SAUSA Forum

[Anonymous User]

For those of you who have done SAUSA, or know about it, how do you go about making these roles? Do you reach out to the USAO and ask them first and then approach your DA/first assistant? Or do you reach out to your DA and ask them to reach out to the USAO? I like my job as an ADA, but want some experience with the federal system. Don't want to rub anyone the wrong way thinking I'm trying to jump ship or anything but asking about a SAUSA. Would appreciate any insights!

[Anonymous User]

I have to preface this by saying that I don’t have a lot of personal knowledge about this. But from the AUSA side, I don’t think that ADAs can reach out and create these roles. My understanding is that it’s arranged between the USAO and DA at the management level, where the two offices work together and particularly the USAO determines that they need assistance in a particular area that the DA’s office has expertise in. If you’ve identified an area of potential collaboration you could bring it up to your management, but I think it’s often more codifying a relationship that’s already developed. So if you’re working a lot of cases that have federal involvement or the potential for federal charges, a SAUSA role could make sense for both offices. But it’s more about USAO need/benefit than what a given ADA would like to do.

This is just my anecdotal understanding, though, and practices can vary. Plus I personally am not great at self-advocacy, so I may underestimate the chance of creating this kind of opportunity. Are there others in your office who’ve worked as SAUSAs, and if so, can you talk to them about how they went about it? Or are there AUSAs you’ve worked with that you can reach out to for input on how SAUAs work in their office?

Otherwise, I think it would make much more sense to talk to your management about it first. Obviously you know better whether they will take that well or not, but I think you can spin it as wanting to get experience that will be helpful for the DA’s office - again, especially if you regularly work on cases with federal involvement or that ultimately go federal. If you’re working on, for instance, health care fraud and work a lot with federal agents, it’s not hard to spin a SAUSA as a way to cement those relationships and better serve the community by helping the two offices interface etc etc. (I say health care fraud b/c I feel like I’ve seen a lot of SAUSAs in that area but there are other areas of overlap.) But if you’re working on DV/assault/theft/murder etc cases that (IME) tend not to have federal involvement it’s honestly harder to make the case that there’s some operational advantage to the two offices for you to take on a SAUSA role. Because again, the purpose of a SAUSA gig is generally to provide coverage/expertise to a USAO where they need it and it will benefit both federal and state offices, not to give ADAs federal experience.

(Don’t mean to tell you anything you don’t already know, so ignore the above if that’s what I’m doing - I just wasn’t clear from your post.)

[Anonymous User]

Current SAUSA here. Not all SAUSA partnerships are between a DA's Office and the USAO, but if you're already an ADA, I would say the better bet is to start with leadership at your office. As the poster above said, they will likely want to know how your specific caseload/expertise can serve the community at the federal level. Above poster is also right about some of the white collar type cases, but if you typically do violent crime/drugs, Project Safe Neighborhoods is a DOJ initiative that targets gun and drug crimes against problematic offenders (often some of the suspected murder/assault/DV targets where there are problems prosecuting the underlying violent offense) from local authorities. These will often be felon in possession and PWID cases, but Hobbs Act robberies are somewhat common in my district and I'm able to assist federal agencies in proactive investigations in the jurisdiction that pays me. To the extent there are drug conspiracies you can charge, there may be room to charge traditionally white collar offenses too.

All that said, the local DA's office isn't the only entity that partners with a USAO. Local police departments, sheriff's offices, and even some federal agencies (usually DEA through HIDTA grants) will hire SAUSAs. If you don't think your DA will go for a SAUSA pitch and you have a good relationship with another agency, you could try going that route too. The other half of the equation will depend on the USAO's needs and the USA's priorities, which will likely be trickier to determine. Candidly, it can be an uphill climb, but don't be discouraged if SAUSA doesn't work out in the near term or if you apply for AUSA roles and don't get a call. At least in my district, management pays attention to who applies regularly and most of the attorneys in my office applied more than once before getting an interview/hired (me included).

[Anonymous User]

Oh yeah, good point about PSN gigs. My office has gotten funding to hire AUSAs dedicated to that area, but it’s definitely a good area of overlap.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks so much for all the input. Is it possible to do a part time SAUSA? Or is that generally not a thing?

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks so much for all the input. Is it possible to do a part time SAUSA? Or is that generally not a thing?

I've never seen one, though I don't have affirmative information you can't. But I'm not sure I've ever seen a part time AUSA gig, either. Keep in mind that you usually can't be engaged in other legal work while working for the USAO.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks so much. Was just hoping there might be a way to do ADA work (in case of pressing matters etc.) and SAUSA work at the same time. But it makes sense that that wouldn't be a possibility since you might have trial, suppression motions etc. and it could not be neatly spliced. Thanks all!