Anyone work for the DC Office of the Attorney General (OAG)??

[Anonymous]

I am looking at some open positions there and am wondering what it is like. They seem to have a steady stream of openings and am wondering if this is because so many people are leaving or because they just have more work lately?

[Anonymous]

DC government has gone partially in-person. May or may not matter to you but could explain the openings.

[Anonymous]

I used to work there. I don’t know what division in particular you are looking at, but many of the litigation divisions are over worked and do not have enough support staff (typical government complaints), so people burn out and/or take their litigation experience and parlay it into a higher paying job elsewhere. If you have any particular questions, I’m happy to try and answer them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to work there. I don’t know what division in particular you are looking at, but many of the litigation divisions are over worked and do not have enough support staff (typical government complaints), so people burn out and/or take their litigation experience and parlay it into a higher paying job elsewhere. If you have any particular questions, I’m happy to try and answer them.

Sure - what's a "good" Division to work in? How long did you end up staying and where did you eventually land (generally)? Last question - do you think the upcoming AG election will have any real impact on attorneys on the ground?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC government has gone partially in-person. May or may not matter to you but could explain the openings.

This is OP. I'm not opposed to in person. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to work there. I don’t know what division in particular you are looking at, but many of the litigation divisions are over worked and do not have enough support staff (typical government complaints), so people burn out and/or take their litigation experience and parlay it into a higher paying job elsewhere. If you have any particular questions, I’m happy to try and answer them.

Sure - what's a "good" Division to work in? How long did you end up staying and where did you eventually land (generally)? Last question - do you think the upcoming AG election will have any real impact on attorneys on the ground?

It depends on what you are interested in, if you want to litigate I would focus on the Civil Litigation Division, the Public Safety Division, or the Public Interest Division. That being said, it’s gotten pretty competitive to get into those divisions, so they generally do not hire people into those divisions without some kind of relevant experience. The AG election will not have an impact on the job security of the line attorneys (they are actually part of a union so that offers a significant amount of protection to non supervisory attorneys); however, if the new AG has a new area of focus the division in that area can usually expect some leadership change over that can impact the line attorneys. I was there for quite a while, say over 7 years, and left because I was burned out on litigation. I am in a non litigating position with a different government agency now.

[Anonymous]

^Thanks! This is helpful.

[Anonymous]

There are some management problems. Particularly, the Division deputies in Public Advocacy and Civil Litigation are probably the worst. I would avoid those.

[Anonymous]

what's their criminal appeals division like to work in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what's their criminal appeals division like to work in?

I'm a complete outsider, but they don't have much criminal jurisdiction: https://oag.dc.gov/about-oag/our-structure-divisions/public-safety-division/criminal-section

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what's their criminal appeals division like to work in?

They used to have a separate criminal appeals section, but now it is just 1 appeals section that covers all appellate cases. The appellate division attorneys are generally excellent, and I only heard good things about their managers (the 2 most recent Solicitors General are now a high ranking official at DOJ and an associate judge with the DC COA).