Attorney-Advisor

Attorney-Advisor

Department: Legislative Branch

Location(s): Washington, District of Columbia

Salary Range: $121785 - $187093 Per Year

Job Summary: This position is located in the Office of the Copyright Royalty Judges, Office of the Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office. Finalists for these positions may be required to submit a writing sample and/or participate in a presentation exercise.

Major Duties:

• The Copyright Royalty and Distribution Act of 2004 revised Section 801 of Title 17 of the United States Code and created a new program, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), to determine and adjust royalty rates and terms for the various compulsory license provisions of the Copyright Act, to determine the distribution of royalties deposited with the Copyright Office under these licenses, and to make determinations regarding the status of a digital audio recording device or a digital audio interface device under the provisions of Section 1010 of the Copyright Act. The Music Modernization Act of 2018 Revised Section 801 to require the CRB to also determine the administrative assessment to be paid by digital music providers. The CRB is comprised of three Copyright Royalty Judges. The position, Attorney-Advisor, reporting to the Supervisory Attorney Advisor provides legal advice and counsel on matters related to the establishment of copyright royalty rates, distribution of royalty fees, assessment of digital audio recording technology and media, the administrative assessment paid by digital music providers, and the implementation of the Judges' procedures. While performing daily activities, the incumbent is also responsible for ensuring proper handling and security of Library and Copyright Royalty Board materials. Prepares and presents written and oral information and balanced analyses of complex copyright and intellectual property questions to the Judges or other staff on matters relating to statutory licenses. Independently provides advice on areas of law in which the research direction is not clear-cut, or the legal issues require the advice and guidance of experts. Provides legal opinions involving all aspects of compulsory license provisions, related statutory obligations, and topics involving difficult and complex legal principles and issues that are not clearly established or are new or novel. Provides authoritative technical advice and guidance to other attorneys, agency personnel, personnel at other agencies or private organizations and members of the public on various areas of law involving unusual conditions, problems, or questions. When applicable, recommends appropriate actions. Prepares and delivers presentations at programs or meetings employing the incumbent's broad knowledge of legal issues and current copyright and intellectual property concerns related to the compulsory and statutory licenses. Provides legal counsel on difficult topics to the Supervisory Attorney Advisor, Chief Copyright Royalty Judge, as well as the other Copyright Royalty Judges. Provides advice on problems of law affecting a significant segment of public interest, but do not always have clearly applicable legal precedents due to the newness of the program, the novelty of the issue, or specifics of hearing decisions. Performs probing and innovative legal research to prepare in-depth analyses, arguments, briefs, and analytical documents on various complex and specialized fields of copyright and intellectual property law in the area of statutory licenses, justifying recommendations or conclusions for the most complex, difficult cases. Prepares memoranda or reports outlining the facts and legal issues, explaining the application of legal principles and precedents, and justifying recommendations or conclusions. Reviews complex legal and administrative matters such as proposed administrative policies, procedures and regulations, and evaluates their legality and effect on the program. Analyzes the factual and legal issues presented to determine whether further information is needed, and if so, how best to obtain that information. Serves as an agency expert in providing legal opinions and final advisory statements regarding extremely complicated questions related to the program. Recommends policies and develops procedures and regulations implementing new or amended legislation for the agency. Ensures the policies, procedures, and regulations are consistent with the intent of the law and are administratively sound, efficient, and economical in operation. Prepares new procedures and guides for interpretation resulting from changes in statutory law, national policy, and new court decisions. The finished products are in final form and require little, if any, supervisory review. As directed, may serve as a resource to attorneys at the Department of Justice on appeals of decisions rendered by the Judges. Performs various other duties as assigned. The position description numbers for this position are 312635 and 312636. The salary range indicated reflects the locality pay adjustments for the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan area. The incumbent of this position will work a flexitime work schedule. This is a non-supervisory, bargaining unit position. Relocation expenses will not be authorized for the person(s) selected under this vacancy announcement.

Qualifications: Applicants must have had progressively responsible experience and training sufficient in scope and quality to furnish them with an acceptable level of the following knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of the position without more than normal supervision. Ability to draft legal reports, memoranda and documents demonstrating and communicating a knowledge of copyright law, administrative law, or other similarly complex areas of law. ** Ability to conduct legal research on complex legal or policy matters. ** Ability to organize and manage complex litigation documents. ** Ability to provide advice and guidance. Ability to Work Collaboratively with Others. Ability to exercise judgment and discretion. Ability to communicate effectively other than in writing.

How to Apply: Please carefully follow all instructions under the How to Apply tab to ensure you are considered for the position. Please note, there is no page restriction to your resume, and you are allowed to upload a resume longer than two pages in the resume section within the application process. When the application system prompts, please proceed to the agency site to complete your application. You are required to apply online for this announcement. We are unable to accept mailed or emailed documents. You must complete the entire application process, including submission of all documents BEFORE this announcement closes. To do so, complete the following steps. Step 1: If you do not already have one, create a resume and upload it to your profile in the "Resume" section. Although you must enter your Social Security Number for USAJOBS, this information will not be provided to the Library of Congress. Step 2: Review the Job Announcement. We recommend you go to the end of the Qualification and Evaluation section of the job announcement to preview the online questions that you will answer in Step 4. You may wish to customize your resume to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions. Step 3: Click on the "APPLY ONLINE" button to the right of this announcement. Follow USAJOBS' instructions to access your account. You will be redirected to the Hiring Management website to complete the application process. If this is your first time in Hiring Management, you will be asked to answer questions related to your eligibility for Federal employment. You will be able to update this information and save it to our account for future announcements. Step 4: Once you have completed the eligibility questions, you will be taken directly to the vacancy application questions. Answer all questions honestly and thoroughly. Step 5: Hiring Management offers one option that will electronically attach your documentation to your online application once you finish answering the questions in the job announcement. You may electronically upload a document directly from your computer to your application. Be certain to review your complete application for confirmation of the document uploaded and click on "Finished" to be returned to USAJOBS. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have multiple documents of the same kind, e.g. 2 undergraduate transcripts from different schools or 2 SF-50s, etc., be sure that they are all in the same file on your computer. If you try uploading them individually, only the last one sent will be visible in our system. If you have any questions about this information, please contact the person on this announcement BEFORE the closing date. Step 6: Click on "Finish" after you have completed your application. Once you have submitted your application, you can check your status online through your Hiring Management or MY USAJOBS account. Your complete online application and any required supplemental documentation (e.g., SF-50, etc.) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the closing date of the announcement. It is your responsibility to ensure that all documents are received on time and that the materials are readable. Failure to do so will result in your application being excluded from consideration for this announcement. If you are experiencing any technical difficulty with the online process, you MUST CONTACT THE POINT OF CONTACT FOR THIS ANNOUNCEMENT BEFORE THE CLOSING DATE. For all technical issues please contact jobhelp@loc.gov , no later than 4:00pm EST of the Closing Date. REQUESTS FOR EXTENSIONS WILL NOT BE GRANTED.

Application Deadline: 2026-05-26