{"id":107605,"date":"2025-02-04T01:03:29","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T09:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/04\/government-attorneys-want-out\/"},"modified":"2025-02-04T01:03:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T09:03:29","slug":"government-attorneys-want-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/04\/government-attorneys-want-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Government Attorneys Want OUT"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Administration changes are frequently times of upheaval for government attorneys. Political appointees that came in with a party see themselves out when the other guys take over government. But amongst the ways 2025 and the Trump II administration are not normal<\/em>, is the pure chaos that is the government attorney job market. Because this year, it\u2019s not just the political appointees that are moving \u2014 career attorneys are also in the job market.<\/p>\n

As reported by <\/a>ABA Journal, there are a lot of factors going into this trend. The uncertainty surrounding<\/a> the funding freeze, the return to the office<\/a> mandate, the unilaterally declaring<\/a> an agency over are all parts of the reasons government attorneys want out this year. Plus as Dan Binstock, a partner at the Garrison recruiting firm, notes, all of a sudden government attorneys \u201cfeel uneasy about their jobs,\u201d and they \u201cdon\u2019t like the sense of uncertainty and unpredictability they are experiencing with the change of administrations, and it\u2019s nothing like what I\u2019ve seen in prior presidential election cycles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which has led to an unprecedented recruiting cycle: <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cOh, my goodness,\u201d says Lauren Drake, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of recruiting firm Macrae. \u201cWe\u2019ve never truly seen anything like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drake says that Macrae has already landed double the number of private-sector jobs for government lawyers than the last presidential election cycle.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To make matters even worse, Drake notes there may not be \u201cenough space for all the lawyers looking to leave the federal government.\u201d Drake continues, \u201cWe are working with candidates who are uncertain whether there is room for them to return to their former firms, so they are exploring multiple options.\u201d<\/p>\n

And complicating the situation is clients that don\u2019t want firms with attorneys that come from the government:<\/p>\n

\n

Also unusual, legal recruiters say, is pushback over law firms hiring prior administration lawyers. In December 2024, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote on X that he would withhold business from law firms that hired high-level Biden administration Securities and Exchange Commission lawyers because their policies hurt the cryptocurrency industry, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite simple,\u201d Coinbase\u2019s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal wrote in response to an email sent by the ABA Journal. \u201c[E]very professional should expect to be known by the company they keep. If you were a former SEC official that refused to tell us the rules before suing us for violating the rules, we aren\u2019t interested in hiring you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s almost like they\u2019re emboldened by officials at the highest levels maintaining enemy lists.<\/p>\n

While not every government lawyer has the luxury of time in their job search, if you *do* it\u2019s probably in your best interests to wait at least a little while before bailing. The glut of job seekers will peter out and, as Binstock notes, your stock is likely to go up. \u201cPeople are thinking, I just need to get out, but they may be more marketable six months or a year from now,\u201d he said. \u201cThey will have had interactions with the new administration and a better understanding of its internal workings, and that will make them more valuable in the private sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those soon-to-be former government attorneys battling this job market: may the odds be ever in your favor.<\/p>\n

\n

\"KathrynKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Government Attorneys Want OUT<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Administration changes are frequently times of upheaval for government attorneys. Political appointees that came in with a party see themselves out when the other guys take over government. But amongst the ways 2025 and the Trump II administration are not normal<\/em>, is the pure chaos that is the government attorney job market. Because this year, it\u2019s not just the political appointees that are moving \u2014 career attorneys are also in the job market.<\/p>\n

As reported by <\/a>ABA Journal, there are a lot of factors going into this trend. The uncertainty surrounding<\/a> the funding freeze, the return to the office<\/a> mandate, the unilaterally declaring<\/a> an agency over are all parts of the reasons government attorneys want out this year. Plus as Dan Binstock, a partner at the Garrison recruiting firm, notes, all of a sudden government attorneys \u201cfeel uneasy about their jobs,\u201d and they \u201cdon\u2019t like the sense of uncertainty and unpredictability they are experiencing with the change of administrations, and it\u2019s nothing like what I\u2019ve seen in prior presidential election cycles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which has led to an unprecedented recruiting cycle: <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cOh, my goodness,\u201d says Lauren Drake, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of recruiting firm Macrae. \u201cWe\u2019ve never truly seen anything like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drake says that Macrae has already landed double the number of private-sector jobs for government lawyers than the last presidential election cycle.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To make matters even worse, Drake notes there may not be \u201cenough space for all the lawyers looking to leave the federal government.\u201d Drake continues, \u201cWe are working with candidates who are uncertain whether there is room for them to return to their former firms, so they are exploring multiple options.\u201d<\/p>\n

And complicating the situation is clients that don\u2019t want firms with attorneys that come from the government:<\/p>\n

\n

Also unusual, legal recruiters say, is pushback over law firms hiring prior administration lawyers. In December 2024, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote on X that he would withhold business from law firms that hired high-level Biden administration Securities and Exchange Commission lawyers because their policies hurt the cryptocurrency industry, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite simple,\u201d Coinbase\u2019s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal wrote in response to an email sent by the ABA Journal. \u201c[E]very professional should expect to be known by the company they keep. If you were a former SEC official that refused to tell us the rules before suing us for violating the rules, we aren\u2019t interested in hiring you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s almost like they\u2019re emboldened by officials at the highest levels maintaining enemy lists.<\/p>\n

While not every government lawyer has the luxury of time in their job search, if you *do* it\u2019s probably in your best interests to wait at least a little while before bailing. The glut of job seekers will peter out and, as Binstock notes, your stock is likely to go up. \u201cPeople are thinking, I just need to get out, but they may be more marketable six months or a year from now,\u201d he said. \u201cThey will have had interactions with the new administration and a better understanding of its internal workings, and that will make them more valuable in the private sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those soon-to-be former government attorneys battling this job market: may the odds be ever in your favor.<\/p>\n

\n

\"KathrynKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @[email\u00a0protected].<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Administration changes are frequently times of upheaval for government attorneys. Political appointees that came in with a party see themselves out when the other guys take over government. But amongst the ways 2025 and the Trump II administration are not normal, is the pure chaos that is the government attorney job market. Because this year, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":107594,"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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-300x275-oTFhYN.jpeg?fit=300%2C275&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107605","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"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}