by-case basis.

EEO Stement/Policy: The United Stes government does not discrimine in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, nional origin, political affiliion, sexual oriention, marital stus, disability, genetic informion, age, membership in an employee organizion, retaliion, parental stus, military service or other non-merit factor. More informion can be found here: .

DOJ Reasonable Accommodion Policy: Federal agencies must provide reasonable accommodion to applicants with disabilities where approprie. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodion for any part of the applicion and hiring process should contact the hiring agency directly. Determinions on requests for reasonable accommodion made on a case-by-case basis. The DOJ Reasonable Accommodion policy can be found here:

Selective Service: If you were born male, on or after December 31, 1959, you must certify th you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. Additional informion is found : www.sss.gov .

Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs: Unless otherwise required by law , the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits employees of the U.S. Department of Justice or a federal contractor acting on its behalf from inquiring about an applicant's criminal history record, either in writing or orally, before th individual receives a conditional offer of employment. Applicants who believe they have been subjected to a violion of the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, may submit a written complaint within 30 days of the de of the alleged non-compliance directly to the hiring office using the contact informion listed in the announcement.

Please Note : Additional candides may be selected if more positions become available in the Division within 90 days after HR office issues the certifice of eligibles.

Expand Hide additional informion

Candides should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passione about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United Stes Constitution.

Benefits

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits th are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new window Learn more about federal benefits .

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more informion on the specific benefits offered.

How you evalued

You evalued for this job based on how well you meet the qualificions above.

Veterans : There is no formal ring system for applying veteran preference to torney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of Justice considers veteran preference eligibility as a positive factor in torney hiring. Applicants eligible for veteran preference must include th informion in their resume and tach supporting documention (e.g., the DD 214, Certifice of Release or Discharge from Active Duty and other supporting documention) to their submissions.

Although the "point" system is not used, per se, applicants eligible to claim 10-point preference must submit Standard Form (SF) 15, Applicion for 10-Point Veteran Preference, and submit the supporting documention required for the specific type of preference claimed ( the OPM website, www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/SF15.pdf for a copy of SF 15, which lists the types of 10-point preferences and the required supporting document(s). Applicants should note th SF 15 requires supporting documention associed with service-connected disabilities or receipt of nonservice-connected disability pensions to be ded 1991 or ler except in the case of service members submitting official stements or retirement orders from a branch of the Armed Forces showing th his or her retirement was due to a permanent service-connected disability or th he/she was transferred to the permanent disability retired list (the stement or retirement orders must indice th the disability is 10% or more).

Benefits

Help

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits th are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new window Learn more about federal benefits .

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more informion on the specific benefits offered.

Required documents

Required Documents

Help

To apply for this position, you must submit a complete Applicion Package which includes the following:

Resume (not to exceed two pages) demonstring relevant experience and month/year the experience was obtained

Cover letter with brief stement of interest

Writing sample

Copy of J.D. degree transcripts

DD 214 Certifice of Release or Discharge from Active Duty and other supporting documention, if applicable

Your resume MUST include full employment informion such as periods of employment with month/year started and ended, title of position(s), part time hours worked, and description of duties. If you have Federal employment, you must include the grade of the position(s) .

If you are relying on your educion to meet qualificion requirements:

Educion must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Educion in order for it to be credited towards qualificions. Therefore, provide only the tendance and/or degrees from

schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Educion .

Failure to provide all of the required informion as sted in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible ring or may affect the overall ring.

How to Apply

Help

You must apply online through USAJOBS. Click on the APPLY Online button. Follow the prompts to answer a few questions and submit all required documents by 11:59 PM (EST) on the closing de to receive considerion.

Applicants must submit a current resume, cover letter with brief stement of interest, writing sample, law school transcript, and DD-214 (if applicable).

To verify the stus of your applicion, log into your USAJOBS account ( ), all of your applicions will appear on the Welcome screen. The Applicion Stus will appear along with the de your applicion was last upded. For informion on wh each Applicion Stus means, :

Internet Sites : For more informion about the Environment and Nural Resources Division, the web site : .

This and selected other legal position announcements can be found on the Internet :

Agency contact informion

Carmen Browne

Phone

...

...

Address

Environmental Enforcement Sect

150 M Street NE

Washington, DC 20002

US

Next steps

Once your complete applicion is received, we will conduct an evaluion of your qualificions. The most highly qualified candides referred to the hiring manager for further considerion and possible interview. We expect to make a selection within 80 days of the closing de of this announcement. You notified of the outcome.

Fair and transparent

The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.

Criminal history inquiries

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy

Financial suitability

New employee probionary period

Privacy Act

Reasonable accommodion policy

Selective Service

Signure and false stements

Social security number request

Required Documents

Help

To apply for this position, you must submit a complete Applicion Package which includes the following:

Resume (not to exceed two pages) demonstring relevant experience and month/year the experience was obtained

Cover letter with brief stement of interest

Writing sample

Copy of J.D. degree transcripts

DD 214 Certifice of Release or Discharge from Active Duty and other supporting documention, if applicable

Your resume MUST include full employment informion such as periods of employment with month/year started and ended, title of position(s), part time hours worked, and description of duties. If you have Federal employment, you must include the grade of the position(s) .

If you are relying on your educion to meet qualificion requirements:

Educion must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Educion in order for it to be credited towards qualificions. Therefore, provide only the tendance and/or degrees from

schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Educion .

Failure to provide all of the required informion as sted in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible ring or may affect the overall ring.

How to Apply

Help

You must apply online through USAJOBS. Click on the APPLY Online button. Follow the prompts to answer a few questions and submit all required documents by 11:59 PM (EST) on the closing de to receive considerion.

Applicants must submit a current resume, cover letter with brief stement of interest, writing sample, law school transcript, and DD-214 (if applicable).

To verify the stus of your applicion, log into your USAJOBS account ( ), all of your applicions will appear on the Welcome screen. The Applicion Stus will appear along with the de your applicion was last upded. For informion on wh each Applicion Stus means, :

Internet Sites : For more informion about the Environment and Nural Resources Division, the web site : .

This and selected other legal position announcements can be found on the Internet :

Expand Hide how to apply

Agency contact informion

Carmen Browne

Phone

...

...

Address

Environmental Enforcement Sect

150 M Street NE

Washington, DC 20002

US

Next steps

Once your complete applicion is received, we will conduct an evaluion of your qualificions. The most highly qualified candides referred to the hiring manager for further considerion and possible interview. We expect to make a selection within 80 days of the closing de of this announcement. You notified of the outcome.

Expand Hide next steps

Fair and transparent

The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.

Criminal history inquiries

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy

Financial suitability

New employee probionary period

Privacy Act

Reasonable accommodion policy

Selective Service

Signure and false stements

Social security number request

Overview Help Accepting applicions Posted today Apply by 06/25/26 Due by 11:59 p.m. ET on June 25, 2026 Locion Denver, CO Washington, DC No mching locions found. Work site options Telework eligible YesIn accordance with Division and Department policies. Remote job No Relocion expenses reimbursed No Salary $99,800 - $197,200 per year Pay scale & grade GS 12 - 15 Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job. Work schedule Full-time Travel Required 25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position. Appointment type Permanent Occupions and job series Supervisory stus No Federal service type This job is in the Excepted Service Represented by a union No Drug test Yes Security clearance Other Position sensitivity and risk Jobs require a and some require a . The type depends on the job. Background check type Financial disclosure required Yes Some jobs require to identify conflicts of interests. Announcement number ENRD-26-030-EXC Control number 869710700
Job ID: 522747033
Originally Posted on: 5/28/2026

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