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Let's say you're a cum laude grad from a T14 and you are looking to become a federal prosecutor 5 years into your career. Which one would be best?

Public Defender
District Attorney
Big law
Some combination of one of those and a federal clerkship

If you want to do it exactly five years in, I'd say a clerkship -> DA -> USAO

It doesn't need to be five years in.

For me, the key is a certain path like:

Trial Experience -> Federal Prosecutor for several years -> Bad ass attorney for plaintiff

Anonymous User wrote:Let's say you're a cum laude grad from a T14 and you are looking to become a federal prosecutor 5 years into your career. Which one would be best?

Public Defender
District Attorney
Big law
Some combination of one of those and a federal clerkship

Why not try to become an AUSA as soon as possible?

Of your options, a clerkship in a criminal heavy docket district (border towns are good for this) --> DA's office --> USAO. I know a few clerks who did 2 year clerkships in SDTX and WDTX and went straight into a USAO but that's very unusual. However, both credit their 95/5 criminal/civil caseload (80/20 criminal/civil docket) as the reason they were hired.

Biglaw-->USAO is only a common route in New York/big east coast cities. Vast majority of AUSAs in other areas come from DA's offices.

Source: I worked in the USAO office in a major Texas city my first summer (90%+ came from DA's offices), have been aiming for AUSA since joining law school, have several mentors who are former US Attorney's who talked to me about their hiring practices.

It's also totally possible to kick ass in a big DA's office and get into a major city's USAO. Many ADA's also get in at smaller USAO offices after a few years at the DA (again--border towns) and try to lateral back into the major cities.

Of the few who came from Big Law in the USAO office I worked in, the story was uniformly the same: pro bono criminal work got them in the door. Generic big law work isn't likely to mean much to the USAO.

I think it's hard to say which one is best, since those are all routes you can take (I would say that going from PD --> USAO is less common than the others, but not uncommon). Different offices will value different backgrounds - there are some that hire mostly out of biglaw, there are others that love state prosecutors and the experience they gets - so it depends. Showing some commitment to government service will help, too (for one thing, a lot of AUSAs I know interned with a USAO in law school). And doing a federal clerkship is definitely recommended.

Not outright disagreeing with this, but I think the issue is highly office dependent (as is everything relating to USAO's). Also worked in a USAO office my first summer. I won't say the office to avoid outing myself, but it was in the southeast. Almost every AUSA was ex big law; granted there were a small few who were ex-da types, but the vast majority exited to the office after a few years of big law in major markets. I would highly recommend trying to contact some people in office/region you're looking at.

Edit: sorry meant to quote the person two posts above

I'd be looking in the Northern District of Illinois, ideally. But I'd be flexible.

So I should reach out to someone there to get a sense of that office's hiring practices?

Would Illinois be a major enough place be a DA, or actually I think they're SA's.

Anonymous User wrote:I'd be looking in the Northern District of Illinois, ideally. But I'd be flexible.

So I should reach out to someone there to get a sense of that office's hiring practices?

Would Illinois be a major enough place be a DA, or actually I think they're SA's.

Don't have any insight for ND Ill, sorry. What year are you, if you don't mind me asking? If a 0L, gun for an intern position in the office next summer. Not only will it give you insight into their backgrounds, but also if you're actually interested in the work (you never know if you're actually gonna like it until you do it). Also, if you're at NW or UChi that'll give you a big bump.

I'm a 3L and I am at one of those schools.

It's probably too late for a fall internship, but should I gun for a spring one.

I see that the NDIL USAO is hiring spring interns so I am assuming I should do that, so I can get a better sense of the office.

I want to target the state's attorney office in the meantime. I just hope I am not handcuffing myself.

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terrier27 wrote:OP you should strongly consider applying for a federal clerkship now. A lot of offices will hire people right out of clerkships. Also have you looked into DOJ honors? It's really competitive but if you get it it's a really good path to USAO offices from my own research.

It's possible to get into a USAO right out of a clerkship, but I don't think it's actually common. The examples I know of are in offices that have a hard time keeping people (primarily smaller offices in border districts).

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Thanks for all the posts, by the way.

Hey OP,


I go to one of the two t-14s in Chicago. I know at least 5 -6 people who interned in USAO in Chicago last semester and they were displeased with the work they were getting. It was more because they were only working around 12 hours a week, and as a result, the AUSAs didn't give them "substantive" work. If you are willing to work more than those hours, you may get a better idea of what they do. Just a heads up.

Anonymous User wrote:I'd be looking in the Northern District of Illinois, ideally. But I'd be flexible.

So I should reach out to someone there to get a sense of that office's hiring practices?

Would Illinois be a major enough place be a DA, or actually I think they're SA's.

I can tell you. They like to hire an even mix of big firm lawyers and ASAs with a much smaller number of people right off of a clerkship or law school. They do this somewhat deliberately, so if they hire three ASAs in a row then they'll look to hire big firm lawyers. Unfortunately, that means there's really no clear path to the office. Your best bet is probably to clerk for a district judge in the 7th, do litigation/white collar at a big firm in Chicago, and start applying to all the US Attorney's Offices around after 2-3 years.

I appreciate that intel.

I guess I should gun hard for an ASA position, a white collar spot in a firm, and a clerkship.

The first two are mutually exclusive buy pretty much yeah. If you go the ASA route, know that writing is something the office cares a lot about and kind of assumes that ASAs don't do as well as firm attorneys so make sure you have a killer writing sample. That's where a clerkship would really help (also, being in the same building as the NDIL office can only help).