Land Law Examiner (Lands & Realty)
What you'd do
You will serve as a Land Law Examiner (Lands & Realty) with Bureau of Land Management . You will provide land law examining and adjudication for a wide variety of difficult local lands and realty cases involving major interests and relatively high property or economic values. There is one position each in Falls Church, VA and Boise ID. Please note that the position in Boise, ID has the full performance level of the GS-09 NOT the GS-11.
Major duties
Some of the major duties you will perform at the Falls Church, VA location include but are not limited to the following: Collects data on a variety of assigned cases related to lands, oil and gas, mining or minerals cases. Prepares routine correspondence, including decisions, to process cases. Adjudicate routine lands, mining, or mineral leasing applications filed which have more complex statutory and regulatory provisions, require development and review of a considerable amount of data and involve controversial factual situations. Determines the accuracy and proper execution of applications or claims Independently gather and research information and date necessary to complete and adjudicate a legal document Utilizes data, systems and applications to collect, enter, manipulate, update and maintain data according to program standards Some of the major duties you will perform at the Boise, ID location include but are not limited to the following: Review and adjudicate IPC rights-of-way and related land use actions: Process straight forward renewals, amendments, and operation & maintenance (O&M) requests associated with IPC's extensive rights-of-way system, ensuring timely and consistent application of Master Agreement procedures. Conduct land status, title, and record examinations: Evaluate Master Title Plats, encumbrances, historical case files, and cadastral information to determine land availability and inform defensible decisions. Work with Cadastral and Records to update Master Title Plats accordingly Prepare legally sufficient decisions and case documents: Develop complete adjudication records, including draft decisions, approvals, correspondence, and supporting file documentation in accordance with statewide Lands & Realty standards. Coordinate with IPC representatives and BLM Field Offices: Participate in IPC/BLM Master Agreement coordination meetings, clarify project needs, validate routine O&M determinations, and ensure consistent communication across jurisdictions. Implement Master Agreement billing and workload procedures: Apply cost-recovery requirements, maintain reimbursable project tracking, and support statewide prioritization of realty workload to ensure alignment with established MA processes. Assist with monitoring and tracking project logs and budget related reports for the MA. All Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.
What you need to qualify
All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 08/11/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F. For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, your resume must state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience. To qualify for this position at the GS-07 grade level: Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: Familiarity with the adjudication of title of lands; Working with digital records systems including searching data, data collection and automation; Knowledge and understanding of recognized reference standards public lands records and legal requirements and recognizing regulatory accrediting agency requirements to perform records analysis and evaluate the adequacy of a public lands records program. Working with office automation equipment such as scanners. You must include hours per week worked. -OR- Education: Successful completion of at least one full year of graduate level education. This includes or supplemented by 12 semester hours of course work related to the administration of land laws. Examples: include course work in land surveying, cartography, land use law, real estate law, land appraising, land use planning, water rights, mining laws, or legal instrument review and interpretation. You must include transcripts. -OR- Combination of education and experience as listed above. You must include hours per week and transcripts. -OR- Superior Academic Achievement (SAA): Successfully completed a bachelor's degree with 12 semester hours of course work related to the administration of land laws; examples include course work in land surveying, cartography, land use law, real estate law, land appraising, land use planning, water rights, mining laws, or legal instrument review and interpretation AND meet one of the following: (1) Class Standing: rank in the upper 3rd of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, based on the completed courses; OR (2) Grad-Point Average (GPA): earn a GPA of (a) 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) based on 4 years of education, or based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum -or- (b) 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field, or the required courses completed during the final two years. Note: GPA will be rounded to the one decimal place, for example, 2.95 = 3.0, 2.94 = 2.9; OR (3) Membership in a National Scholastic Honor Society. To qualify for this position at the GS-09 grade level: Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: Experience with the adjudication of lands-title cases; History of working with manual and digital records systems to perform research of title history and maintaining lands case files; Experience using knowledge and understanding of recognized reference standards for public lands records and legal requirements and recognizing regulatory accrediting agency requirements to perform records analysis and evaluate the adequacy of a public lands records program. -OR- Education: Successful completion of at least a Master's or equivalent graduate degree or two full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D in a field of study such as land surveying, cartography, land use law, real estate law, land appraising, land use planning, water rights, mining laws, or legal instrument review and interpretation. You must include transcripts. -OR- Combination of education and experience as listed above. You must include hours per week and transcripts. To qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level: Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: Experience with the adjudication of complex lands-title cases; Experience working with manual and digital records systems to perform research of title history; Generate new and maintain existing lands case files; Experience using knowledge and understanding of recognized reference standards for public lands records and legal requirements and recognizing regulatory accrediting agency requirements to perform records analysis and evaluate the adequacy of a public lands records program. -OR- Education: Successful completion of at least a PH.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or three full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., in a field of study such as land surveying, cartography, land use law, real estate law, land appraising, land use planning, water rights, mining laws, or legal instrument review and interpretation. You must include transcripts. -OR- Combination of education and experience as listed above. You must include hours per week and transcripts. Volunteer Experience: 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.
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