Top Law Schools

Does anyone have any insight into DOJ Main Justice hiring for experienced attorneys? Is it similar to Biglaw hiring as far as grades, school prestige, etc.? I'll be coming off a federal district court clerkship in a year following a year of mid-law civil litigation practice and a state court clerkship. Have interests in criminal side (did an USAO internship during law school and loved it), but want to transition into fed. government work permanently. Would love to hear others' experiences and backgrounds as a gauge.

Anonymous User wrote:Does anyone have any insight into DOJ Main Justice hiring for experienced attorneys? Is it similar to Biglaw hiring as far as grades, school prestige, etc.? I'll be coming off a federal district court clerkship in a year following a year of mid-law civil litigation practice and a state court clerkship. Have interests in criminal side (did an USAO internship during law school and loved it), but want to transition into fed. government work permanently. Would love to hear others' experiences and backgrounds as a gauge.

Current Fed Attorney at CRM in a litigating component. I was hired as an experienced attorney (GS15).

Depending on the Component will depend upon the background they are looking for.

Litigation components like-OCGS, CEOS, PI, NDDS, Fraud, and CCS will require prior litigation experience. Most if not all of the hires are former AUSAS looking to make better money in a specialized area.

Certain litigating sections value diff types of experience: Fraud is big on ex-biglaw ppl. The other sections like OCGS, CCS and NDDS want trial experience, preferably former AUSAS.

As for the non litigation components- they value writing ability and thus you will see more people from private practice there- biglaw/midlaw.

Grades are a huge factor- but thats a correlation as most ex-biglaw and former ausas had great grades in the first place. If you are coming in as an experienced hire, the most important factor is what you can bring to the component.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Does anyone have any insight into DOJ Main Justice hiring for experienced attorneys? Is it similar to Biglaw hiring as far as grades, school prestige, etc.? I'll be coming off a federal district court clerkship in a year following a year of mid-law civil litigation practice and a state court clerkship. Have interests in criminal side (did an USAO internship during law school and loved it), but want to transition into fed. government work permanently. Would love to hear others' experiences and backgrounds as a gauge.

Current Fed Attorney at CRM in a litigating component. I was hired as an experienced attorney (GS15).

Depending on the Component will depend upon the background they are looking for.

Litigation components like-OCGS, CEOS, PI, NDDS, Fraud, and CCS will require prior litigation experience. Most if not all of the hires are former AUSAS looking to make better money in a specialized area.

Certain litigating sections value diff types of experience: Fraud is big on ex-biglaw ppl. The other sections like OCGS, CCS and NDDS want trial experience, preferably former AUSAS.

As for the non litigation components- they value writing ability and thus you will see more people from private practice there- biglaw/midlaw.

Grades are a huge factor- but thats a correlation as most ex-biglaw and former ausas had great grades in the first place. If you are coming in as an experienced hire, the most important factor is what you can bring to the component.

Would you mind sharing what your hours are like?

Sorry this is off-topic but I can't PM you since you're anon.

zot1 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Does anyone have any insight into DOJ Main Justice hiring for experienced attorneys? Is it similar to Biglaw hiring as far as grades, school prestige, etc.? I'll be coming off a federal district court clerkship in a year following a year of mid-law civil litigation practice and a state court clerkship. Have interests in criminal side (did an USAO internship during law school and loved it), but want to transition into fed. government work permanently. Would love to hear others' experiences and backgrounds as a gauge.

Current Fed Attorney at CRM in a litigating component. I was hired as an experienced attorney (GS15).

Depending on the Component will depend upon the background they are looking for.

Litigation components like-OCGS, CEOS, PI, NDDS, Fraud, and CCS will require prior litigation experience. Most if not all of the hires are former AUSAS looking to make better money in a specialized area.

Certain litigating sections value diff types of experience: Fraud is big on ex-biglaw ppl. The other sections like OCGS, CCS and NDDS want trial experience, preferably former AUSAS.

As for the non litigation components- they value writing ability and thus you will see more people from private practice there- biglaw/midlaw.

Grades are a huge factor- but thats a correlation as most ex-biglaw and former ausas had great grades in the first place. If you are coming in as an experienced hire, the most important factor is what you can bring to the component.

Would you mind sharing what your hours are like?

Sorry this is off-topic but I can't PM you since you're anon.

My hours are typically 9:30-5:30 or 6.

That time can vary depending on how busy you are. Less busy leave at 5:15. More busy leave at 6:30. Trial is a whole different beast.

What many people overlook about main justice is the travel. Depending on the component there can be extensive travel, sometimes for long periods of time. The benefit from the travel is comp leave time (all time spent traveling outside of work hours is given back to you in vacation) as well as mileage awards at airlines and hotel points. Not to mention a per diem.

Anonymous User wrote:

zot1 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Does anyone have any insight into DOJ Main Justice hiring for experienced attorneys? Is it similar to Biglaw hiring as far as grades, school prestige, etc.? I'll be coming off a federal district court clerkship in a year following a year of mid-law civil litigation practice and a state court clerkship. Have interests in criminal side (did an USAO internship during law school and loved it), but want to transition into fed. government work permanently. Would love to hear others' experiences and backgrounds as a gauge.

Current Fed Attorney at CRM in a litigating component. I was hired as an experienced attorney (GS15).

Depending on the Component will depend upon the background they are looking for.

Litigation components like-OCGS, CEOS, PI, NDDS, Fraud, and CCS will require prior litigation experience. Most if not all of the hires are former AUSAS looking to make better money in a specialized area.

Certain litigating sections value diff types of experience: Fraud is big on ex-biglaw ppl. The other sections like OCGS, CCS and NDDS want trial experience, preferably former AUSAS.

As for the non litigation components- they value writing ability and thus you will see more people from private practice there- biglaw/midlaw.

Grades are a huge factor- but thats a correlation as most ex-biglaw and former ausas had great grades in the first place. If you are coming in as an experienced hire, the most important factor is what you can bring to the component.

Would you mind sharing what your hours are like?

Sorry this is off-topic but I can't PM you since you're anon.

My hours are typically 9:30-5:30 or 6.

That time can vary depending on how busy you are. Less busy leave at 5:15. More busy leave at 6:30. Trial is a whole different beast.

What many people overlook about main justice is the travel. Depending on the component there can be extensive travel, sometimes for long periods of time. The benefit from the travel is comp leave time (all time spent traveling outside of work hours is given back to you in vacation) as well as mileage awards at airlines and hotel points. Not to mention a per diem.

Thanks, man.

Anonymous User wrote:Does anyone have any insight into DOJ Main Justice hiring for experienced attorneys? Is it similar to Biglaw hiring as far as grades, school prestige, etc.? I'll be coming off a federal district court clerkship in a year following a year of mid-law civil litigation practice and a state court clerkship. Have interests in criminal side (did an USAO internship during law school and loved it), but want to transition into fed. government work permanently. Would love to hear others' experiences and backgrounds as a gauge.

Why main justice specifically? Is it a geographic preference for DC? I get the vibe that main justice has a ton of transfers/AUSAs on detail from other offices. I've heard from a few sources you have to go to main justice at some point if you want to keep advancing as an AUSA, as in you hit a certain ceiling and you either get out or move to main justice.

When you say "Main Justice" do you actually mean Main Justice or to you mean DOJ in DC generally, including its various divisions. I've never heard of someone focusing solely on Main Justice before

Outside of D.C. I think the tendency is to call anything in D.C. "main justice," but the OP might be focusing on moving up into the actual AG's office or something.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Outside of D.C. I think the tendency is to call anything in D.C. "main justice," but the OP might be focusing on moving up into the actual AG's office or something.

Yes, I was referring to DOJ in general - not into the AG's office itself. I'm dead set against returning to private practice (I don't have grades, the school prestige, etc. for Biglaw) and will do a broader agency job search coming off my clerkship. DOJ and AUSA jobs are where I have the most interest and probably be the most content. I do not know if an AUSA salary will work based on the pay scale with 3-4 years experience starting at the minimum level. Fiancee lives in D.C. so it looks like a nationwide search with a D.C. emphasis is what I'm looking at. Agency hiring in D.C. is a black box for me in terms of grades, prestige, etc.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Outside of D.C. I think the tendency is to call anything in D.C. "main justice," but the OP might be focusing on moving up into the actual AG's office or something.

CRM attorney here again:
Internally we refer to ourselves by component.
Within DOJ we are referred to as CRM.
In the criminal prosecution world, everyone refers to CRM as main justice, which is how we are differentiated from USAOS.
The AGS office (as well as AAG offices) within DOJ are referred to as "The Front Office."

Anonymous User wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Outside of D.C. I think the tendency is to call anything in D.C. "main justice," but the OP might be focusing on moving up into the actual AG's office or something.

CRM attorney here again:
Internally we refer to ourselves by component.
Within DOJ we are referred to as CRM.
In the criminal prosecution world, everyone refers to CRM as main justice, which is how we are differentiated from USAOS.
The AGS office (as well as AAG offices) within DOJ are referred to as "The Front Office."

Thank you for clearing this up! I realize I've never stopped to ask anyone exactly what they meant by "main justice."