DOJ to Allow Hiring of US Prosecutors Straight Out of Law School

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Bloomberg Law

Exclusive
DOJ to Allow Hiring of US Prosecutors Straight Out of Law School

March 16, 2026, 5:04 PM EDT
Ben Penn
Senior Reporter

The Justice Department has waived a policy requiring newly hired federal prosecutors to possess at least one year of experience practicing law, as US attorneys’ offices struggle to find qualified replacements following mass departures.

Many offices have previously adopted their own rules mandating at least three years of legal practice, rather than the nationwide baseline threshold of one year. But the reduced standards this month would allow federal districts such as Minnesota and Southern Florida that have experienced significant attrition to put new prosecutors to work straight out of law school.

The move was confirmed by two people familiar with the matter and reflected in newly-posted online vacancy announcements in at least a handful of offices.

The postings for assistant US attorney openings in Minnesota, South Florida, Montana, Alaska, and Louisiana, list a law degree and active state bar membership as required qualifications. They don’t mention a minimum period of service, while other US attorney’s offices still mandate at least one or three years out of law school.

{snip}

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Penn in Washington at [e-mail]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Seth Stern at [e-mail]

Read more: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/doj-to-allow-hiring-of-us-prosecutors-straight-out-of-law-school

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Ransacked Hat
‪@kenwhite.bsky.social‬

It is outrageous to hire people into the incredibly powerful and meaningful position of AUSA right out of law school. They should clerk for a year.

‪National Security Counselors 🕵‬
‪@nationalsecuritylaw.org‬
· 1h
Call them the Bondi Youth

DOJ to Allow Hiring of US Prosecutors Straight Out of Law School
The Justice Department has waived a policy requiring newly hired federal prosecutors to possess at least one year of experience practicing law, as US attorney’s offices struggle to find qualified repl...
news.bloomberglaw.com
5:44 PM · Mar 16, 2026

It is outrageous to hire people into the incredibly powerful and meaningful position of AUSA right out of law school. They should clerk for a year.

— No More Mr. Nice Popehat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) 2026-03-16T21:44:54.132Z

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Just like psychology - pre-licensed professional

Everything is getting worse, degrading. Experience matters. Or it did.

[underpants]

6. Habba, Halligan, and Pirro

yeah who cares about experience?

[walkingman]

2. Quite sure it is more likely from Liberty U. vs Harvard.....the bar is very, very low.

[sheshe2]

7. Pirro can attest to that...

she is under the bar most days.

[annabanana]

3. HA! BEWARE Grads..It's a TRAP

Anyone fool enough to TAKE a job with this DOJ had better have some kind of night gig...

[Marie Marie]

9. Yup, kiss your career and future goodbye.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

15. Good chance of ending up in prison.

[underpants]

4. Sounds like a flood of Liberty and Regent U ideologues

as well as up and comers who post on social media.

Minnesota sounds more like a target rather than alleviating workload.

[msongs]

5. hitler youth are available. swear allegiance to the fuhrer and you're in nt

[Buddyzbuddy]

8. "DOJ will allow" them as direct hires. Don't you mean DOJ is begging and pleading.

Of course they have to get through that tough screening process. "Do you promise to call the President, daddy? And to kiss his big fat ugly arse all day, everyday, and do everything just as you're told to without thought no matter if it's unethical or illegal?"
Yes, then your in.

[Skittles]

10. ONLY TRUMP WHORES NEED APPLY

YES INDEED

edited to add: it would appear the Trump Whore pool is getting smaller and smaller

[Mysterian]

11. If you sieg heil fuhrer trump, you're qualified.

No knowledge of the constitution required.

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

13. I didn't go to law school, but I've seen My Cousin Vinny, Matlock, and Suits. Is that good enough? nt

[BaronChocula]

14. DOJ to Allow Hiring of US Prosecutors Straight Out of Hooters

There. I fixed it.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

17. As waitstaff or as customers? NT

[BaronChocula]

18. Hiring from the waitstaff for sure

It's all about "pretty faces" etc. with this stooge.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

16. Is "DOJ" pronounced like "DOGE"?

They seem to have the same hiring requireents.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

19. MaddowBlog-DOJ reportedly lowers standards for federal prosecutors, adding to an unfortunate pattern

The entirety of the Trump presidency has been a grand experiment in what happens when an administration embraces amateurism and de-professionalization.

The DOJ lowered its standards for prosecutors, which followed the FBI lowering its standards for agents, which followed ICE lowering its standards.

Trumpism is a grand experiment in what happens when an administration embraces amateurism and de-professionalization.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-17T16:13:54.250Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/doj-reportedly-lowers-standards-for-federal-prosecutors-adding-to-an-unfortunate-pattern

The list of missteps at Donald Trump’s Justice Department over the past 14 months is not short, but among the most unsettling developments is the frequency with which Main Justice has fired federal prosecutors as part of a brazenly partisan purge. Making matters worse is the fact that U.S. attorneys’ offices have reportedly struggled to find qualified replacements, with lawyers feeling understandable reluctance to join an administration in which the rule of law has been overtly weaponized.

The DOJ, however, apparently has a solution in mind: Bloomberg Law reported that the department has decided to waive the policy that required newly hired federal prosecutors “to possess at least one year of experience practicing law.” From the report:

Many offices have previously adopted their own rules mandating at least three years of legal practice, rather than the nationwide baseline threshold of one year. But the reduced standards this month were implemented in federal districts such as Minnesota and Southern Florida that have experienced significant attrition to put new prosecutors to work straight out of law school.

.....Indeed, by some measures, the entirety of the Trump presidency has been a grand experiment in what happens when an administration embraces amateurism and de-professionalization.

Trump has informally lowered the standards for what it takes to lead the FBI, what it takes to serve in the Cabinet, what it takes to serve as a U.S. attorney, what it takes to be a success in the private sector and what it takes to serve as vice president.

The president himself was, in the recent past, a television reality show host who didn’t know anything about governing, never served a day in any public post and arguably had no business running to serve as the chief executive of the world’s pre-eminent superpower.

Trumpism, in other words, is defined in large part by a lowering of standards. The DOJ is apparently just keeping up.

As for the motivation behind these developments, some of the considerations are practical — the administration is desperate for prosecutors, and good applicants aren’t interested — but it’s also easy to believe there’s a larger strategy unfolding: Departments stripped of their most experienced staff and their professional standards are more easily manipulated.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

20. MS NOW- Pam Bondi will take whomever she can get in courtrooms

Being willing to hire applicants fresh from law school speaks to how rough it’s been to recruit qualified attorneys to Trump’s Justice Department.

Opinion | Pam Bondi will take whomever she can get in courtrooms - MS NOW apple.news/AFBhy2pxZRNu...

— (@oc88.bsky.social) 2026-03-19T21:30:37.356Z

https://www.ms.now/opinion/doj-hire-law-school-graduates

There are a lot of empty desks in the Justice Department’s offices compared to this time two years ago. Attorney General Pam Bondi has been struggling to restock the much-depleted ranks of federal attorneys after last year’s flood of firings, resignations and buyouts. Now, in the interest of quickly getting bodies in courtrooms, the DOJ has reportedly shifted its policies to allow U.S. attorneys’ offices to hire lawyers straight out of law school.

According to Bloomberg Law, a memo from DOJ headquarters last week said the typical one-year minimum experience requirement can be waived when posting job openings. Bloomberg Law quotes the memo as saying, “This suspension is in effect until February 28, 2027, and was implemented due to an exigent hiring need for attorneys across the Department.” (The memo and its contents have not been reviewed or independently confirmed by MS NOW.)

The “exigent need” for fresh hires that the Justice Department cites is a relatively recent development. Burgeoning lawyers used to leap at the chance to add a DOJ credential to their resumes. But that credential has lost some of its appeal since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. Bondi’s day-one demand that federal lawyers “zealously advance, protect, and defend their client’s interests” — with almost no room for dissent — hasn’t made it easy to replace the thousands of staffers who have left the department since last January.....

There’s no indication of how this new initiative fits with the Trump administration’s ongoing war on elite universities. The Ivy League’s law schools used to be a pipeline for the Justice Department’s ranks, albeit not as immediately as the current policy allows. But last year, the Trump administration revoked offers to students from top schools under the previous exception to the rule, the Attorney General’s Honors Program, which allowed for entry-level hires. The spigot has dried up since then, as The Washington Post noted last year, with many graduates turning to state government work instead.

Link to tweet

There’s a world where this shift toward hiring newly graduated lawyers could be a good thing. If this project were truly about meritocracy, seeing more slots available for lawyers who didn’t all go to the same handful of schools could be admirable. But the administration’s screenings for ideological purity and loyalty to the MAGA agenda would undercut any claim that the department is truly trying to hire the best attorneys possible.