![\"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-INAUGURATION\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GettyImages-2194418262-300x200.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n(Photo by ANGELA WEISS\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Elon Musk\u2019s cost-cutting efforts are mostly a farce to sell chintzy merchandise<\/a> to America\u2019s most gullible marks. The \u201cDepartment of Government Efficiency\u201d is not an actual cabinet department, but rather rebrand of the existing US Digital Service, an organization that \u2014 despite Musk\u2019s self-branding \u2014 cannot actually do much but break the White House website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not that his lack of actual authority matters much. Musk is still boasting about bringing the same energy to America that Javier Milei brought to Argentina where he haphazardly slashed government departments to deliver a government surplus. He\u2019s also doubled the poverty rate. Here in America we actually know how to deliver a budget surplus because the Democrats did it in the 90s and every Democratic president curtails the budget deficit year after year only to watch it explode under every Republican president since Nixon has left office having thrown the country into deeper budget shortfalls than when they arrived.<\/p>\n But that would require \u201crich people paying taxes\u201d so instead Musk and Trump will engage in the kayfabe that there\u2019s a magical, untapped reserve of government \u201cwaste\u201d that can just be eliminated to cover the couple trillion dollar<\/em> hole in the deficit that Trump\u2019s tax cuts create.<\/p>\n Somehow I don\u2019t think they\u2019re going to get there by firing a handful of public service attorneys but that\u2019s not really the point.<\/p>\n When the new administration took office, it trumpeted a Federal Civilian Hiring Freeze. Like most of the administration\u2019s efforts, many assumed this would be a slipshod publicity stunt from the gang that couldn\u2019t shoot straight. But now we\u2019ve heard from young lawyers expected to start work with multiple government agencies finding out that their jobs have been cut as part of the farcical efficiency experiment.<\/p>\n The annual Attorney Honors Programs run by the DOJ and other executive agencies. These are the jobs that recent law school graduates can do while maintaining their eligibility for a competitive job offer while they are not yet ready to start full-time employment.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a uniquely harsh knee to the genitals because the Attorney Honors Program attracts a lot of candidates who have now missed out on last fall\u2019s interview cycle and have now learned \u2014 a few months from graduation \u2014 that the solid service jobs they\u2019d opted to take are just gone. Some tipsters who reached out to us confirmed that they turned down returning offers for Biglaw firms to accept the DOJ position.<\/p>\n Hours before inauguration, the IRS seemingly expected to go forward as usual, probably expecting any hiring freeze to come with the usual carve outs for positions like these. Often highly credentialed positions are excluded from freezes because the government requires some key competencies. But competency is not a priority for DOGEheads and so \u2014 by the end of that very evening \u2014 <\/em>the IRS was already sending out offer retractions.<\/p>\n Obviously the IRS is an agency that this administration holds in particularly low regard, but it\u2019s not the only one facing cuts. We\u2019ve heard but haven\u2019t been able to hear back about the CFPB, a perennial GOP hobby horse. Nor have we locked down reports of this is happening at DHS, which one would think is the agency Trump most needs staffed up to deal with the bazillion lawsuits he\u2019s about to get for trying to start a mass deportation including a bunch of American citizens.<\/p>\n One might have thought main Justice would avoid staffing hiccups, but apparently not. The DOJ Civil Division blasted its Honors lawyers with an automated email from the Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management informing them that their jobs were gone. We already know the administration is straight up shuttering the civil rights division for retooling<\/a>, so it\u2019s hard to imagine anyone got to keep their jobs over there either.<\/p>\n The bleeding may not be limited to the incoming Honors folks. Above the Law is hearing unconfirmed reports that other term employees at DOJ have been affected as well. Online boards include reports of DOJ SLIP (2L summer internships) having offers revoked and that\u2019s almost certainly spilling over to other agencies.<\/p>\n Now might be a good time to make a run on your bank like an extra from It\u2019s A Wonderful Life<\/em>, because the FDIC is sending out messages revoking job offers to lawyers. One tipster reports that people who\u2019ve had their jobs lined up for months<\/em> are getting dropped with little more than a \u201cWe wish you success in your future employment endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, they\u2019re making cuts at the \u201cpeople who make sure your bank doesn\u2019t lose your money\u201d agency.<\/p>\n The real damage from this assault on young lawyers will be felt down the road. A whole crop of attorneys will not now enter public service and future law students will look askance at federal jobs. At least if they\u2019re applying in an election year. For positions that rely on quality applicants willing to trade compensation for prestige and job security, the government\u2019s talent pool could take a measurable hit going forward.<\/p>\n But Elon will report that he managed to claw back $100,000 here and there. I\u2019m sure that will take care of that deficit once he finds\u2026 let\u2019s see here\u2026 30 million federal government lawyers.<\/p>\n Hiring freeze leaves young lawyers in the cold. The post Trump\u2019s B.S. \u2018Efficiency\u2019 Effort Steals Jobs From Real J.D.s appeared first on Above the Law. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS\/AFP via Getty Images) Elon Musk\u2019s cost-cutting efforts are mostly a farce to sell chintzy merchandise to America\u2019s most gullible marks. The \u201cDepartment of Government Efficiency\u201d is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":101525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law","category-legal_matters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GettyImages-2194418262-6zxxEs.jpeg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"