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Hey y'all,

I am an L'18, recently received my bar results, and just now accepted a gov't attorney position; I was wondering what I should expect. It's a state gov't position related to environmental regulations and policy with only two other attorneys in my division.

I'm mostly curious about the type of work I will face comparative to a firm job: work-life balance, potential for moving up or transitioning to the private sector, work-load, dealing with gov't officials, etc. I'm a bit nervous having never officially taken Admin Law nor having interned at either a firm or gov't position like this (having only interned at a DA's office sans a temporary license and at an international environmental non-profit), so I am nervous doing more procedural work. I assume much of what I will do is just reviewing permitting applications and addressing citizens filing complaints.

Anyone have opinions or insights? Thanks!

Government work is usually much more hands-on early on than private practice simply because case loads are large and funding is limited. Don't worry about making mistakes, you are the government now so its not like you are personally liable for malpractice. Most important for government work is to learn your role within the bureaucracy and play politics because actual performance does not matter.

Anonymous User wrote:Government work is usually much more hands-on early on than private practice simply because case loads are large and funding is limited. Don't worry about making mistakes, you are the government now so its not like you are personally liable for malpractice. Most important for government work is to learn your role within the bureaucracy and play politics because actual performance does not matter.

I don’t think this is fair. It’s not entirely false - it’s very very hard to fire anyone from a government job - but if you’re interested in more than literally not being fired, actual performance still matters.

In some agencies, at least.