Was wondering about my ausa chances in one specific fairly competitive large district...think the type of district where many of the ausas jump back and forth to biglaw with some frequency. Due to family issues, I am not geographically flexible.
Very strong t30 with great regional rep in target district
1-2 years vault50 litigation associate at smaller office of large firm working partially under a former ausa partner in target district
3 years ada in target district
1 year fedclerk in target district.
My next question is whether people think it would increase my chances any to try to lateral to a v10, or whether v50 effectively checks the “biglaw” box.
Thanks!
Ausa chance me Forum
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Anonymous User
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Re: Ausa chance me
The district you're talking about may be different, I don't know, but I've never heard an AUSA utter the words "V-anything" and I really cannot imagine that the vault ranking makes even one iota of difference, compared to the experience you get, how you can sell it in an interview, and your connections.
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Anonymous User
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Re: Ausa chance me
OP here. I appreciate the advice. So in other words, assuming experience is good at say a firm like DLA Piper, there’s no reason to switch from that to say a Quinn if ausa is goal?Anonymous User wrote:The district you're talking about may be different, I don't know, but I've never heard an AUSA utter the words "V-anything" and I really cannot imagine that the vault ranking makes even one iota of difference, compared to the experience you get, how you can sell it in an interview, and your connections.
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Anonymous User
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Re: Ausa chance me
I would look at your target district and see which firms are “feeder” firms. Some districts, like SDNY have a lot of AUSAs from certain firms (think Paul Weiss and debevoise). That might help give you an idea.Anonymous User wrote:OP here. I appreciate the advice. So in other words, assuming experience is good at say a firm like DLA Piper, there’s no reason to switch from that to say a Quinn if ausa is goal?Anonymous User wrote:The district you're talking about may be different, I don't know, but I've never heard an AUSA utter the words "V-anything" and I really cannot imagine that the vault ranking makes even one iota of difference, compared to the experience you get, how you can sell it in an interview, and your connections.
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Anonymous User
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Re: Ausa chance me
First anon - yeah, I definitely agree with the above (however that would be more about relationships with a specific firm in that district than it would be about a vault ranking).
I also think that, at least in the absence of any information about that kind of feeder relationship, at a certain point moving purely for a hypothetical future job has diminishing returns - you’re better off doing an awesome job where you are than moving for the sake of checking boxes (I just don’t think AUSA hiring is quite as mechanical as “v10 is 7 bonus points while v50 is only 3 bonus points”). Mostly because I think vault rankings are a ridiculously blunt instrument and not helpful for the validating firms.
I also think that, at least in the absence of any information about that kind of feeder relationship, at a certain point moving purely for a hypothetical future job has diminishing returns - you’re better off doing an awesome job where you are than moving for the sake of checking boxes (I just don’t think AUSA hiring is quite as mechanical as “v10 is 7 bonus points while v50 is only 3 bonus points”). Mostly because I think vault rankings are a ridiculously blunt instrument and not helpful for the validating firms.
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Anonymous User
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Re: Ausa chance me
You must be targeting SDNY/EDNY/EDVA.
Typically, I would say you're not likely to get an AUSA position as these three offices routinely hire HYS (though SDNY is partial to Fordham graduates) and love biglaw experience. But in this environment, I think you likely have a very good shot. Most of the new positions created are to focus on drugs/guns/immigration and your ada experience is likely to be seen as a big advantage as will be your clerkship. That being said, if you get assigned to drugs/guns/immigration, you're not going back to the private sector. You need to get assigned to financial fraud or cyber if you want to go back to a firm or inhouse, so don't stay in major crimes too long.
Typically, I would say you're not likely to get an AUSA position as these three offices routinely hire HYS (though SDNY is partial to Fordham graduates) and love biglaw experience. But in this environment, I think you likely have a very good shot. Most of the new positions created are to focus on drugs/guns/immigration and your ada experience is likely to be seen as a big advantage as will be your clerkship. That being said, if you get assigned to drugs/guns/immigration, you're not going back to the private sector. You need to get assigned to financial fraud or cyber if you want to go back to a firm or inhouse, so don't stay in major crimes too long.
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Anonymous User
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Re: Ausa chance me
So I’m actually not targeting anything in NY of VA. It’s a mid to large competitive district, but maybe a tier below those.
Does that change the assessment?
Does that change the assessment?
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Omerta
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Re: Ausa chance me
I would say moderate right now but jumping after another year or two. IMO, the best thing you can do is get a good relationship with the former AUSA partner and get substantive experience. Most USAOs do not care about vault rankings--big firm is big firm. And, if I were on the hiring committee, I wouldn't give much weight to just a year at a firm. In my experience, most firms have at least a 6-month period where you're figuring out how stuff works and proving that you can be trusted to not fuck stuff up.
FWIW, I have similar credentials (T20-30, top 10%, federal clerkship in target market, but sub out 4 years in biglaw for the ADA/biglaw mix) and applied to every single AUSA opening in my target district. I got an interview for the first time a couple months ago.
One other piece of advice: don't be disheartened if you don't get it the first time. For most folks, it takes at least two interview invites before getting an offer.
FWIW, I have similar credentials (T20-30, top 10%, federal clerkship in target market, but sub out 4 years in biglaw for the ADA/biglaw mix) and applied to every single AUSA opening in my target district. I got an interview for the first time a couple months ago.
One other piece of advice: don't be disheartened if you don't get it the first time. For most folks, it takes at least two interview invites before getting an offer.
