Hello. I'm going to be starting at HYS in the Fall and I really want to set myself up to eventually be a strong candidate for DOJ honors. I was wondering if I could get some advice on what employment opportunities/clinics/whatever else I should be doing to do this. I'll obviously be focusing on getting great grades and trying for LR, so beyond that what should I be doing? Thanks in advance.

Proofread.

(Sorry; I had to do it.)

Get on the Supreme Court Litigation clinic.
Volunteer at one of the main DOJ branches during your 1L summer (preferably in the division that you want to work at post grad)
Work SLIP 2L summer (preferably at one of the divisions you want to work at post grad)
Spend the rest of your 2L summer at one of the DC firms that has a highly respected lit group and tends to send people to government or at least would be attractive to the DOJ (i.e Covington, Williams and Connolly, Arnold Porter, etc.)
And most importantly get a District Court or COA clerkship (preferably in DC if possible--so US DC for DC or the DC COA).

In other words, rape law school and focus on litigation as opposed to corporate work.

Sorry about the sloppy OP. I was/am typing on my phone. Thanks for the advice. I'm really planning to work in biglaw litigation if DOJ doesn't work out so it's nice to know that shooting for a summer at W&C and other DC lit shops falls into somewhat of the same track. If anyone has anything to add please chime in.

I'm a 1L but I've been told by a few 2L/3L's that a lot postgrad DoJ/USAO SLIP hiring is currently into 2 year temp gigs rather than perm positions.

I'm gonna pipe in and try to actually be helpful this time. Poster above me has good information, and I hope you're aware of the dearth of gov't hiring these days. You may want to consider alternate career paths that still put you where I presume you want to be 6, 7, 8 years down the line: working for DoJ. The main one I'm thinking of is Biglaw litigation gig --> DoJ after 3-5 years. Nobody wants to train baby lawyers these days, but Biglaw has the resources to bite the bullet. Just something to think about.

As a current DOJ employee I can say that this varries widly by department. For example, my department is not hiring, period. Some offer only 2 year stints to get around their anti-hiring policies because they're technically employing contractors (which counts as being different) and other offices are considering more full time/long term employees.