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Hi. I'm a 1L at a T14 and I really want to be an AUSA in SDNY. What steps should I take in law school, and at a firm later on, to best position myself to get this job?

Get very good grades. Clerk in SDNY. Go to NYC Biglaw with strong white collar practice and lots of alumni. Work in white collar. Apply. Or try to go honors route before biglaw.

That said, any reason you're committed to SDNY other than prestige? EDNY & DNJ nearby do interesting work and there are many others around the country.

Spending a summer or semester interning there is a good idea in addition to the above. I think clerking, while not a formal prerequisite, would the most important thing you could do to improve your chances. SDNY clerkship or Court of Appeals (or both) would be helpful.

Not an AUSA but interned at SDNY/EDNY and a mentor of mine is an AUSA. My sense is the biggest boost you can get is clerking in SDNY + working at top NY WC big law shop (thinking DPW/PW/WH/S&C/Deb). Fwiw, I've seen many AUSAs that did not clerk in SDNY or EDNY, but they still clerked. Given how hard it is to get that specific clerkship, I wouldn't stress to much about it. I'd just focus on excellent grades and maybe a summer position there to show interest. There's no guarantee you'll get sdny clerkships, but if you do reasonably well you can get recommendations from judges at other clerkships and partners with ties to SDNY.

My sense is that outside of traditional markers that make someone a good candidate anywhere (clerking for selective/relevant districts, graduating from top schools, working at top wc big law shops) there isn't really a secret in otherwise. Summering there isn't going to hurt but it's not going to get you in over someone else with those other things.

I don't know about SDNY specifically, but my experience is that getting referrals from the AUSAs working there will get your resume off the pile. You do this by interning there or otherwise befriending/getting to know them (e.g., work under or with them in big law). I'd strongly recommend interning there during summer between 1L and 2L.

I strongly doubt that a summer internship is going to result in any AUSAs in the office recommending your resume from the pile when you apply for an AUSA position 8 years later. Agree that working for a former AUSA in that office at a big law firm and doing good work (and getting a recommendation) will go far though.

Yeah, anecdotally, I think USAOs like to see that you interned for *a* USAO during law school, and a huge proportion of AUSAs I know did, but it's not going to move the needle the way a recommendation from a former AUSA will, and it's not going to disqualify you if you don't. If you can, you might as well - I just mean that if SDNY doesn't work out, another USAO will still be good, and if for some reason it doesn't happen at all, you're not doomed.

While I think a USAO internship is interesting and worthwhile, my impression (admittedly not from personal knowledge) is that SDNY takes a lot of summer interns and it's hard to stand out. Frankly from the AUSA's side, at least in my district, I think it's hard to get to know that much about the interns (unless you help run the program, maybe), and not all 1Ls are really that impressive yet. I actually interviewed with the USAO where I interned in law school about 6 yrs later. The interviewer asked, "so who did you work with when you were here?" and I said, "actually, you." (When I told them the case I worked on they remembered it, so they knew I wasn't lying, but still not sure they remembered me at all.)

To the original question, especially what you can do while at a firm, I don't think anyone has specifically said this yet, but get as much criminal pro bono experience as you can. A USAO won't care about that being on the defense side, it's still really relevant and helpful. I also know of a firm that lends associates out to a local prosecutor's office for 6 months, so if that's an option, do that. (The firm I know of isn't in NY and not sure how widespread this is, but it's a great opportunity if it's available.)