DOJ Hiring Crisis Forces Prosecutor Rule Change

By: Paul Goldberg — Senior Correspondent | LGBT News – Judicial Desk

WASHINGTON — (March 16, 2026) — The U.S. Department of Justice has suspended a longstanding requirement that federal prosecutors possess at least one year of legal practice experience, a dramatic policy shift that comes as applications for DOJ legal positions decline and staffing shortages deepen during the second administration of Donald Trump.

The temporary policy change, first reported by Bloomberg Law, highlights growing recruitment challenges facing the United States Department of Justice as thousands of employees have departed the agency since 2024.

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The policy shift follows mounting reports of widespread turnover inside the United States Department of Justice, where thousands of employees have left the department over the past two years. While the agency has not released updated attorney staffing totals, legal organizations say the scale of departures has forced officials to accelerate recruitment efforts in order to maintain federal prosecution capacity across the country.

According to figures cited by the American Bar Association, the DOJ employed roughly 10,000 attorneys in 2024. Since the start of the second administration of Donald Trump, more than 5,500 employees—including lawyers and administrative personnel—have reportedly resigned, retired, or been dismissed from positions within the department.

Legal analysts say the sudden loss of personnel has created a competitive hiring environment, with private law firms, political organizations, and local prosecutors’ offices actively recruiting former DOJ attorneys who once viewed federal service as a long-term career path.

Internal communication obtained by Bloomberg Law confirmed the department’s decision to temporarily suspend its experience requirement for new federal prosecutors. The memo, circulated to DOJ hiring offices under the subject line “Suspension of Attorney One Year Requirement,” states that the policy change will remain in effect through February 28, 2027.

The document describes the decision as a response to an “exigent hiring need for attorneys across the Department.”

A Justice Department spokesperson told Bloomberg Law that the agency remains committed to recruiting the next generation of federal prosecutors and expanding opportunities for young attorneys seeking public service careers.

“Under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, this Department of Justice is proud to empower young and passionate prosecutors and offer attorneys at every level the opportunity to invest their talents into keeping their communities safe,” the spokesperson said.

However, some legal education leaders say interest in DOJ positions appears to be declining among recent law school graduates.

William Treanor, former dean of the Georgetown University Law Center, told the American Bar Association that the Justice Department historically ranked among the most sought-after career destinations for graduating students.

“What we are seeing is a total drop in who is applying,” Treanor said. “It’s very, very dramatic. It’s gone from a go od amount of our graduating class to virtually no one applying for jobs at the Justice Department.”

Experts say the temporary suspension of the experience requirement reflects a broader shift in how federal agencies are responding to workforce shortages across government, particularly in specialized legal roles that require extensive training and oversight.

For the Justice Department, the challenge now will be balancing urgent hiring needs with maintaining the professional standards expected of federal prosecutors responsible for handling some of the nation’s most significant criminal and civil cases.

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