Berkeley Law and California US Attorneys Offices Forum

[badlefthook]

Can any Boalt students/alums speak to any connections between Boalt faculty and U.S. Attorney's Offices in California? Is there any kind of pipeline that exists between Boalt and any of these offices? Courses/externships? Former AUSAs on faculty? This is definitely my goal within a few years of graduating and I'm curious if Berkeley has any sort of infrastructure set up to help make this possible. Thanks in advance. I have tried asking the school on multiple occasions and they have not proven helpful.

[cavalier1138]

I can't speak to the specifics of Berkeley, but there isn't really such a thing as a school with a "pipeline" to competitive USAOs. Places like SDNY, CDCA, etc. don't generally hire through honors programs. So you generally have to go for 4-5 years of biglaw/clerking experience before applying. By that point, your school name might be helpful in establishing some early networking ties, but you're not going to be calling your career services office five years after graduating to get their help with setting up informational interviews, etc.

[jbagelboy]

I don't think any law school offers the resources you're looking for specifically, except for USAO externship programs (which most top schools have) and various faculty that were former prosecutors. I'm sure if you asked the administration at my law school they would laud their multiple USAO externship programs and *great* government placement, which are both fair points, but not sufficient to guarantee any kind of position.

NDCA and CDCA are ridiculously competitive. Even though Berkeley is a top school in the state, for it--or Stanford for that matter--to self-identify as a "pipeline" to the US Attorneys offices would be ridiculous.

[FascinatedWanderer]

"Within a few years" is unrealistic, depending on your definition of "few".

For NDCA/CDCA, your best bet is to intern/extern in those USAOs during school, clerk in NDCA/CDCA, clerk on CA9, work at MTO, Keker, HH, or similar firm for a couple of years, then make the move. I'd guess about 5-6 years out is the time most make the move over.

[jbagelboy]

For NDCA/CDCA, your best bet is to intern/extern in those USAOs during school, clerk in NDCA/CDCA, clerk on CA9, work at MTO, Keker, HH, or similar firm for a couple of years, then make the move.

Yeah. This is basically how it works. And sure, this can happen at Berkeley--for like 5-10% of the class. No school can guarantee you such a trajectory.