US Attorney's Internship Forum

[NJcollegestudent]

Does anyone have a general range of class percentage a 1L would have to be to secure summer employment at the US Attorney's office, regardless of the location.

Also, say a student attends an out of state school and comes back to their home state to apply for the position, would there be any diffrence?

[Renzo]

Does anyone have a general range of class percentage a 1L would have to be to secure summer employment at the US Attorney's office, regardless of the location.

Also, say a student attends an out of state school and comes back to their home state to apply for the position, would there be any diffrence?

There's no way to answer this. Each office hires based on different criteria. Some look at grades, some don't. Some get lots of applicants from fancy schools, some don't.

[thebookcollector]

We had an AUSA come in and speak during a CSO event. Also, I have a friend who is an AUSA. Here's what I know based on talking to both of them...

1. Due to the poor economy, many such offices aren't hiring 1Ls. Kansas City (where I'm from), for example, limited their program to 2Ls due to unprecedented interests.
2. Due to the DOJ hiring freeze and cuts in the personnel budget, some offices aren't hiring at all. (It costs quite a bit to do the background check, so they don't want to spend the money there, even though it is free labor. Doesn't really make sense to me.)
3. My classmates that did get positions were at the very top of our class. I'm at a T-25, and even though we don't rank, I do know the GPA of my two friends that got it, and they're both easily top 5%.

The AUSA that spoke at the CSO event said grades are the number one thing they look at, and my friend backed that up (and they're at different offices). They indicated it was the only criteria that put candidates on equal footing.

Hope that helps. In good news, my understanding is that the background check is only taking a few weeks now because of the hiring freeze.

[NJcollegestudent]

Thank you for your response, to both of the posters. I hope to end up after law school in the US Attorney's office, so an internship would be a nice way to begin.

[Anonymous User]

1L HYSCC here. FWIW, I applied to my homestate USAO and got an offer without submitting grades or doing an interview.

[los blancos]

Whether or not grades matter depends heavily on the office. Some of them don't even interview.

[Anonymous User]

Whether or not grades matter depends heavily on the office. Some of them don't even interview.

Someone PLEASE confirm this.

[Anonymous User]

Whether or not grades matter depends heavily on the office. Some of them don't even interview.

Someone PLEASE confirm this.

"1L HYSCC here. FWIW, I applied to my homestate USAO and got an offer without submitting grades or doing an interview."

[Anonymous User]

Whether or not grades matter depends heavily on the office. Some of them don't even interview.

Someone PLEASE confirm this.

"1L HYSCC here. FWIW, I applied to my homestate USAO and got an offer without submitting grades or doing an interview."

lol well of course, you're at HYSCC.

[Renzo]

Whether or not grades matter depends heavily on the office. Some of them don't even interview.

Someone PLEASE confirm this.

I have a relevant experience to contribute. But my own personal code of "don't talk to the needlessly anonymous" won't allow me to share.

[Moxie]

Whether or not grades matter depends heavily on the office. Some of them don't even interview.

Someone PLEASE confirm this.

I have a relevant experience to contribute. But my own personal code of "don't talk to the needlessly anonymous" won't allow me to share.

Same.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a 2L working at the USAO now. Grades don't matter from what I've seen. It's more about what you can bring to the table, your experience, and how likeable you were in the interview. I am at a T6 school with medianish grades - nothing fancy on my transcript. I have coworkers who are from all different tiers and we all landed the same gig.

[Anonymous User]

The San Diego office hires the top of the class from the top law schools outside of San Diego. This year they already filled their spots before even interviewing at any of the San Diego school. However, they were kind enough to post with the local schools' CSOs, take applications long past all their openings were filled, and conduct interviews with local students and then tell them there was no opening in the first place.

It sucks living in the best city on the planet, because all the rich boys and girls from lame cities are willing to have their parents pay to send them out here to work for free this summer.

[Anonymous User]

Can confirm that grades and interview don't matter for some offices. I'm at CCN and received two offers from USAOs in competitive cities way before grades came out. Did brief phone interviews with both, but felt that they were more of a formality in that I received the offers during the interview, despite some rather flustered / awkward moments on my end.

I think being from a top undergrad with interesting (though not related to gov/USAO) internship experiences were major factors for me.

[npe]

Got an offer from an East Coast USAO, but ended up turning it down for another federal agency (less aligned with my interests, but for >$1200 per week, whaddya gonna do).

Granted, I'm a 2L, but they didn't request spring semester grades even though they surely knew they'd been released (and good thing too, given my transcript). I interviewed with the same office 1L year, and didn't get an offer. This year, it seemed like they couldn't wait to offer me the position. I don't think the difference was grades so much as it was a very demonstrated interest in their work and a smoother interview (though I think the resume demonstrating interest had more to do with it).

[Anonymous User]

Whether or not grades matter depends heavily on the office. Some of them don't even interview.

Someone PLEASE confirm this.

"1L HYSCC here. FWIW, I applied to my homestate USAO and got an offer without submitting grades or doing an interview."

lol well of course, you're at HYSCC.

True, although the office didn't even mention transcripts on its application sheet.

[lfgsuperman]

If an office does mention transcripts on its application sheet, does that mean that grades matter by default? Basically, has there ever been a situation where they ask for grades on the application sheet but only consider them as a formality and give more weight to your interview or writing sample?

[snowoman]

I'm a 2L at a T2, and got offered a USAO summer internship without even interviewing, or showing my grades. I am on law review, however, and have some decent legal experience on my resume. (So maybe they just assumed I have good grades?) Not sure whether I'm going to accept, because I'm still waiting to hear back from other offices, and I'm not interested in prosecuting.

[Anonymous User]

once the USAO calls you and you accept their offer for an internship, do they send you anything formal in the mail? just not sure what the next step is after phone call. also not sure if I need to do anything now or just show up on first day. thanks

[UCLAtransfer]

once the USAO calls you and you accept their offer for an internship, do they send you anything formal in the mail? just not sure what the next step is after phone call. also not sure if I need to do anything now or just show up on first day. thanks

Yeah you should be hearing from an administrative-type person in the office to get started on the background check process. You have to fill out a sh*t ton of forms a couple months in advance of starting, and get confirmation that you passed the check before you can start.

[pre-law]

I'm a 2L working at the USAO now. Grades don't matter from what I've seen. It's more about what you can bring to the table, your experience, and how likeable you were in the interview. I am at a T6 school with medianish grades - nothing fancy on my transcript. I have coworkers who are from all different tiers and we all landed the same gig.

+1

That's the impression I got as well from talking to the summer intern hiring committee. I'm working this summer (1L) at a USAO, Civil Division in a major city.

[3ThrowAway99]

I've been kind of curious about this too. It seems like it would be a pretty desirable gig, but I didn't really see it 'advertised' at my school in terms of govt. options to apply for. Maybe I just missed it (my school generally specializes in Fed. govt. announcements). One of my peers got an AUSA internship though in a neighboring state (largest city in that state, but the state is not big population-wise). I don't know her grades. I attend a lower-T1 school.

I have heard that AUSA positions after graduation are generally only available to lawyers with a few years of experience. Really kind of confused about how DOJ relates to US Atty's Office though- are AUSAs under DOJ (I know DOJ does direct hires through Honors)? Are all DOJ attorneys basically AUSAs, or are DOJ and US Atty Office completely separate?

AUSU seems to be a great career path if you want to eventually become a US Dist. Judge; I've met two Fed Judges recently (one a District judge and the other a Magistrate), both of whom worked as US attorneys before being appointed/selected.

[vanwinkle]

Thank you for your response, to both of the posters. I hope to end up after law school in the US Attorney's office, so an internship would be a nice way to begin.

You're not going to make AUSA straight out of law school. An internship would be helpful, but it's important to keep in mind that while most USAOs take interns, practically none of them hire AUSAs straight out of law school. Preferences in hiring vary by district and position. For example, generally you'll see a USAO that has a Criminal and Civil division, and the Criminal division will prefer people with big-city prosecutorial experience while the Civil division may prefer people with BigLaw experience. I understand that SDNY and EDNY will sometimes hire former BigLaw associates with corporate law experience for Criminal because of the amount of corporate crime work that goes on there.

Start looking into what it takes to become an AUSA. It's not easy, but since the things you need to do to even have a chance at it are in themselves good things to end up doing, it doesn't hurt to develop that kind of plan.

Are all DOJ attorneys basically AUSAs, or are DOJ and US Atty Office completely separate?

Each USAO is a distinct division of the Department of Justice. Generally speaking, attorneys who are known as "DOJ" attorneys work in a DOJ division and are assigned cases/projects based on subject matter. AUSAs and USAs handle prosecutions and civil cases in their particular geographic region. They're all under the umbrella of the Department of Justice and answer to the US Attorney General.

The DOJ and USAOs will often work together. For instance, DOJ attorneys from an appropriate division may be sent from DC to a particular office to support the AUSAs with a particular case.

[3ThrowAway99]

Are all DOJ attorneys basically AUSAs, or are DOJ and US Atty Office completely separate?

Each USAO is a distinct division of the Department of Justice. Generally speaking, attorneys who are known as "DOJ" attorneys work in a DOJ division and are assigned cases/projects based on subject matter. AUSAs and USAs handle prosecutions and civil cases in their particular geographic region. They're all under the umbrella of the Department of Justice and answer to the US Attorney General.

The DOJ and USAOs will often work together. For instance, DOJ attorneys from an appropriate division may be sent from DC to a particular office to support the AUSAs with a particular case.

Cool- thanks for that clarification!

[UCLAtransfer]

Thank you for your response, to both of the posters. I hope to end up after law school in the US Attorney's office, so an internship would be a nice way to begin.

You're not going to make AUSA straight out of law school. An internship would be helpful, but it's important to keep in mind that while most USAOs take interns, practically none of them hire AUSAs straight out of law school. Preferences in hiring vary by district and position. For example, generally you'll see a USAO that has a Criminal and Civil division, and the Criminal division will prefer people with big-city prosecutorial experience while the Civil division may prefer people with BigLaw experience. I understand that SDNY and EDNY will sometimes hire former BigLaw associates with corporate law experience for Criminal because of the amount of corporate crime work that goes on there.

Start looking into what it takes to become an AUSA. It's not easy, but since the things you need to do to even have a chance at it are in themselves good things to end up doing, it doesn't hurt to develop that kind of plan.

I think this is absolutely credited. The only thing I would add is that in my experience, a Biglaw background is hugely important, regardless of whether you are looking at Criminal or Civil Divisions. (At least in the two major-city USAOs I am familiar with.) For those offices, ADA/prosecutor experience was really a secondary/only other alternative way in. On a similar note, a significant percentage of the AUSAs I know had AIII clerkships as well.

One thing I heard over and over though from Division Chiefs, etc., is that most USAOs really like to hire former interns who also end up having the req'd credentials, perhaps to differentiate them from those who just see it as a prestigious job that sounds fun.