The Justice Department is opening the door to brand-new lawyers, scrapping its long-standing rule that federal prosecutors must have at least a year of legal experience. Bloomberg Law reports that, in a March 13 memo titled "Suspension of Attorney One Year Experience Requirement," DOJ officials told US attorneys' offices that they can now advertise openings without the minimum-experience line—a change set to last through Feb. 28 of next year and justified as a response to an "exigent hiring need."
Late last year, the Washington Post laid out just how dire that hiring need is across the DOJ as a whole: The Justice Connection advocacy group estimates that about 5,500 individuals have either resigned, taken a buyout package, or been fired under this Trump administration. Per the Independent, public job postings for assistant US attorney roles in Montana, Alaska, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma are now requiring only a law degree, current bar membership, and US citizenship, even as many other offices still ask for one to three years of practice. The shift comes amid high turnover, mounting immigration caseloads, looming court deadlines, and judicial criticism of DOJ lawyering, per Bloomberg.
A DOJ spokesperson framed the move as empowering "young and passionate prosecutors" under Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and a person familiar with the thinking said less-experienced hires are seen as more willing to handle heavy dockets and long hours. Until now, the one-year rule was mainly waived for elite recruits in the department's honors program or unpaid special assistants.
Retired Chicago-area attorney Mark Rotert told the Post in November he was "astonished" at the aggressive recruitment push, at the expense of earned expertise. "When I came to the US attorney's office, I had won 13 state murder prosecutions, and I still thought I had such a slim chance of getting a job because it was such an ultracompetitive place," he said. "Now it's like, 'If you ever threw a pass, do you want to be a quarterback?'"
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