Working for DOJ Tax Forum

[Anonymous User]

How hard is it to get hired by DOJ Tax? I noticed that they seem to have an emphasis on diversity (at least compared to the other DOJ sections) how serious are they about this? How focused are they on having a tax background? Do you have to have a fed clerkship to work for them?

[Anonymous User]

I know one person working for DOJ tax right now. It's extremely competitive. He is order of the coif at a lower tier 1, + ed board on LR, district court clerk first, and then COA clerk. No tax background, except for tax 1. I think it's more important for you to have a strong lit background, than tax background.

[Anonymous User]

Are you talking about actual employment or the DOJ honors program?

For actual post-grad hiring I actually don't think DOJ tax is planning on hiring now or into the near future from what I hear. I only know a couple people working there, but from what I understand most of them have a background in tax. You do not need a clerkship of any kind.

Best of luck, DOJ tax department is a tough one to get into. You may also think about going after IRS as well, although you need stellar numbers to get in the door there along with significant tax law experience.

[Anonymous User]

I only know a couple people working there, but from what I understand most of them have a background in tax. You do not need a clerkship of any kind.

I did SLIP in a different DOJ division, but met attorneys in various divisions. I'm a little skeptical of the "you do not need a clerkship of any kind" advice. I met only a few tax section attorneys, but it seemed like the vast majority of honors program attorneys across divisions had done federal clerkships. And from my conversations with attorneys connected to the honors program hiring process, clerking is a virtual prerequisite for most divisions. Again, others on this board may have better knowledge about the tax division in particular, but my hunch would be that clerking is important.

[bdubs]

I know someone in the honors program for tax division. They did not do a clerkship, but did graduate from a T6 (I didn't ask about how well they did there, but I assume they did well). From what I hear, tax is a division that is very litigation heavy but doesn't require a lot of specific tax background. The very technical stuff is generally handled by the IRS.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a little skeptical of the "you do not need a clerkship of any kind" advice

Just speaking from personal experience. The attorneys that I know there did not do a clerkship. I'm sure a bunch of them have. They all graduated from HYS though...

[Anonymous User]

I'm a little skeptical of the "you do not need a clerkship of any kind" advice

Just speaking from personal experience. The attorneys that I know there did not do a clerkship. I'm sure a bunch of them have. They all graduated from HYS though...

Yes, I know several DOJ honors program attorneys who did not clerk first as well. BUT...all in all, they are definitely outliers, and in my division from SLIP, clerking was very highly preferred. To the OP: I would try to talk to alumni from your school or people who summered in the tax division to get a better answer to this question, but my bet would be that clerking is very helpful.