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What are y'all's thoughts about interning with the DOJ under Trump/Sessions? I'm a 1L planning on pursuing a career in criminal defense/post-conviction appeal, and in an abstract sense DOJ Civil Rights would be a useful experience to have, I would think. That said, I wonder if a lot of organizations that I might apply to in the future would be skeptical of working at the DOJ under a president and AG who are deeply skeptical of criminal justice reform.

I recognize this is a political question and it will have a political answer. I'm just curious what people's thoughts are. Thanks!

Most of the people in the DOJ are civil servants who are far removed from politics and do non-political stuff. Lawyers know and understand this.

Nobody will care about who the President was during your internship.

xtremenite wrote:Most of the people in the DOJ are civil servants who are far removed from politics and do non-political stuff. Lawyers know and understand this.

Nobody will care about who the President was during your internship.

Completely agree. Most if not all the attorneys you will likely interact with will be career attorneys and don't really change position based on party. Some enforcement priorities certainly change, but those are high-level decisions.

Agree with both the above posts, but I'm not sure that the Civil Rights division is really where you'd get the best experience for criminal defense/post-conviction appeal.

Yeah if you wanna work in criminal defense, work in criminal defense, not civil prosecution.