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mahatmakanejeeves

(69,471 posts) Mon Mar 16, 2026, 07:23 PM Monday

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

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 bpenn@bloomberglaw.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Seth Stern at sstern@bloomberglaw.com

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

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.
— Lemon Pound Cake Hat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) 2026-03-16T21:44:54.132Z

19 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

DOJ to Allow Hiring of US Prosecutors Straight Out of Law School (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Monday OP

Just like psychology - pre-licensed professional bucolic_frolic Monday #1

Habba, Halligan, and Pirro underpants Monday #6

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

Pirro can attest to that... sheshe2 Monday #7

HA! BEWARE Grads..It's a TRAP annabanana Monday #3

Yup, kiss your career and future goodbye. Marie Marie Monday #9

Good chance of ending up in prison. IrishAfricanAmerican Tuesday #15

Sounds like a flood of Liberty and Regent U ideologues underpants Monday #4

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

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

ONLY TRUMP WHORES NEED APPLY Skittles Monday #10

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

This message was self-deleted by its author PeaceWave Monday #12

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

DOJ to Allow Hiring of US Prosecutors Straight Out of Hooters BaronChocula Tuesday #14

As waitstaff or as customers? NT mahatmakanejeeves Tuesday #17

Hiring from the waitstaff for sure BaronChocula Tuesday #18

Is "DOJ" pronounced like "DOGE"? JustABozoOnThisBus Tuesday #16

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

bucolic_frolic

(54,938 posts)

1. Just like psychology - pre-licensed professional

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Mon Mar 16, 2026, 07:27 PM

Monday

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

underpants

(196,251 posts)

6. Habba, Halligan, and Pirro

Reply to bucolic_frolic (Reply #1)

Mon Mar 16, 2026, 07:41 PM

Monday

yeah who cares about experience?

walkingman

(10,766 posts)

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

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Mon Mar 16, 2026, 07:30 PM

Monday

sheshe2

(97,323 posts)

7. Pirro can attest to that...

Reply to walkingman (Reply #2)

Mon Mar 16, 2026, 07:56 PM

Monday

she is under the bar most days.

annabanana

(52,804 posts)

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

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Mon Mar 16, 2026, 07:30 PM

Monday

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

Marie Marie

(11,227 posts)

9. Yup, kiss your career and future goodbye.

Reply to annabanana (Reply #3)

Mon Mar 16, 2026, 08:19 PM

Monday

IrishAfricanAmerican

(4,446 posts)

15. Good chance of ending up in prison.

Reply to annabanana (Reply #3)

Tue Mar 17, 2026, 08:46 AM

Tuesday

underpants

(196,251 posts)

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

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Mon Mar 16, 2026, 07:32 PM

Monday

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

Minnesota sounds more like a target rather than alleviating workload.

msongs

(73,641 posts)

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

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Mon Mar 16, 2026, 07:33 PM

Monday

Buddyzbuddy

(2,515 posts)

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

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Mon Mar 16, 2026, 08:03 PM

Monday

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

(171,424 posts)

10. ONLY TRUMP WHORES NEED APPLY

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Mon Mar 16, 2026, 09:47 PM

Monday

YES INDEED

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

Mysterian

(6,410 posts)

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

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Mon Mar 16, 2026, 10:30 PM

Monday

No knowledge of the constitution required.

Response to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

PeaceWave This message was self-deleted by its author.

SomewhereInTheMiddle

(658 posts)

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

Reply to PeaceWave (Reply #12)

Tue Mar 17, 2026, 02:56 AM

Tuesday

BaronChocula

(4,487 posts)

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

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Tue Mar 17, 2026, 03:49 AM

Tuesday

There. I fixed it.

mahatmakanejeeves

(69,471 posts)

17. As waitstaff or as customers? NT

Reply to BaronChocula (Reply #14)

Tue Mar 17, 2026, 09:19 AM

Tuesday

BaronChocula

(4,487 posts)

18. Hiring from the waitstaff for sure

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Reply #17)

Tue Mar 17, 2026, 01:27 PM

Tuesday

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

JustABozoOnThisBus

(24,668 posts)

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

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Tue Mar 17, 2026, 09:16 AM

Tuesday

They seem to have the same hiring requireents.

LetMyPeopleVote

(179,138 posts)

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

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Tue Mar 17, 2026, 08:39 PM

Tuesday

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.

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