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How hard is it to switch from the Los Angeles DA's Office to the US Attorney's Office of Central District of California? I heard CDC likes people from Biglaw versus people from the DA's office?

Thanks!

That's true for the most part.

Do they take a number of DAs or City Attorneys?

Anonymous User wrote:Do they take a number of DAs or City Attorneys?

No, not generally.

Although TAP experience is looked upon favorably.

Thanks. Just curious. If the TAP program is looked favorably upon, how come being a DA or City Attorney will not be?

Anonymous User wrote:Thanks. Just curious. If the TAP program is looked favorably upon, how come being a DA or City Attorney will not be?

The TAP program is not the same as being a DA.

It's like learning how to brew coffee versus being a Starbucks barista.

How does one get marketable experience for a USAO while working in biglaw? Purely pro-bono?

Anonymous User wrote:How does one get marketable experience for a USAO while working in biglaw? Purely pro-bono?

No.

There are a good number of AUSAs that were former DAs. However, it is still mostly BigLaw. The main two reasons for this is probably the fact that DAs (in general) are not used to writing as much as BigLaw people are. Moreover, BigLaw has more connections with the USAO. The latter seems to be more the likely reason, since a lot of DAs in the Los Angeles office are great writers.

If you are choosing between LA DA or USAO, I would choose LA DA. USAO does do more big picture things, but that is once in a while. Moreover, they also do a lot smaller-picture things too (anything that violates federal law). The LA DA is different from other DA offices in that they have specialized divisions that do bigger picture goals. Also, they are known for extremely high-profile cases (OJ Simpson, etc.).