DOJ Criminal Division - Work Environment

[Anonymous]

Am considering a position and curious what is the work environment like - do the attorney's have offices or cubicles? What is the admin support like (if any?) What IT support - do you get a good laptop and cell phone? Is there an internal lunch room or places to eat? What about parking?

I know this all sounds petty, but I feel comfortable asking in interviews about the job itself and all the important substantive things I'm curious about, but sometimes it's the smaller things that you can be the most curious about and only find out once you get there. Thought I'd get the inside scoop while I'm waiting to hear on my application! (BTW am currently working in an office with an open plan for everone from CEO to sales guys - it's a real downer, so maybe knowing about the DOJ offices isn't such a trivila question after all ...)

[Anonymous]

The Criminal Division is divided up in different office buildings all over DC. Most of your questions will be component-specific.

[Anonymous]

Interesting - I thought it was all housed in one place. Still, would be helpful to have some insights from someone who has worked there, whatever the building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting - I thought it was all housed in one place. Still, would be helpful to have some insights from someone who has worked there, whatever the building.

Which we might be able to give you if you tell us which component and building. Did you interview? Where was the interview?

[Anonymous]

Not OP, but curious about this, too. How is Fraud?

[Anonymous]

Current CRM attorney here. Most of the CRM components are in two buildings, one block away from each other, on New York Avenue just east of the White House, although CRM also has a presence (e.g. Appellate) at Main.

To your questions: in my component, all attorneys have their own offices. I believe that's the standard, but I don't know if other components require their attorneys either to share offices or to sit in cubicles if they have space issues. There is no DOJ-sponsored parking option for a line attorney, at least on a regular basis, if you are in the New York Ave. buildings. While one of the buildings has a parking garage underneath it, only managers are permitted to park there on a regular basis. The components are given "floater" parking permits that you can borrow for a day or 2 if needed (e.g. if you are going to have to drive out to VA for a meeting), but they have to be promptly returned so that others can use them. There are ample pay garages in the immediate area, which seem to be in the neighborhood of $250/month and up.

Admin support likely varies drastically. My admin assistant is a lovely person, but all she really ever helps me with are things like travel authorizations. We've been encouraged to give our admin assistants more tasks (mailings, copying, faxing, and the like) but typically I find that it is much faster to do it myself. I have always been underwhelmed by the IT equipment we have -- by the time they investigate options, go through the procurement process, and actually roll it out, it seems that our "new" hardware and/or software is already outdated. They are in the process of rolling out new laptops, and last year we finally upgraded to iPhones. The IT support itself is similarly underwhelming -- the staff is nice and they try, but I think they are overextended, and unless your problem is something that can be super-quicky fixed (e.g. password reset) over the phone you will likely have to wait quite awhile to get help. I have found this to be true even when my IT problem has been so severe (e.g. laptop dies completely) that I literally can't perform my job until it is rectified.

In terms of work/life balance, that will vary significantly across components. My component is great, both in terms of number of hours and amount of travel required. I have heard that other components that are far more focused on litigation require much longer workweeks and much more travel.

[Anonymous]

thanks 13:47 - that's great information

[Anonymous]

also interested in Fraud division - guess I may be in competition with PP!

Does anyone have anything further to contribute?

[Anonymous]

Expect to travel a great deal in the Fraud division.

[Anonymous]

Anyone know anything about non-fraud sections (PIN, AFMLS, HRSP?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know anything about non-fraud sections (PIN, AFMLS, HRSP?)

PIN has heavy travel as well.

[Anonymous]

sorry for the uninformed question, but what's a "component"?

[Anonymous]

Different parts of the division. A section and an office are both actually technical terms, so we use component to mean the constituent parts of varying types. I think.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Had a friend in Fraud for about 7 yrs -- he loved it but heavy travel and long hours.