Leaving USAO for Another Fed Agency Forum

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone left being an AUSA to go to another federal agency (something like USDA, DOE, VA, etc.)? I have had some frustrations lately with all of the red tape of being an AUSA and feel like I cannot get anything accomplished. It would also be nice to move from the AD pay scale to the GS scale, but I am concerned that I would not get the same job satisfaction at another agency. I do love being an AUSA when I can actually get results, but that has been difficult lately. Any insights?

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone left being an AUSA to go to another federal agency (something like USDA, DOE, VA, etc.)? I have had some frustrations lately with all of the red tape of being an AUSA and feel like I cannot get anything accomplished. It would also be nice to move from the AD pay scale to the GS scale, but I am concerned that I would not get the same job satisfaction at another agency. I do love being an AUSA when I can actually get results, but that has been difficult lately. Any insights?

Are you in criminal or civil? I ask just b/c the agencies you list seem more likely to hire civil litigators (as opposed to agencies like DEA, FBI, DHS). I'm also not clear what you mean by being unable to get anything accomplished (though that does also suggest civil to me versus criminal, since IME you need more approval/buy in for spending taxpayer money than putting bad guys in prison, but just spitballing). You don't have to answer any of that, but it all probably ties into how you define getting results and satisfaction.

I haven't worked for other agencies, but from looking at job listings regularly, I think a lot of it depends on what kind of a job you want. Do you like litigation? My sense is that for most jobs at other agencies, you're looking at attorney-advisor positions,* where you will be advising (duh!) on litigation strategy but not actually going to trial, although you may have trial-like experiences in the personnel side in front of administrative agencies. As a civil AUSA, I think that agency counsel tend to have to deal with a lot of discovery issues without the fun of trial, but that's obviously subjective. But the advising/counseling type role also has the potential to address a much broader range of things than who is suing the agency, and plenty of people find that more satisfying, of course. It's just likely to be very different day to day than being a litigator, so you will want to think about whether getting more of some things you want will mean giving up too many of the things you sort of take for granted that you like to do. (I've definitely in the past left one job for another that offered major things the first job didn't, without realizing that the second job also lacked important things that I liked in the first job.)

*Though apparently the VA currently has an opening for an investigative attorney, which actually looks really interesting, but I think is pretty uncommon. (I would avoid the board of veteran appeals, though, from what I've heard.)

I guess from my experience working with attorneys for other federal agencies, I'd be surprised if there was significantly less bureaucracy/more opportunity for results than at a USAO, but again, spitballing. Also purely anecdotally, I think the further you are from DC, the better, so for instance, there's less red tape at a USAO than at Main Justice (though I recognize you haven't mentioned Main Justice as an option, so that's probably clear already).

Last comment - to the extent your difficulty in getting results "lately" arises from your current management, you could try a different USAO. I'm on my fourth USA and different management can lead to very different office cultures. This isn't particularly helpful if you're tied to a particular location, of course, but being location-bound can also really limit the other federal agency options (unless you're in a particularly major metro, I suppose).

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone left being an AUSA to go to another federal agency (something like USDA, DOE, VA, etc.)? I have had some frustrations lately with all of the red tape of being an AUSA and feel like I cannot get anything accomplished. It would also be nice to move from the AD pay scale to the GS scale, but I am concerned that I would not get the same job satisfaction at another agency. I do love being an AUSA when I can actually get results, but that has been difficult lately. Any insights?

I am at DOD, and one of the attorneys in our office spent 15 years at DOJ as a trial attorney before coming here. They had to re-learn the law because what they did at DOJ was totally different from what we do in my office, but litigation skills are the same. I am a recent Honors hire, and they are a great mentor for me.
As a fair warning, at least in our agency, we have 3 layers of delegated authority to run our own cases. The chief lawyer in our office is usually hands off and you can do whatever you want (that's layer 1), but people in HQ (layer 2, from which the original authority to litigate comes from) will absolutely dictate how to run things if they want to achieve something specific through your case. And then if something is appealed to the Federal Circuit, the DOJ (layer 3) is involved and you are basically a glorified paralegal at that point.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone left being an AUSA to go to another federal agency (something like USDA, DOE, VA, etc.)? I have had some frustrations lately with all of the red tape of being an AUSA and feel like I cannot get anything accomplished. It would also be nice to move from the AD pay scale to the GS scale, but I am concerned that I would not get the same job satisfaction at another agency. I do love being an AUSA when I can actually get results, but that has been difficult lately. Any insights?

Recent former AUSA here.

Does not compute. This obviously varies somewhat by office, but as a rule, AUSAs have much, much more autonomy and independence (i.e., less red tape) than agency attorneys. The degree of independence I had v. attorneys I worked with at USDA, VA, HHS, DOD, DOC, and pretty much every other agency was night and day. If red tape is the source of your dissatisfaction as an AUSA, going to an agency is not your fix my friend, but maybe consider if there's another USAO that might fit you better.