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Are you experienced?

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If you want to be a federal prosecutor, the question is now moot:

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 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.

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.

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.”

Admittedly, the only thing worse than a DOJ in which all of the competent and law-abiding attorneys have been driven out would be a DOJ in which the non-law-abiding attorneys were also competent.

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