Calling all DPW, Paul Weiss, and Debevoise lit associates... Forum

[Anonymous User]

...who are looking into or otherwise familiar with the biglaw -> AUSA route. These appear to be the biggest NYC biglaw feeders to the USAO, so I've got questions for you.

(1) How common is it for associates in your position to target AUSA as an exit option? How much jockeying is there within your office to work with big-name former government partners?
(2) What separates those who snag AUSA from those who don't?
(3) Given that USAOs want trial experience, how do people overcome the fact that as WC/lit associates, most of what you do early on is doc review? For those who snag AUSA, how many years do they typically work at your firm?
(4) How common is it for associates in your position to target non-SDNY/EDNY districts? Are they typically more successful than those who target SDNY/EDNY?
(5) What makes your firms successful at feeding USAOs — name recognition, work type, former AUSA partners who make calls, or all/some combination of the above?

Thanks!

[swampman]

Bumping, also very interested in this

[Anonymous User]

I litigate at one of these places.

1. Targeting AUSA is probably fairly common although associates don't really openly discuss their exit strategy all that often so it's a little hard to say. I don't see much explicit "jockeying" to work with former AUSA/DOJ/etc. partners but I do see people making an effort to get staffed on investigations (which are often with those partners). When someone says they prefer doing investigations to civil lit I usually take that as a sign that they are an AUSA gunner.
2. Working really hard, sticking it out until 4-5th year, and SDNY/EDNY/Court of Appeals clerkships, good working relationship with connected partners.
3. Trial work is probably highly beneficial but SDNY in particular hires a lot of prestigious big law associates with zero substantive trial experience. I'm sure you would need to do more than just doc review but you probably will at any of these places. People leave for US Attorney's offices as 4th or 5th year associates, usually with 1-2 of those years being clerkships (so like 2-3 years at the firm).
4. The pipeline you've described for these firms is, based on my impression, focused mainly on SDNY/EDNY. I'm honestly not sure whether it's easier to get an AUSA position in another ("less competitive") office. First, it's a more limited sample size and second, it depends a lot on the individual circumstances of the person (e.g., someone might decide to move to another city for personal reasons and got an AUSA position there because it's a good job and she had connections to that city, not necessarily because her goal was AUSA). Other districts might also care more about substantive trial and criminal work (and less about prestige) and do more of their hiring from experienced state prosecutors but that's just a guess.
5. Some combination of the things you've identified: ties between these firms and SDNY/EDNY offices (former AUSA partners and former associates now at AUSA offices), reputation in NYC, and well-known and active "white collar" practices (which is related to the presence of former AUSA or DOJ partners).

[Anonymous User]

OP here. ^ Thanks for that, that was excellent. Got one more for ya: say my plan is to clerk two years, spend two years at one of the above firms, then go USAO. What if during those two years at the firm, I did nothing but white-collar investigations, and got very little civil lit experience? I would think, coming from the perspective of a USAO recruiter, that poses problems because the applicant would not even so much as know how to take a deposition, or write a motion, etc.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. ^ Thanks for that, that was excellent. Got one more for ya: say my plan is to clerk two years, spend two years at one of the above firms, then go USAO. What if during those two years at the firm, I did nothing but white-collar investigations, and got very little civil lit experience? I would think, coming from the perspective of a USAO recruiter, that poses problems because the applicant would not even so much as know how to take a deposition, or write a motion, etc.

Depends what they USAO is hiring for. If they're hiring for a criminal AUSA, civil lit experience isn't that relevant. (You do either criminal or civil at a USAO, not both - at least, in the offices I'm familiar with.) Obviously crim involves motions (and sometimes depositions), but it's still a fairly different beast.