DOJ Suitability Review -- any advice? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi all (anonymous for obvious reasons),

I'm a 1L with an interview for a summer DOJ job (on the civil side) coming up, and as I read more about the suitability review process, I'm wondering if my background will be an issue. I am a few years out of college and have not used drugs in the past year, but I did occasionally smoke weed (once every few months or so) while I was in college and in the year or two afterwards (purchased from a dispensary). In college, I also experimented (1-2) times with several psychedelics and stimulants. I don't intend to use drugs going forward and don't really see the people I used to smoke with anymore.

If I get the job I will, of course, disclose all of this in my suitability review. I know there's no way to get certainty here, but I was wondering if any of this was, on its face, disqualifying so that I could focus on trying to get other jobs (and not be stranded in late spring if I fail the review process).

Thanks in advance for your insight!

[Anonymous User]

Hi all (anonymous for obvious reasons),

I'm a 1L with an interview for a summer DOJ job (on the civil side) coming up, and as I read more about the suitability review process, I'm wondering if my background will be an issue. I am a few years out of college and have not used drugs in the past year, but I did occasionally smoke weed (once every few months or so) while I was in college and in the year or two afterwards (purchased from a dispensary). In college, I also experimented (1-2) times with several psychedelics and stimulants. I don't intend to use drugs going forward and don't really see the people I used to smoke with anymore.

If I get the job I will, of course, disclose all of this in my suitability review. I know there's no way to get certainty here, but I was wondering if any of this was, on its face, disqualifying so that I could focus on trying to get other jobs (and not be stranded in late spring if I fail the review process).

Thanks in advance for your insight!

I just got hired for a full-time job at a different part of the federal government so this isn't directly applicable, though the standard of review is similar (mine was suitability and fitness; it all seems like it's based on this https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/5/ ... /subpart-B). Based on my experience, if they do a real review, it will take 3-4 months, which would mean by the time they were anywhere close to done with the process, you could be halfway through your internship.

Is there a 2L/3L you could ask about the post-offer review? Or maybe career services? It may be that they don't conduct much of a check because they don't have time, and instead they just run your credit report and a criminal record check and call it a day.

But if they do conduct a real check, you might want to consider whether or not this is the path for you. I had to consider how to disclose some potentially disqualifying conduct during my hiring process. I got spooked and ended up hiring a lawyer who works on this. It sounds like for the particular agency I was applying to, any drug use within the past year was treated as basically per se disqualifying, and anything within the past three years was still not a comfortable place to be in though you might be able to explain it away depending the circumstances. I didn't ask the lawyer about other drugs, but I got the sense that those were taken a lot more seriously than marijuana and the timeframes described above may not apply. Though I ended up self-disclosing the potentially disqualifying conduct I was worried about, I got the sense from my lawyer that a lot of people do choose to lie and they get away with it. I also know people from law school who I'm pretty sure lied on their applications based on what I saw them do and where they work now.

But to be clear, I am not recommending that you lie. It's a crime and it makes it possible for someone to blackmail you. I told the truth and, though it resulted in a holdup in my application and I needed to hire a lawyer to help me, I think I made the right call and I did ultimately get cleared to start. If it looks like you're going to be asked about this, you may want to consider whether to apply to other jobs during 1L and circle back to DOJ after this is farther in the past.

[Elston Gunn]

The advice we got in law school was, if we felt we needed to answer yes to the drug questions, was to not go forward with the hiring process or summer internships. This is especially so if your drug use falls within the relevant look back period now (I think 7 years usually), but wouldn’t when applying for a post-grad job, because the record stays forever. I honestly don’t know if this is good advice, but hopefully someone with more experience can weigh on the risks/rewards.