The Honors Program in the Office of the Solicitor (SOL) at the U.S. Department of Labor provides challenging professional opportunities for outstanding law school graduates. Honors Program attorneys work with the ten divisions of the Solicitor’s Office, gaining exposure to a broad range of substantive legal work in one of the government’s preeminent legal offices. Upon completion of the two-year program, Honors Program attorneys continue their careers in public service in one of the Solicitor’s national or regional offices.
The Honors Program gives attorneys a unique 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 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.
The Department currently plans to hire up to ten attorneys to begin the Honors Program in the Fall of 2013. The program is recruiting attorneys to work in the SOL National Office and SOL Regional Offices.
Applicants must graduate from law school in Spring/Summer 2013 or be finishing a judicial clerkship in time to start the Honors Program in September 2013. Selection is highly competitive, and candidates will be considered based on academic achievement, writing skills, law review and/or moot court experience, clinic or extracurricular activities, as well as demonstrated interest in government service or public interest law.
The Department of Labor’s mission is to promote the welfare of wage earners, job seekers, and retirees, to improve working conditions, to advance opportunities for profitable employment, and to ensure work-related benefits and rights. Honors attorneys play a crucial role in enabling the Department to carry out its mission. Like the Department, the Honors Program is more effective when its workforce includes highly qualified individuals whose backgrounds reflect our nation’s richly diverse workforce.
The Honors Program endeavors to recruit, hire, promote, and retain a diverse class of Honors attorneys each year. The Honors Program defines diversity as the unique perspectives candidates bring to the program, including, but not limited to, national origin, language, race, color, ethnicity, disability, gender and gender identity, age, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, veteran status, family structure, geographical background, education, and professional experience.
To apply, please submit the following:
- cover letter describing the applicant’s interest in the Honors Program as well as any personal or professional experience the applicant wishes the Hiring Committee to consider;
- resume;
- writing sample; and
- official or unofficial law school transcript.
The program will begin accepting applications on July 1, 2012. Applications must be received by October 12, 2012.
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
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.
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