How much does firm choice matter for AUSA chances? Forum

[albinododobird]

I'm interested in working in the Civil Division of a U.S. Attorney's Office at some point in my career. SDNY would be best, but I would also be happy to work at EDNY and, perhaps, NJ. As I weigh my options for my 2L summer, one thing I'm wondering is whether there are meaningful differences in the way the USAOs will evaluate you as a candidate if you work at a more or less "prestigious" firm. Should this be a consideration if I am evaluating offers from, for example, Skadden, Milbank, and Jones Day?

[Anonymous User]

Current criminal division AUSA in one of the districts that you mentioned. The firm you pick at this stage will have zero impact on a future bid for a civil division AUSA spot. What will matter are the cases you work on, the substantive experience you acquire, and which connections you can form that will help you in terms of letters of recommendation and more informal lobbying (i.e., phone calls). Most big firms, and certainly the ones you listed, would all be about on par in those regards (trying to figure out which specific firm has the best "roster" of former government attorneys is probably a useless exercise given the uncertainty of what you'll be working on years from now). In fact, the connections may matter even less as far as civil division spots go, since most senior law firm types with government backgrounds come from a criminal division or SEC enforcement anyway.

[Wild Card]

A handful of firms were disproportionately represented the last time I looked at the SDNY's full personnel list. But those likely are the lifers. More recently, they've tried to hired from a range of firms. I remember telling a lifer where I would be working, and his response was simply "Oh..." before identifying the one alum of my firm who was working there.