Attorney-Advisor Equals Document Reviewer?

[Anonymous]

I saw this comment in another thread:

"You all enjoy your GS 14 FOIA and doc review "attorney advisor" jobs"

Do you consider the attorney-advisor job to be a glorified document review project that never ends?

[Anonymous]

Some are, not all. You have to read between the lines of the announcement and/or ask smart questions during the interview and collect info through your network.

Some Attorney-Advisor roles at my agency are substantive, some are just contract diligence. You can’t tell from title alone.

[Anonymous]

To be honest, I think most, if not all, attorney jobs are document review jobs as they involve reviewing documents, whether it be evidence files, opposing briefs, contracts, etc.

[Anonymous]

Every attorney in my agency is called an attorney advisor, regardless of specialty or supervisory status. I'm in regulatory law and have never done FOIA or any kind of document review.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every attorney in my agency is called an attorney advisor, regardless of specialty or supervisory status. I'm in regulatory law and have never done FOIA or any kind of document review.

+1. I do policy work for a financial regulatory agency but I'm designated as an attorney-advisor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every attorney in my agency is called an attorney advisor, regardless of specialty or supervisory status. I'm in regulatory law and have never done FOIA or any kind of document review.

+1. I do policy work for a financial regulatory agency but I'm designated as an attorney-advisor.

+1 most attorney jobs at agencies (outside DOJ / litigators) are called attorney advisors. I also do policy work for a regulatory agency (EPA, DOI, DHS, etc)

[Anonymous]

My agency's attorney advisors do document review for major litigation and also do document review for the DOJ when supporting their litigation in our subject area. I wouldn't say all attorney advisors do doc review but it's not exactly in the job description so you will never know until you get the job. I have actually seen quite a few GS 14 FOIA jobs which, in my opinion, are worse than doc review. At least in my agency, FOIA requests are coming in daily while the staffing levels are not adequate to meet the deadlines on any request. I think most attorney advisor jobs are actually interesting with a good work life balance but you somehow need to find out what your job entails before entering on duty. Maybe avoid agencies that deal heavily with litigation or are politically controversial enough to get daily FOIA requests?

[Anonymous]

I don't even know what FOIA is. I also didn't know attorney advisors did document review. I'm an attorney advisor, and the work I do is important to many individuals. I thought the person was dissing attorney advisors by likening their workload to document review.

[Anonymous]

"Attorney Advisor" is also how they list every attorney job at my agency. We don't do doc review.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To be honest, I think most, if not all, attorney jobs are document review jobs as they involve reviewing documents, whether it be evidence files, opposing briefs, contracts, etc.

In my experience "doc review" has a specific connotation, though. It's usually referring when people go through piles and piles of documents looking for specific instances or data. It's usually bconsidered grunt work. In general when someone is talking about doc review they don't mean reviewing contracts or briefs.

[Anonymous]

It basically means it’s a non-litigation attorney role but the actual tasks can vary greatly depending on agency, department, and exact job function.

[Anonymous]

A paralegal or even a good admin could have done my attorney advisor job. That being said, there was very little work and zero stress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A paralegal or even a good admin could have done my attorney advisor job. That being said, there was very little work and zero stress.

and what job is that ?

[Anonymous]

I am an attorney advisor who conducts investigations. I certainly review documents related to my investigations, but I wouldn't consider my job doc review.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't even know what FOIA is. I also didn't know attorney advisors did document review. I'm an attorney advisor, and the work I do is important to many individuals. I thought the person was dissing attorney advisors by likening their workload to document review.

FOIA = Freedom of Information Act