San Diego (SD Cal) AUSA positions Forum

[newlawgrad]

Is it true that all new AUSAs are 2 year terms, with very little ability to stay longer? Also, are they only honors/right out of school/clerkship positions? Can't find historical openings or anything.

[Anonymous User]

Not that I've ever heard (and I know people who work there). That would be weird. There are USAOs where it's really common to work there for a stretch and then go somewhere else in government or back to private practice, but it's not a 2-years-and-done thing. Also, they're generally going to hire people with experience. Sometimes they hire through honors, but if it's not officially through honors, they're going to look for experience - probably also a clerkship, but hiring straight out of a clerkship is uncommon.

(They've had a few openings in the last year or so, but unfortunately I can't dig up any of them now, sorry.)

[hiima3L]

My friend interviewed with them and she never mentioned anything like that. You may have misheard what they generally do with new hires, which is staff you on routine, repetitive immigration cases for a couple of years before you have little, if any, opportunity to expand.

[Anonymous User]

I heard that they start you off with border crimes/immigration because those are relatively small and easy cases (and they have a lot of them). No idea about the 2-year thing, but most AUSA positions I've seen state that they expect at least a 3-year commitment. 2 seems sort of short, given how long the interview process takes to bring someone new aboard.

[Anonymous User]

I heard that they start you off with border crimes/immigration because those are relatively small and easy cases (and they have a lot of them). No idea about the 2-year thing, but most AUSA positions I've seen state that they expect at least a 3-year commitment. 2 seems sort of short, given how long the interview process takes to bring someone new aboard.

Not to be cranky, but I watch these job openings pretty regularly and I haven't seen any that state an expectation of a 3-year commitment.

[FascinatedWanderer]

SDNY and EDNY both require a 3 year commitment.

[Anonymous User]

I clerked in Sd cal. Like 90% of the usao's cases are border crimes. You might spend your first 6 months doing rote illegal reentries in the NDCA. In the SDCA, it seemed like most of their seasoned prosecutors still mainly worked on them. That's just the docket down there. Relatedly, there are pretty limited exit options out of the office. And San Diego is expensive. So be sure that doing illegal reentries for 110k or less for the next decade while paying all that back in rent is exactly what you want out of life.

[Anonymous User]

SDNY and EDNY both require a 3 year commitment.

Ah, that makes sense. I'm told they don't hire through USAjobs, which is where you usually see AUSA positions posted. I think SDNY and EDNY tend to do their own thing compared to most of the rest of the country.

[Anonymous User]

Also, wrt exit options - I think if you're not in SDNY/EDNY/NDCA/CDCA/maybe NDIL, exit options are largely what you make of them. A *lot* of USAO work is pretty routine criminal stuff, and a lot of offices don't get the kind of complex white-collar stuff that creates a pipeline to biglaw partnership. I know a ton of former AUSAs who are now private defense attorneys, or judges in the districts where they worked, or have gone somewhere else in main justice. I guess I bring this up because I think exit options from many offices are going to be more like San Diego than SDNY.

[Anonymous User]

This is probably a stupid question, but if the option was afforded, would the EDVA over the SDCA be a no brainer? I consider myself incredibly lucky as I have an offer with SDCA and interview with EDVA--do I see where the cards land with EDVA and take it if offered?

[Anonymous User]

This is probably a stupid question, but if the option was afforded, would the EDVA over the SDCA be a no brainer? I consider myself incredibly lucky as I have an offer with SDCA and interview with EDVA--do I see where the cards land with EDVA and take it if offered?

Was this SDCA offer from the latest application? I would definitely take my chance with EDVA. Unless you're from the CA area.

[TheProsecutor]

This is probably a stupid question, but if the option was afforded, would the EDVA over the SDCA be a no brainer? I consider myself incredibly lucky as I have an offer with SDCA and interview with EDVA--do I see where the cards land with EDVA and take it if offered?

Was this SDCA offer from the latest application? I would definitely take my chance with EDVA. Unless you're from the CA area.

Why?

[Anonymous User]

SDNY and EDNY both require a 3 year commitment.

Ah, that makes sense. I'm told they don't hire through USAjobs, which is where you usually see AUSA positions posted. I think SDNY and EDNY tend to do their own thing compared to most of the rest of the country.

The large, non-NY district where I work required a 3-year commitment. It wasn't stated on the vacancy announcement. Rather, the requirement was conveyed with the offer. This is not uncommon.

[andythefir]

This is probably a stupid question, but if the option was afforded, would the EDVA over the SDCA be a no brainer? I consider myself incredibly lucky as I have an offer with SDCA and interview with EDVA--do I see where the cards land with EDVA and take it if offered?

Was this SDCA offer from the latest application? I would definitely take my chance with EDVA. Unless you're from the CA area.

Why?

Because EDVA is considered one of the top offices in the whole country, whereas SDCA in 2018 will be waves of immigration cases.

[govlawyer123]

Exactly. And the EDVA is much more impactful when it comes to nat security and financial frauds, which are the areas I want to contribute to. SDCA obvi has a great quality of life (location) but very concerned it doesn’t quite have the prestige/exit opportunities that EDVA would. And to add more to the mix, got an interview offer with the EDNY.

And to answer the earlier question, the sdca offer came from September posting