Anyone here know about working as an NYC agency attorney? Forum

[shadypinesma]

Hi guys.

I'm wondering if anyone on this board works as--or knows about working as--an NYC agency attorney? I believe the official term is "agency attorney interne." Work/life balance? Pay? What schools do new employees come from?

I'm asking because I am from NYC and would like to stay here. As a non-adversarial person I like the "other" aspects of the law such as writing contracts, compliance, procurement, etc. Seems like a solid, no stress 9 to 5 with city benefits.

[Anonymous User]

I’m going to be lateraling from biglaw to a NYC agency. I can’t speak to work-life balance from experience, but the lawyers I spoke with at the agency made it seem very reasonable. (Not sure it will always be 9-5, but certainly better than biglaw.) Coming in as a midlevel I’ll be making ~$100k. All of the lawyers at the agency I met either went to HLS, worked for several years in biglaw, or both.

[shadypinesma]

Hey, thanks for responding! I didn't know that one could lateral from BigLaw. Are you talking about the NY Law Department or the various agency attorney interne positions? From what I understand the NYLD also hires straight out of law school.

Can you tell me more about your career trajectory? I'd really love to hear how you ended up at a city agency. I really appreciate your time.

[Anonymous User]

Hi guys.

I'm wondering if anyone on this board works as--or knows about working as--an NYC agency attorney? I believe the official term is "agency attorney interne." Work/life balance? Pay? What schools do new employees come from?

I'm asking because I am from NYC and would like to stay here. As a non-adversarial person I like the "other" aspects of the law such as writing contracts, compliance, procurement, etc. Seems like a solid, no stress 9 to 5 with city benefits.

Can't speak to the fancy agencies, but I was a midlaw paralegal for the former head of a schlubby less attractive agency who was a rainmaker partner. Brought in a bunch of people from various levels to fill out ranks at his new practice. Everyone's pedigree would be scoffed at by posters here.

My impression is that the not especially ambitious ones (who came over as associates/perma counsels) tended to complain about the volume of work and fondly look back on the 35 hour workweeks. The ones gunning for partner/partners, based on my impression, were working significantly less at the agency but still way over 9-5 - just not law firm levels of unpredictable exhaustion.

[Anonymous User]

To the above poster, what agency was that?

I’m the original anon. There’s not much to say about my career path—started in biglaw and wanted to leave/do public interest.

[Anonymous User]

I am currently an Agency Att in NYC. I started as Agency Attorney Interne (for new grads with no experience) and was promoted three times in two years. My starting salary was 60 (I believe the salaries wary between different agencies but are usually in the 60s, but there's a 7% raise coming soon).

[yorkville]

Wow, thanks for answering!

Can you tell us a little more about you/your job? I.e. what school you went to (or just describe the ranking or location if you want to stay anonymous), what your hours are like, current salary, job satisfaction, a typical day in your life? I'm really, really curious about this and I think some other people may be too.

Overall, would you say it is a good job? Exit opportunities? If one goes to a t-14, are BigLaw exit options available if one decides PI isn't for them? Or vice versa? What about FedGov options?

Thanks so much.

[NyuIwantu]

Agency attorney checking in.

I too came straight from LS as an agency attorney interne (essentially a 6 month probationary period before becoming a full fledged agency attorney).

The work varies from agency to agency and from units within the agencies.

From my experience, I view attorneys for NYC agencies in two boxes: Assistant general counsels and agency specific attorneys.

Attorneys in general counsel offices are usually a bit more prestigious and are full of people from good to great law schools (not exclusively, but generally) and the work is more interesting. Hours are realistically 9-530ish but vary based on agency.

Each agency have other attorneys specific to the agency (ex. Agencies that issue violations have attorneys who “prosecute” those violations). I’ve seen attorneys from all law schools in this group. Though most are NY law schools ranging anywhere from Touro-Columbia.

Overall the experience depends on the agency and whether you like the tasks given to you. It’s almost always low stress. Pay beginning ~60k with small incremental raises. I can say that I am quite happy with my job.

In terms of exit options, people bounce around from agency to agency with ease. This is very common. To federal? Probably harder unless you can sell your skills/experience which will likely not happen since you will be dealing with NYC laws mostly.

[Anonymous User]

Agency attorney checking in.

I too came straight from LS as an agency attorney interne (essentially a 6 month probationary period before becoming a full fledged agency attorney).

The work varies from agency to agency and from units within the agencies.

From my experience, I view attorneys for NYC agencies in two boxes: Assistant general counsels and agency specific attorneys.

Attorneys in general counsel offices are usually a bit more prestigious and are full of people from good to great law schools (not exclusively, but generally) and the work is more interesting. Hours are realistically 9-530ish but vary based on agency.

Each agency have other attorneys specific to the agency (ex. Agencies that issue violations have attorneys who “prosecute” those violations). I’ve seen attorneys from all law schools in this group. Though most are NY law schools ranging anywhere from Touro-Columbia.

Overall the experience depends on the agency and whether you like the tasks given to you. It’s almost always low stress. Pay beginning ~60k with small incremental raises. I can say that I am quite happy with my job.

In terms of exit options, people bounce around from agency to agency with ease. This is very common. To federal? Probably harder unless you can sell your skills/experience which will likely not happen since you will be dealing with NYC laws mostly.

Thanks, this is very interesting. Would you mind answering a few questions?

1. By “attorneys in general counsel offices,” are you referring only to attorneys with “assistant general counsel” titles? My understanding was that AGCs are also agency specific.

2. Do people ever move from the group you refer to as agency specific to the general counsel office group? If so, do they often make this move? My impression is that most AGC started out in other roles.

3. Can I assume from your username that you went to NYU?

4. What are your hours like?

5. How much vacation do you get, and do people typically take all/most of their vacation time?

6. Are the raises performance based? How much does it increase per year?

Thanks again!

[Anonymous User]

Agency attorney checking in.

I too came straight from LS as an agency attorney interne (essentially a 6 month probationary period before becoming a full fledged agency attorney).

The work varies from agency to agency and from units within the agencies.

From my experience, I view attorneys for NYC agencies in two boxes: Assistant general counsels and agency specific attorneys.

Attorneys in general counsel offices are usually a bit more prestigious and are full of people from good to great law schools (not exclusively, but generally) and the work is more interesting. Hours are realistically 9-530ish but vary based on agency.

Each agency have other attorneys specific to the agency (ex. Agencies that issue violations have attorneys who “prosecute” those violations). I’ve seen attorneys from all law schools in this group. Though most are NY law schools ranging anywhere from Touro-Columbia.

Overall the experience depends on the agency and whether you like the tasks given to you. It’s almost always low stress. Pay beginning ~60k with small incremental raises. I can say that I am quite happy with my job.

In terms of exit options, people bounce around from agency to agency with ease. This is very common. To federal? Probably harder unless you can sell your skills/experience which will likely not happen since you will be dealing with NYC laws mostly.

Thanks, this is very interesting. Would you mind answering a few questions?

1. By “attorneys in general counsel offices,” are you referring only to attorneys with “assistant general counsel” titles? My understanding was that AGCs are also agency specific.

2. Do people ever move from the group you refer to as agency specific to the general counsel office group? If so, do they often make this move? My impression is that most AGC started out in other roles.

3. Can I assume from your username that you went to NYU?

4. What are your hours like?

5. How much vacation do you get, and do people typically take all/most of their vacation time?

6. Are the raises performance based? How much does it increase per year?

Thanks again!

I'm the anon who responded previously, but can try and answer these questions. Like I said, I started in the Interne position and then was promoted a few times so been working for the city a few years.

1. That's my understanding based on my experience dealing with AGCs.

2. I know of two people who moved from Agency Attorney to AGC, so it is possible.

3. I went to a TT in NY (St. Joghns, Cardozo, Brooklyn, Hofstra etc.) but there are people here from schools from all-over the rankings (T-14- TTTT)

4. My hours are 9-5 or 8-4 (flex time allows us to start between 8-10)

5. When you start, you get 3 weeks of vacation. Every year, you get a few more hours added. It goes up to like 5-7 weeks or something like that. Some agencies offer Comp time, which you can also use towards vacation days etc. From experience, if you taking time off doesn't interfere with your work, no one cares how much vacation you take. I use all my vacation time (called annual leave).

6. The raises in almost all (or all) agencies are not performance based. They are based on the CBA.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks, this is really helpful.

Would you say that your hours are almost always eight/day? Do AGCs work more? Do you ever work weekends?

Do people often get fired? I got the impression that most people stay in these jobs until retirement.

[quote="Anonymous User”]
From experience, if you taking time off doesn't interfere with your work, no one cares how much vacation you take.
[/quote]

Strictly speaking, this is also true of biglaw. Do you think most/all people either do or could take all of their vacation time if they wanted?

Finally, are you happy with your choice? Do lawyers who lateral from firms seem happy with their choice?

Thanks again!

[Anonymous User]

Thanks, this is really helpful.

Would you say that your hours are almost always eight/day? Do AGCs work more? Do you ever work weekends?

Do people often get fired? I got the impression that most people stay in these jobs until retirement.

[quote="Anonymous User”]
From experience, if you taking time off doesn't interfere with your work, no one cares how much vacation you take.

Strictly speaking, this is also true of biglaw. Do you think most/all people either do or could take all of their vacation time if they wanted?

Finally, are you happy with your choice? Do lawyers who lateral from firms seem happy with their choice?

Thanks again![/quote][/quote][/quote]

My agency offers the comp time that I mentioned above, so I sometimes stay past the 8 hours (FYI 1 of the 8 hours is towards lunch so you only work 7 hours a week. If I didn't want the comp time, I could go home at 5PM 99% of the time (if I start at 9).

My AGC friends work more than 8, but that's by choice (they moved to the AGC positions from different agencies than my agency btw). Never heard of anyone getting fired, heard about a person who was "asked" to leave but was given like 6 months to find something different.

I would say, on average, people take 4-5 weeks of vacation a year, at my agency. I took 4 weeks last year. But this is agency-specific. At some agencies, you have intake days etc. and you need to be there or need someone to cover for you.

I am very happy with my choice. The starting pay was atrocious but it's much better now. The hours are amazing, people are great, cases are pretty interesting. Out of 60 attorneys at my agency, in the last 2 years, not a single person left. So I think that says it all lol.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks, this is really helpful.

Would you say that your hours are almost always eight/day? Do AGCs work more? Do you ever work weekends?

Do people often get fired? I got the impression that most people stay in these jobs until retirement.

[quote="Anonymous User”]
From experience, if you taking time off doesn't interfere with your work, no one cares how much vacation you take.

Strictly speaking, this is also true of biglaw. Do you think most/all people either do or could take all of their vacation time if they wanted?

Finally, are you happy with your choice? Do lawyers who lateral from firms seem happy with their choice?

Thanks again!

[/quote][/quote]

My agency offers the comp time that I mentioned above, so I sometimes stay past the 8 hours (FYI 1 of the 8 hours is towards lunch so you only work 7 hours a week. If I didn't want the comp time, I could go home at 5PM 99% of the time (if I start at 9).

My AGC friends work more than 8, but that's by choice (they moved to the AGC positions from different agencies than my agency btw). Never heard of anyone getting fired, heard about a person who was "asked" to leave but was given like 6 months to find something different.

I would say, on average, people take 4-5 weeks of vacation a year, at my agency. I took 4 weeks last year. But this is agency-specific. At some agencies, you have intake days etc. and you need to be there or need someone to cover for you.

I am very happy with my choice. The starting pay was atrocious but it's much better now. The hours are amazing, people are great, cases are pretty interesting. Out of 60 attorneys at my agency, in the last 2 years, not a single person left. So I think that says it all lol.[/quote][/quote][/quote]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I’m moving to an agency from a firm once I get OMB approval (taking forever!) and your answers helped with some of my lingering anxieties. This thread will also be a great resource for people searching for information on this topic in the future.

[NyuIwantu]

Agency attorney checking in.

I too came straight from LS as an agency attorney interne (essentially a 6 month probationary period before becoming a full fledged agency attorney).

The work varies from agency to agency and from units within the agencies.

From my experience, I view attorneys for NYC agencies in two boxes: Assistant general counsels and agency specific attorneys.

Attorneys in general counsel offices are usually a bit more prestigious and are full of people from good to great law schools (not exclusively, but generally) and the work is more interesting. Hours are realistically 9-530ish but vary based on agency.

Each agency have other attorneys specific to the agency (ex. Agencies that issue violations have attorneys who “prosecute” those violations). I’ve seen attorneys from all law schools in this group. Though most are NY law schools ranging anywhere from Touro-Columbia.

Overall the experience depends on the agency and whether you like the tasks given to you. It’s almost always low stress. Pay beginning ~60k with small incremental raises. I can say that I am quite happy with my job.

In terms of exit options, people bounce around from agency to agency with ease. This is very common. To federal? Probably harder unless you can sell your skills/experience which will likely not happen since you will be dealing with NYC laws mostly.

Thanks, this is very interesting. Would you mind answering a few questions?

1. By “attorneys in general counsel offices,” are you referring only to attorneys with “assistant general counsel” titles? My understanding was that AGCs are also agency specific.

2. Do people ever move from the group you refer to as agency specific to the general counsel office group? If so, do they often make this move? My impression is that most AGC started out in other roles.

3. Can I assume from your username that you went to NYU?

4. What are your hours like?

5. How much vacation do you get, and do people typically take all/most of their vacation time?

6. Are the raises performance based? How much does it increase per year?

Thanks again!

I'm the anon who responded previously, but can try and answer these questions. Like I said, I started in the Interne position and then was promoted a few times so been working for the city a few years.

1. That's my understanding based on my experience dealing with AGCs.

2. I know of two people who moved from Agency Attorney to AGC, so it is possible.

3. I went to a TT in NY (St. Joghns, Cardozo, Brooklyn, Hofstra etc.) but there are people here from schools from all-over the rankings (T-14- TTTT)

4. My hours are 9-5 or 8-4 (flex time allows us to start between 8-10)

5. When you start, you get 3 weeks of vacation. Every year, you get a few more hours added. It goes up to like 5-7 weeks or something like that. Some agencies offer Comp time, which you can also use towards vacation days etc. From experience, if you taking time off doesn't interfere with your work, no one cares how much vacation you take. I use all my vacation time (called annual leave).

6. The raises in almost all (or all) agencies are not performance based. They are based on the CBA.

I agree with basically everything anon said.

1. Idk if AGCs work more, but I think they are substantively different jobs. The subject matter is quite different.
2. All jumps are possible. My agency tends to look out of house for AGCs (they like ACCs who don’t want to litigate anymore) but in-house is not uncommon at all. Once you’re an attorney for an agency, I really do think you have exit options for all agency attorney positions. In your current agency and out of agency.
3. It means I wanted to go to NYU when I was applying to LS and started on this forum. Assume T14.
4. Hours are pretty realistically in that 8 hour (with one being lunch) proximity. Typically, I work a 9-530 which I think is pretty standard. Many leave at 5 sharp. Many stay to 6. Just get your work done (which can be done in those hours). Comp/OT is the only reason people stay later than 6 on a semi-regular basis.
5. Like anon said, you start with 15 days of annual leave (5 days a week = 3 weeks) and after a few years it begins to increase. Almost everyone uses all of their leave. By my agency it’s expected that you’ll use all of it but they require clearing it with supervisors first. I tend to book vacations a few months in advance and handle my workload accordingly to minimize colleague/supervisor coverage. Some jobs are more shift based (ie someone covers a court part every Tuesday) and will always require coverage for vacation, but that’s expected and fine. So long as notice is provided. No one wants to show up at work and find out they emergency need to cover for someone because they went to Hawaii. Covering for a sick employee is common courtesy, but if you know you’ll be out you need to let them know.
6. Pay for most attorneys is based on the union contract. Read the contract (and pending MOA modification) on csbanyc’s website. That has all the salary info I can give you. Other raises and promotions are Agency and sometimes even unit specific.

Overall, most people are very happy working as agency attorneys. Some may not love their agency but they bounce around until they find one they like. The hours/low stress/lack of grunt work/loan forgiveness is really nice. The only downside is salary and prestige (if you care about that).

[Anonymous User]

Thanks, this is really helpful.

Would you say that your hours are almost always eight/day? Do AGCs work more? Do you ever work weekends?

Do people often get fired? I got the impression that most people stay in these jobs until retirement.

[quote="Anonymous User”]
From experience, if you taking time off doesn't interfere with your work, no one cares how much vacation you take.

Strictly speaking, this is also true of biglaw. Do you think most/all people either do or could take all of their vacation time if they wanted?

Finally, are you happy with your choice? Do lawyers who lateral from firms seem happy with their choice?

Thanks again!

[/quote]

My agency offers the comp time that I mentioned above, so I sometimes stay past the 8 hours (FYI 1 of the 8 hours is towards lunch so you only work 7 hours a week. If I didn't want the comp time, I could go home at 5PM 99% of the time (if I start at 9).

My AGC friends work more than 8, but that's by choice (they moved to the AGC positions from different agencies than my agency btw). Never heard of anyone getting fired, heard about a person who was "asked" to leave but was given like 6 months to find something different.

I would say, on average, people take 4-5 weeks of vacation a year, at my agency. I took 4 weeks last year. But this is agency-specific. At some agencies, you have intake days etc. and you need to be there or need someone to cover for you.

I am very happy with my choice. The starting pay was atrocious but it's much better now. The hours are amazing, people are great, cases are pretty interesting. Out of 60 attorneys at my agency, in the last 2 years, not a single person left. So I think that says it all lol.[/quote][/quote][/quote]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I’m moving to an agency from a firm once I get OMB approval (taking forever!) and your answers helped with some of my lingering anxieties. This thread will also be a great resource for people searching for information on this topic in the future.[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]

It took me 5 months to get OMB approval. A test of patience lol

[Anonymous User]

Thanks, this is really helpful.

Would you say that your hours are almost always eight/day? Do AGCs work more? Do you ever work weekends?

Do people often get fired? I got the impression that most people stay in these jobs until retirement.

[quote="Anonymous User”]
From experience, if you taking time off doesn't interfere with your work, no one cares how much vacation you take.

Strictly speaking, this is also true of biglaw. Do you think most/all people either do or could take all of their vacation time if they wanted?

Finally, are you happy with your choice? Do lawyers who lateral from firms seem happy with their choice?

Thanks again!

My agency offers the comp time that I mentioned above, so I sometimes stay past the 8 hours (FYI 1 of the 8 hours is towards lunch so you only work 7 hours a week. If I didn't want the comp time, I could go home at 5PM 99% of the time (if I start at 9).

My AGC friends work more than 8, but that's by choice (they moved to the AGC positions from different agencies than my agency btw). Never heard of anyone getting fired, heard about a person who was "asked" to leave but was given like 6 months to find something different.

I would say, on average, people take 4-5 weeks of vacation a year, at my agency. I took 4 weeks last year. But this is agency-specific. At some agencies, you have intake days etc. and you need to be there or need someone to cover for you.

I am very happy with my choice. The starting pay was atrocious but it's much better now. The hours are amazing, people are great, cases are pretty interesting. Out of 60 attorneys at my agency, in the last 2 years, not a single person left. So I think that says it all lol.[/quote][/quote][/quote]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I’m moving to an agency from a firm once I get OMB approval (taking forever!) and your answers helped with some of my lingering anxieties. This thread will also be a great resource for people searching for information on this topic in the future.[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]

It took me 5 months to get OMB approval. A test of patience lol[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]

Is that a typical timeline? I’m just over two months into my wait... don’t know if I can do another three.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks, this is really helpful.

Would you say that your hours are almost always eight/day? Do AGCs work more? Do you ever work weekends?

Do people often get fired? I got the impression that most people stay in these jobs until retirement.

[quote="Anonymous User”]
From experience, if you taking time off doesn't interfere with your work, no one cares how much vacation you take.

Strictly speaking, this is also true of biglaw. Do you think most/all people either do or could take all of their vacation time if they wanted?

Finally, are you happy with your choice? Do lawyers who lateral from firms seem happy with their choice?

Thanks again!

My agency offers the comp time that I mentioned above, so I sometimes stay past the 8 hours (FYI 1 of the 8 hours is towards lunch so you only work 7 hours a week. If I didn't want the comp time, I could go home at 5PM 99% of the time (if I start at 9).

My AGC friends work more than 8, but that's by choice (they moved to the AGC positions from different agencies than my agency btw). Never heard of anyone getting fired, heard about a person who was "asked" to leave but was given like 6 months to find something different.

I would say, on average, people take 4-5 weeks of vacation a year, at my agency. I took 4 weeks last year. But this is agency-specific. At some agencies, you have intake days etc. and you need to be there or need someone to cover for you.

I am very happy with my choice. The starting pay was atrocious but it's much better now. The hours are amazing, people are great, cases are pretty interesting. Out of 60 attorneys at my agency, in the last 2 years, not a single person left. So I think that says it all lol.

[/quote][/quote]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I’m moving to an agency from a firm once I get OMB approval (taking forever!) and your answers helped with some of my lingering anxieties. This thread will also be a great resource for people searching for information on this topic in the future.[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]

It took me 5 months to get OMB approval. A test of patience lol[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]

Is that a typical timeline? I’m just over two months into my wait... don’t know if I can do another three.[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]

Unfortunately there's no such thing as a typical timeline when it comes to city jobs. Could be a few weeks or a few months. It also depends on an agency sometimes.