AD Pay Scale Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm hoping to join a mid/major-market USAO after my clerkship and sweating the pay situation a little. Can anyone provide some insight into the factors that comprise the Minimum/25%/Midpoint/75%/Maximum pay determination? Is placement within the pay range office-specific, dependent on prior experience, etc.? In, say, the D.Mass. or E.D.Tex. or N.D.Ga., does anyone know if all AUSA hires of the same seniority level are brought in at generally the same pay percentile? What if you were a prior state prosecutor or a double AIII clerk - would you get placed higher up the range? All insight is appreciated: thanks!

[Anonymous User]

So my caveat is that offices can differ, so I’m answering based on my own experience, which may be different from the offices you list. Not office-specific (AFAIK), recruiting salary can fall between minimum and 75%, while you have to get an “outstanding” annual rating to get paid in the 75+% zone (so you aren’t eligible to get that rate till you’ve done at least one year and got an annual rating). Your AD-grade depends on your total years of experience as a lawyer, not in the federal government.

Generally, though, I believe that offices do prefer to bring in people with the same seniority level at the same percentile, and where offices differ is what that percentile will be. At least, for people who have <9 years’ experience and are still moving up the AD-scale; if you’re at the top AD-grade then I think there’s more flexibility (because if you’d been in the federal government that long you’d probably be somewhere above the 25th percentile, but also you’re probably a partner at a firm or a very highly experienced prosecutor from some other jurisdiction so not quite the same as more junior types).

My impression is that generally offices don’t like to pay people at the same level differently based simply on the fact that they came from a higher (or lower) paying job, so biglaw people take big pay cuts. That said, I can’t say that’s the only possible way it works.

[Anonymous User]

^ Thanks. OP here. I'd be coming in with 5 years' (BigLaw + clerkships) experience and, as you say, wouldn't expect the max or even the 75th. But is it unreasonable to expect the midpoint at the sorts of mid/major offices I listed? I'm certainly prepared to take a 50% pay cut over what I'd be making in BigLaw, but a 60-70% haircut (i.e., the "Minimum" range for AD-25) would be really tough to take.

[Anonymous User]

FWIW, the cheapest offices I know of start people at the 25th percentile. I don’t know of anywhere that starts people at minimum. (I also don’t know of any that start people at the midpoint, but I can’t say that none do and I don’t know what the offices you listed do.)

Also, you probably know this, but just in case, the AD-scale doesn’t include locality pay.

[mariamacapa]

I only have two data points, but I have an offer that is just above the 25th percentile at a small USAO. A buddy of mine said he got exactly 25th percentile in a larger office. We are both on the high end of the AD scale.