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I'm an AUSA looking to return to biglaw. I saw Kobre Kim posted a job yesterday looking for current AUSAs to join their government enforcement practice. But, they only want NY, DC, or Miami AUSAs.

I find that to be a very weird set of districts. I'm not in those districts but am in a fairly selective district (SF, LA, CHI, BOS).

I am confused as to why Kobre Kim only wants AUSAs in those 3 districts. On one part, I'm slightly offended (lol). On the other part, I'm also just wondering if there is something unique about those 3.

edit: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3828652533

Aren't NY and DC more prestigious for pretty much everything? Miami seems kinda random, so I take your point on that one.

Why would they want DC AUSAs? The vast majority of them work in the superior court section running DV cases. I can see Miami because it has one of the best fraud offices in the country. But their selection is weird.

OP here. I'm glad I'm not the only one puzzled here.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 13, 2024 11:07 pm

Aren't NY and DC more prestigious for pretty much everything? Miami seems kinda random, so I take your point on that one.

I guess I don't know about prestige but the USAO in DC is one of the easier ones to get into. The District of Columbia doesn't have a regular District Attorney/States Attorney to prosecute local (non federal) crimes so the USAO is responsible for prosecuting the local crimes there. So, they hire quite a few lawyers in that office and the vast majority don't practice in federal court -- just state court and prosecuting the same cases that a local DA would.

I think they are looking for AUSAs in major, competitive districts as opposed to flyover AUSAs who don't routinely handle white collar cases.

I wonder if wires got crossed here on the job posting. Kobre has five US offices - New York, DC, Miami, plus San Francisco and Delaware. The SF office has just two lawyers. And Delaware also has two lawyers (who do chancery). So it seems quite possible that they are looking to hire someone to sit in one of NY, DC, or Miami.

If it's not a wires-crossed thing, then maybe they think it's important that an AUSA hire be local to the market in which he or she worked previously. Local knowledge and all that, idk.

The place seems weirdly specific in hiring preferences, even in comparison with V5/more competitive lit boutiques/etc. According to their careers page they require candidates with "extensive writing experience" and "work experience at a top-tier law firm" who are "honors graduates from a top law school." They then put them through a two or three-round interview process (three rounds being pretty far outside the norm in my experience), all of which are followed by a "writing test" (!). So although the crossed-wires explanation makes sense to me, the other explanation doesn't seem that abnormal for them.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 15, 2024 2:54 am

I wonder if wires got crossed here on the job posting. Kobre has five US offices - New York, DC, Miami, plus San Francisco and Delaware. The SF office has just two lawyers. And Delaware also has two lawyers (who do chancery). So it seems quite possible that they are looking to hire someone to sit in one of NY, DC, or Miami.

If it's not a wires-crossed thing, then maybe they think it's important that an AUSA hire be local to the market in which he or she worked previously. Local knowledge and all that, idk.

I think it’s a simple as they want an AUSA from an office in a jurisdiction they’re looking to hire. Miami has one of the top offices in the country and has unique cases with cross border elements, as does the Miami office of Kobre Kim.