Staff Attorney for COA Worth It? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm going to be a little obtuse on the details, due to fear of outing myself.

I got offered a staff attorney spot for a 1 year term. I graduated middle of the pack from HYS, sometime in the not too distant past. I currently work in a very litigation heavy position and will have extensive litigation experience by the time the position starts (PD/ADA). My ultimate goal is big Fed. I can likely go back to my current position at the end of the term, but I have no guarantee. Wherever I apply to post staff attorney, I'd have somewhere between 4-6 years of experience as an attorney.

Given my situation what would you guys do?

edited for below

[ph14]

I'm going to be a little obtuse on the details, due to fear of outing myself.

I got offered a staff attorney spot for a 1 year term. I graduated middle of the pack from HYS, sometime in the not too distant past. I currently work in a very litigation heavy position and will have extensive litigation experience by the time the position starts (think solo/small firm/ Public Interest/ PD/ADA). My ultimate goal is big Fed. I can likely go back to my current position at the end of the term, but I have no guarantee. Wherever I apply to post staff attorney, I'd have somewhere between 4-6 years of experience as an attorney.

Given my situation what would you guys do?

You're being pretty vague. Can you narrow down what your current position is? I'm inclined to think you should continue in your current position, depending what it is.

[Anonymous User]

PD/ADA

[JusticeJackson]

.

[Anonymous User]

I'm going to be a little obtuse on the details, due to fear of outing myself.

I got offered a staff attorney spot for a 1 year term. I graduated middle of the pack from HYS, sometime in the not too distant past. I currently work in a very litigation heavy position and will have extensive litigation experience by the time the position starts (PD/ADA). My ultimate goal is big Fed. I can likely go back to my current position at the end of the term, but I have no guarantee. Wherever I apply to post staff attorney, I'd have somewhere between 4-6 years of experience as an attorney.

Given my situation what would you guys do?

edited for below

If the offer is to be a chambers staff attorney and not a central office staff attorney, and assuming the judge has good fed connections, I would go for it.

[Anonymous User]

I'm going to be a little obtuse on the details, due to fear of outing myself.

I got offered a staff attorney spot for a 1 year term. I graduated middle of the pack from HYS, sometime in the not too distant past. I currently work in a very litigation heavy position and will have extensive litigation experience by the time the position starts (PD/ADA). My ultimate goal is big Fed. I can likely go back to my current position at the end of the term, but I have no guarantee. Wherever I apply to post staff attorney, I'd have somewhere between 4-6 years of experience as an attorney.

Given my situation what would you guys do?

edited for below

If the offer is to be a chambers staff attorney and not a central office staff attorney, and assuming the judge has good fed connections, I would go for it.

Can you elaborate on why this makes a difference? I guess aside from the obvious. My fear is that even if in chambers , I still get the "black mark" of staff attorney on my resume.

[Anonymous User]

I'm going to be a little obtuse on the details, due to fear of outing myself.

I got offered a staff attorney spot for a 1 year term. I graduated middle of the pack from HYS, sometime in the not too distant past. I currently work in a very litigation heavy position and will have extensive litigation experience by the time the position starts (PD/ADA). My ultimate goal is big Fed. I can likely go back to my current position at the end of the term, but I have no guarantee. Wherever I apply to post staff attorney, I'd have somewhere between 4-6 years of experience as an attorney.

Given my situation what would you guys do?

edited for below

If the offer is to be a chambers staff attorney and not a central office staff attorney, and assuming the judge has good fed connections, I would go for it.

Can you elaborate on why this makes a difference? I guess aside from the obvious. My fear is that even if in chambers , I still get the "black mark" of staff attorney on my resume.

If the judge is well connected and if you'll be doing the same work as the "clerks," he will be able to explain to his connections exactly what kind of work you did. I see it as a matter of you and the judge having to educate people once you hit the job market, assuming of course that the "if's" I assume in my first sentence are true.

[Jchance]

The firm I'm at wouldn't hire a staff attorney. My understanding has always been that it's a dead end job, but it is easy and fairly laid back while you're there.

I think the "dead-end job" is for those typical 3-5 year staff attorney positions. For a 1-year gig, it might be worth it if u want BigFed in the long run. I can see u getting AUSA after this gig.

[JusticeJackson]

.

[Jchance]

in-chamber staff attorney sounds like a managing clerk to me, can u try to negotiate the label of ur position?

[Anonymous User]

I've never heard of an in-chambers staff attorney, either (though I can't say they don't exist - like above, I don't know how that would differ from being a career clerk).

I do know someone who went from staff attorney --> AUSA, though. Obviously it's purely anecdotal and I don't know all their other qualifications, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

[ClerkAdvisor]

I'm going to be a little obtuse on the details, due to fear of outing myself.

I got offered a staff attorney spot for a 1 year term. I graduated middle of the pack from HYS, sometime in the not too distant past. I currently work in a very litigation heavy position and will have extensive litigation experience by the time the position starts (PD/ADA). My ultimate goal is big Fed. I can likely go back to my current position at the end of the term, but I have no guarantee. Wherever I apply to post staff attorney, I'd have somewhere between 4-6 years of experience as an attorney.

Given my situation what would you guys do?

edited for below

If the offer is to be a chambers staff attorney and not a central office staff attorney, and assuming the judge has good fed connections, I would go for it.

In my time clerking, I've never heard of a "chambers staff attorney." The Staff Attorney's Office is a separate entity within each Circuit, and the staff attorneys are on a separate (and much lower payscale) than judicial clerks. In contrast, career clerks/permanent clerks are judicial law clerks with permanent appointments (and are on the much higher judicial law clerk payscale, i.e., JSP-13 or JSP-14).

[ClerkAdvisor]

The firm I'm at wouldn't hire a staff attorney. My understanding has always been that it's a dead end job, but it is easy and fairly laid back while you're there.

I think the "dead-end job" is for those typical 3-5 year staff attorney positions. For a 1-year gig, it might be worth it if u want BigFed in the long run. I can see u getting AUSA after this gig.

Getting an AUSA position after being a COA staff attorney is a very unlikely outcome. Judicial clerks struggle to get AUSA positions...

[Anonymous User]

The firm I'm at wouldn't hire a staff attorney. My understanding has always been that it's a dead end job, but it is easy and fairly laid back while you're there.

I think the "dead-end job" is for those typical 3-5 year staff attorney positions. For a 1-year gig, it might be worth it if u want BigFed in the long run. I can see u getting AUSA after this gig.

Getting an AUSA position after being a COA staff attorney is a very unlikely outcome. Judicial clerks struggle to get AUSA positions...

I know someone who went staff attorney --> AUSA. But I doubt it's typical. (And I've never heard of a "chambers staff attorney," either.)

[Anonymous User]

I appreciate all of the feedback and the acknowledgement that my situation is quite unusual. I guess I'll take it for what it's worth that there are so many confused opinions as to if what I've been offered actually exists. But too address some of the issues, I didn't send anything into the Staff Attorney's Office. I interviewed directly with a judge and was offered the position by that judge. Based on the conversation we had, I'd be in chambers. There are few more specifics that I can't really include because I'm probably dangerously close to outing myself.

[Anonymous User]

I would stick with your current position.

[dresden doll]

How likely are you to be able to return to your current job?

[Anonymous User]

. came a little close to outing myself.

[middlemarch]

Perhaps it depends on the type of work you'll be doing, and unique to the specific COA? Some staff attorneys will handle only things like immigration cases, Social Security appeals, habeas petitions, i.e. subject matters that don't lend themselves to practical experience for many employers. On the other hand, I know in the 7th Circuit there are "staff law clerk" positions that seem quite prestigious, involve more interaction with the judges, and seem closer to chambers clerkships (e.g. there's a young up-and-coming academic named Julia Rickert, who co-authored a major article with Stephen Calabresi, who is currently a staff law clerk there. You have to think that she could have easily gotten any COA clerkship with those credentials).

Here's a good video about it on CA7, which ends with Judge Wood talking about employment opportunities: http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/video_libra ... html?rel=0