Am I competitive for USAO? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Applying broadly to non-traditionally prestigious but non-flyover offices.

T18-T25ish top 1/3 (fluctuating rankings). EIC of secondary journal. DC big law doing white collar (3 years). Currently a SAUSA (1 year so far), hired to specifically to handle cases that come from a single agency (think USPS for mail fraud or SSA for social security fraud). Have a decent amount trial experience as a SAUSA. Good recs from my big law firm and current supervisor.

[Anonymous User]

Yeah, you're competitive, especially if your current supervisor knows anyone where you're applying. It will depend on the office and what they want and who else applies, but you have the biglaw background for offices that want that, you have federal criminal trial experience from being a SAUSA, and you're not at a maxed out salary level. There are just usually a lot of applications for every office, so nothing is guaranteed, but I would say you have a good shot.

[Anonymous User]

I went to a higher ranked school and did two clerkships but otherwise rather similar stuff and just got a position. I have to imagine 1) SAUSA makes you a likely, regardless, and your other qualifications are good enough (def. not disqualifying) and 2) it seems like being somewhat on the inside now, you know more than most people on this board whether or not you are competitive.

[Anonymous User]

Yeah, you're competitive, especially if your current supervisor knows anyone where you're applying. It will depend on the office and what they want and who else applies, but you have the biglaw background for offices that want that, you have federal criminal trial experience from being a SAUSA, and you're not at a maxed out salary level. There are just usually a lot of applications for every office, so nothing is guaranteed, but I would say you have a good shot.

Thanks for the response. I'm not applying within my district unfortunately (no openings) so I haven't been able to use connections very well. Just wondering, how many years of experience gets you to the maxed out salary level?

[Anonymous User]

I went to a higher ranked school and did two clerkships but otherwise rather similar stuff and just got a position. I have to imagine 1) SAUSA makes you a likely, regardless, and your other qualifications are good enough (def. not disqualifying) and 2) it seems like being somewhat on the inside now, you know more than most people on this board whether or not you are competitive.

thnks for the resp. congrats on the offer!

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I've always seen my stats, given the lack of clerkship, as borderline and its nice to hear that I won't be a auto-ding.

[Anonymous User]

Yeah, you're competitive, especially if your current supervisor knows anyone where you're applying. It will depend on the office and what they want and who else applies, but you have the biglaw background for offices that want that, you have federal criminal trial experience from being a SAUSA, and you're not at a maxed out salary level. There are just usually a lot of applications for every office, so nothing is guaranteed, but I would say you have a good shot.

Thanks for the response. I'm not applying within my district unfortunately (no openings) so I haven't been able to use connections very well. Just wondering, how many years of experience gets you to the maxed out salary level?

9 years and up, so you have a bit of time (and I've also known offices to hire maxed out people before, when they're the right candidate, so it's not a deal-breaker, it just can be tougher).