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I am currently working as an ADA in a flyover state, medium-large metropolitan area. Been slightly over a year here, mostly doing misdemeanor crimes/bench trials no jury trials. I applied and was accepted for a US District Court staff attorney position in another flyover state. Would I be stupid to give up my current job and take this new job? I have been dreaming of working at fed court for a long time, but my job does give me good trial experience, at least for the first few years. Please help!

Chambers staff attorney (working for a judge) or part of the Office of Staff Attorney (working for senior staff attorney)?

Being a court staff attorney is like 1L legal writing as a full time job - if that's what you're into.
I personally wouldn't give up my NYC ADA gig for any other job, let alone a 24/7 HW gig. Maybe AUSA when I feel like writing more.

Jchance: Not for chambers, just a general staff attorney position. I believe they do help judges though, just not for a single judge exclusively. They also help with other administrative stuff and give advice to Clerk's office.

Anonymous User: Isn't any ASUA job much more prestigious than any ADA job? (Including ADA jobs in NYC) Also, would your answer change if the ADA is not in NYC but a flyover state. How about if this was a US District court clerkship or a staff attorney position in US Court of Appeals?

poweradezero wrote:Jchance: Not for chambers, just a general staff attorney position. I believe they do help judges though, just not for a single judge exclusively. They also help with other administrative stuff and give advice to Clerk's office.

Anonymous User: Isn't any ASUA job much more prestigious than any ADA job? (Including ADA jobs in NYC) Also, would your answer change if the ADA is not in NYC but a flyover state. How about if this was a US District court clerkship or a staff attorney position in US Court of Appeals?

NYC ADAs, and especially DANY, is comparable in prestige to a flyover state AUSA position - a flyover state ADA not so much.
Prestige however is one of the last things I'd be looking towards when making a lateral move - rather how much I'd enjoy the work.
If you don't enjoy being an ADA, you won't enjoy being a NYC ADA, or an AUSA.

In my district it seems staff attorneys do nothing but habeas, so in that case fuck no

2nd "no" vote to habeas

Staff attorneys at my court work less than 30 hours per week. I heard the hours are even lower at the federal courts. If you work directly for a judge as a career clerk, they sometimes get summer's off too. It is all research and writing. I really respect the career clerks/staff attorneys for all of the knowledge they have. In my local, we have had a couple of career clerks run and win district judge positions.

Anonymous User wrote:Staff attorneys at my court work less than 30 hours per week. I heard the hours are even lower at the federal courts. If you work directly for a judge as a career clerk, they sometimes get summer's off too. It is all research and writing. I really respect the career clerks/staff attorneys for all of the knowledge they have. In my local, we have had a couple of career clerks run and win district judge positions.

Career clerks get summers off? Never heard of that - maybe for a senior status judge? (Or I guess maybe SSC where the justices don't hear cases over the summer.)

in terms of prestige alone, which one would win? fly over state ada vs us distrct court staff attorney?

^ Are either "prestigious" at all? I don't think so. Whatever gives you more relevant experience, IMO

Well i dint mean to say either was prestigious. But u know what i mean.

How about giving up ada job for a full term fed district court clerkship? would u do it?

poweradezero wrote:Jchance: Not for chambers, just a general staff attorney position. I believe they do help judges though, just not for a single judge exclusively. They also help with other administrative stuff and give advice to Clerk's office.

Anonymous User: Isn't any ASUA job much more prestigious than any ADA job? (Including ADA jobs in NYC) Also, would your answer change if the ADA is not in NYC but a flyover state. How about if this was a US District court clerkship or a staff attorney position in US Court of Appeals?

Any AUSA gig is more prestigious than being a line ADA in Manhattan. If you're in the special investigations unit then it can be comparable, but if you're just in a trial bureau, a lot of those folks try to do five years and go AUSA anywhere.

poweradezero wrote:How about giving up ada job for a full term fed district court clerkship? would u do it?

What do you want to do after the clerkship?

Not exactly sure but i think he wanted to do biglaw or go back to ada if he can and then try for ausa

I interviewed for three of these positions over the last few months, and almost took one, but decided to withdraw to take a magistrate clerkship. The job sounds pretty low-key and making gs-14 working 40 hour weeks with what seemed like zero stress was tempting. But it sounded to me like the opportunities to go and do almost anything else afterward were limited. I mean, I wasn't in a position to turn much down (as accepting a mag. clerkship demonstrates), but it looked very much like a job you take and then settle in for a career. I decided I wouldn't take it largely because it wasn't in an area I wanted to be in for the next 10-20 years. The judge interviewed even told me (without using these words) it's typically a job for people who have kids and don't want work to be the focus of their life. That actually describes me, but I don't know if I'm ready for that kind of job with the ink on my diploma still wet.

By the way, it didn't sound to me at all like the job was 30-hours a week. If it had, I would probably have taken it. The way they described, it would be 8:30-5:00 with some flex scheduling allowed.