I'm currently a term law clerk for a federal bankruptcy judge and am interested in maybe working for the UST after my clerkship (possibly through DOJ Honors).
Can any of you shed some light on what it is like working for the UST?How did you end up at the UST's office? Do you like the work? Do you plan to stay with the UST? Any advice for a bankruptcy law clerk interested in this possibly working for the UST in the future?
Thanks,
Working for the United States Trustee Forum
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Anonymous User
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soft blue
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Re: Working for the United States Trustee
Also interested in the UST.
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Anonymous User
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Re: Working for the United States Trustee
Current attorney in the USTP here. Happy to answer questions. I've been in the program for a couple years now, and so far I've enjoyed.
Working for the USTP is like working for any other government component that is focused on litigation. By that I mean that even as a very young attorney, you will likely have your own case load within 6 months of joining the program. This can be daunting, but it also gives you the opportunity to gain huge amounts of substantive experience very quickly. As a trial attorney for the program you can expect to be in court 2-3 times per week.
I ended up in the USTP through DOJ honors. That is pretty much the only way to join the program as an attorney with less than three years of experience. Otherwise the program generally looks for 3-5 years of substantive bankruptcy litigation experience before hiring.
The work can be vary greatly depending on the office you are hired by. For example, there are many regions where there are very few Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases filed. Attorneys in offices that cover those regions rarely get the opportunity to work on Chapter 11 issues. On the other hand, the Delaware office is swamped with Chapter 11's and their attorneys are probably assigned more than 20 Chapter 11's a piece. Many offices are somewhere in between those extremes. For example, the Texas offices have good mix of Chapter 11's and other work.
Besides Chapter 11 work, most of the day-to-day for trial attorneys in the program consist of investigating individual cases. These cases could have discharge issues or be bad faith filings. There are also so instances where actions are taken against under performing attorneys who are not representing their clients up to the standards required by the Bankruptcy Code.
For right now, I plan to stay with the program, but I may move soon. Mostly because I am interested in the business side of the private sector. The one negative I will say about working for the program is that,there is not a lot of room to negotiate with opposing parties. As a trial attorney, you kind of have to strictly advance the programs agenda, even if it may not be the most economically efficient option.
As a law clerk, the best way to get into the program is to apply through DOJ honors. Most of the folks in my DOJ honors class were coming off of bankruptcy clerkships.
Working for the USTP is like working for any other government component that is focused on litigation. By that I mean that even as a very young attorney, you will likely have your own case load within 6 months of joining the program. This can be daunting, but it also gives you the opportunity to gain huge amounts of substantive experience very quickly. As a trial attorney for the program you can expect to be in court 2-3 times per week.
I ended up in the USTP through DOJ honors. That is pretty much the only way to join the program as an attorney with less than three years of experience. Otherwise the program generally looks for 3-5 years of substantive bankruptcy litigation experience before hiring.
The work can be vary greatly depending on the office you are hired by. For example, there are many regions where there are very few Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases filed. Attorneys in offices that cover those regions rarely get the opportunity to work on Chapter 11 issues. On the other hand, the Delaware office is swamped with Chapter 11's and their attorneys are probably assigned more than 20 Chapter 11's a piece. Many offices are somewhere in between those extremes. For example, the Texas offices have good mix of Chapter 11's and other work.
Besides Chapter 11 work, most of the day-to-day for trial attorneys in the program consist of investigating individual cases. These cases could have discharge issues or be bad faith filings. There are also so instances where actions are taken against under performing attorneys who are not representing their clients up to the standards required by the Bankruptcy Code.
For right now, I plan to stay with the program, but I may move soon. Mostly because I am interested in the business side of the private sector. The one negative I will say about working for the program is that,there is not a lot of room to negotiate with opposing parties. As a trial attorney, you kind of have to strictly advance the programs agenda, even if it may not be the most economically efficient option.
As a law clerk, the best way to get into the program is to apply through DOJ honors. Most of the folks in my DOJ honors class were coming off of bankruptcy clerkships.
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Anonymous User
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Re: Working for the United States Trustee
Anon above, any advice for USTP Honors interviews? Current USBC clerk also interviewing with other components/agencies and trying to show serious interest despite not ranking USTP first
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Anonymous User
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Re: Working for the United States Trustee
Bumping thread. Interested in USTP. I already have an offer with a lit/in-house with another fed agency. How does USTP compare? Are there good exit options if I'm still on the fence about doing bankruptcy long-term?
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