DOJ Drops Experience Requirement for New Prosecutors Amid Hiring Struggle

Photo by Annabelle Gordon/Sipa USA/Sipa via AP Images

The Justice Department has slashed a policy requiring all new-hire federal prosecutors to have a minimum of one year of experience practicing law amid major hiring struggles.

According to the American Bar Association, the number of attorneys working across the DOJ has plummeted from approximately 10,000 in 2024. Though exact numbers are not currently publicly available, 5,500 employees—not all of whom are attorneys—have either been fired, resigned, or retired from the DOJ since the start of President Donald Trump‘s second administration.

These turnover rates, per a report by former CBS News Correspondent Scott MacFarlane, have proven fruitful for private firms, political campaign groups, and local prosecutors’ offices seeking to poach former DOJ prosecutors.

Bloomberg Law reported that they attained copies of a message sent out by the DOJ headquarters with the subject line, “Suspension of Attorney One Year requirement.” The memo, as relayed by Bloomberg, declared, “This suspension is in effect until February 28, 2027, and was implemented due to an exigent hiring need for attorneys across the Department.”

In a statement to Bloomberg regarding this new hiring pull, an unnamed DOJ spokesperson asserted the department’s dedication to empowering “young and passionate prosecutors.”

“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,” the statement reads.

William Treanor, the former dean of Georgetown University Law Center, told the American Bar Association that though “it has historically been the case that the Department of Justice is one of the most attractive places for our Georgetown graduating class,” that is no longer the case.

“What we are seeing is a total drop in who is applying,” said Treanor, now a Georgetown Law Professor. “It’s very, very dramatic. It’s gone from a good amount of our graduating class to virtually no one applying for jobs at the Justice Department.”

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