a
living.
The
Department
of
Justice
is
absolutely
bleeding
qualified
attorneys.
What
was
once
one
of
the
most
prestigious
jobs
in
government
lawyering
has,
under
Attorney
General
Pam
Bondi,
taken
hit
after
hit.
And
honestly?
That’s
what
happens
when
you
rebrand
the
Justice
Department
as
the
president’s
personal
law
firm.
Career
prosecutors
have
been
asked
to
drop
corruption
cases
as
part
of
political
bargains,
sign
off
on
dubiously
motivated
prosecutions
of
Donald
Trump’s
enemies,
or
otherwise
help
run
a
machine
that
increasingly
treats
court
orders
and
the
Constitution
as
optional
suggestions.
Turns
out
a
lot
of
seasoned
attorneys
would
rather…
not.
Which
leaves
DOJ
with
a
bit
of
a
staffing
problem.
So
how
exactly
does
the
department
plan
to
refill
the
ranks
needed
to
keep
Trump’s
far-right
agenda
humming
along?
They’ve
tried
a
few
things
already.
Like
stopping
the
gap
with
military
lawyers,
though
that
may
well
violate
the
law
and
hasn’t
been
wildly
successful
in
stanching
the
pain.
They
organized
emergency
jump
teams
to
reshuffle
the
workload,
and
even
took
to
Twitter
(X,
whatevs)
to
get
more
true
true-believers
to
sign
up.
But
apparently
those
measures
weren’t
quite
enough.
According
to
reporting
from
Bloomberg
Law,
DOJ
has
now
decided
the
real
barrier
to
hiring
more
prosecutors
is…
the
requirement
that
prosecutors
have
any
legal
experience
at
all.
Once
upon
a
time,
the
Justice
Department
required
prosecutors
have
some
experience
as
a
real
life
lawyer
before
they
hired
them
(the
nationwide
minimum
was
one
year,
but
some
offices
implemented
a
three-year
requirement).
Now,
that’s
gone.
In
a
March
13
message
with
the
subject
line,
“Suspension
of
Attorney
One
Year
Experience
Requirement,”
DOJ
headquarters
informed
US
Attorneys’
offices
that
the
department’s
lawyer
recruitment
office
now
permits
them
to
exclude
the
one-year
minimum
when
advertising
vacancies.
The
memo
reviewed
by
Bloomberg
Law
goes
on
to
state,
“This
suspension
is
in
effect
until
February
28,
2027,
and
was
implemented
due
to
an
exigent
hiring
need
for
attorneys
across
the
Department.”
Several
offices
—
including
those
in
Minnesota,
South
Florida,
Alaska,
Louisiana,
and
Montana
—
have
already
ditched
the
experience
requirement.
A
DOJ
spokesperson
tried
to
spin
the
move
as
empowerment.
“Under
the
leadership
of
Attorney
General
Bondi
and
Deputy
Attorney
General
Blanche,
this
Department
of
Justice
is
proud
to
empower
young
and
passionate
prosecutors
and
offer
attorneys
at
every
level
the
opportunity
to
invest
their
talents
into
keeping
their
communities
safe,
including
from
the
predators
the
previous
administration
welcomed
with
open
arms,”
said
a
DOJ
spokesperson.
Sure,
that’s
*a*
take.
But…
it’s
also
much
easier
to
indoctrinate
brand-new
lawyers
who
haven’t
yet
developed
the
professional
confidence
(or
career
mobility)
to
push
back
when
the
boss
asks
them
to
do
something
that
might
make
the
ethics
professors
back
at
law
school
wince.
After
all,
experienced
attorneys
with
options
tend
to
recognize
when
an
institution
is
in
freefall.
Earlier:
‘Emergency
Jump
Teams’
Are
DOJ’s
New
Plan
To
Paper
Over
Its
Self-Inflicted
Crisis
DOJ
Begging
For
AUSAs
On
Twitter
Like
They’re
Putting
Together
A
Kickball
League
DOJ
Has
Lost
So
Many
Lawyers
It
Might
Not
Have
Enough
Left
To
Help
Trump
Destroy
America
Attorneys
Are
Fleeing
From
The
Solicitor
General’s
Office
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].