PantaRhei wrote:Hi TLS,
Does anyone know how someone could become legal counsel on a House or Senate committee like the Senate Judiciary Committee? I imagine they are extremely competitive and require some prestige, but everything I've found on the topic is vague at best. I began wondering about this after watching an interview with Justice Breyer, in which he discussed his time as the chief counsel for the JC.
Any help would be appreciated. If anyone has information that they'd rather not post, PMs would be ok as well.
Thank you
Happy to help. I was a former committee staffer before law school.
You seem like you don't have any experience on the Hill (or you would know this area better). So I'll give you some overview.
I see two main paths for you. The first is the conventional staffer route. First, get a job on the Hill. There are three main areas you can be a staffer: for a member, a committee, or leadership. You would likely start in a member's office because of the volume of positions and your lack of experience or connections to leadership or committees. Connect to your home state members or you can try to go through you undergrad/law school state members. Many offices prefer some ties to the state. Usually people intern on the Hill for a bit before they get hired. Yes, it's humbling, but JDs, PhDs, and MAs all do it (I saw many graduate degree holders shocked they were expected to open mail--but you have too). The only main exception to the intern route would be if you came on through a new member's campaign. This being 2018, you might want to consider that immediately. Once hired, then you put in a few years at the LA level and you might be able to be competitive for some committee spots. But beware, committee staffers usually need a pretty heavy level of expertise; i.e., tax attorney for a couple years then Ways and Means, health consultant before Energy and Commerce, etc. It is hard to build that expertise in a member's office, because you are not really dealing in depth as much as breadth (meetings with constituents all day for your 18 issue portfolio). On the House side, committees are where the policy experts are. My impression of Senate counterparts were that Senate committees didn't have as much influence compared to senators office; i.e., better to be banking counsel for a senator instead of being committee counsel on the banking committee (I might be wrong this).
The second route is coming from the off the Hill. This can be done from the executive, or any of those law firm, consultant positions I mentioned. If you want to be a staffer for life, I would get on the Hill ASAP. Once on, you can move around much easier. Idk much about Senate Judiciary, but if I went back I would attack it by starting on the Hill (anywhere), then slowly working towards the committee I wanted. For example, work for any nebreska house member, buddy up to Sen. Sasse's staff, then try to get in the senator's office, until the judiciary portfolio opens up. While that may seem like a long game, turnover on the Hill is very higher (though higher on the House though).
So yeah, my advice is get on the Hill as fast as possible. Don't trie to lateral in from other parts of government or law firms.