Experienced Attorney Opportunities
Entry-Level Attorney Opportunities
Salaries, Benefits, and Promotions
Conditions of Employment
Attorneys in the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice represent the
United States in civil, criminal, and appellate tax matters. Civil attorneys handle tax disputes in federal district courts,
bankruptcy courts, the United States Court of Federal Claims, the United States Courts of Appeal, and, on occasion, state courts.
Our criminal prosecutors participate in nearly all decisions to charge federal tax crimes throughout the United States and,
together with attorneys in United States Attorneys' Offices, prosecute those charges. By litigating these cases,
our lawyers play an essential role in developing federal tax law and in assuring the American public that everyone pays
the tax they owe in accordance with the law.
A Great Place to Start
The Tax Division hires new law school graduates solely through the
Department of Justice Honors Program. In addition to allowing you an opportunity to serve your country, the
Tax Division provides a new graduate an unrivalled opportunity to get superior litigation experience early in your legal career.
For would-be prosecutors, the Tax Division is one of the few places where law school graduates can begin prosecuting
federal white-collar cases immediately after passing the bar. Aspiring civil litigators are assigned their own cases from the
first day, and may also participate on teams litigating some of the most sophisticated financial cases in the country.
Our appellate lawyers, who handle appeals of district court and Tax Court cases, routinely brief and argue 8-10 cases a
year in the courts of appeal around the country during their first year, an experience that is impossible to
match in the private sector.
The sheer variety of issues in our cases makes every day a new challenge, even for the
most experienced litigators. As the Sixth Circuit wrote in describing Blachy v. Butcher,
221 F.3d 896, 900 (6th Cir. 2000), a Tax Division case:
Even a diabolical bar examiner would be reluctant
to impose this case's complex mixture of subject matter jurisdiction, fraud, real estate, marital property, bankruptcy, tax liens,
contributory negligence, equitable remedies, and civil procedure upon hapless law school graduates. Because reality
often marches in where creators of hypotheticals fear to tread, however, we are the "hapless" appellate court judges
obliged to struggle with this twisted tale of true-life conflict.
A Great Place to Develop Your Skills
New lawyers are able to take on responsibility quickly because the Division offers them
excellent training and the support and advice of experienced colleagues and supervisors.
The Division provides formal training in both substantive legal matters and litigation skills
through its own Office of Training and Professional Development. Additionally, lawyers from the Division participate in courses
offered by the Department's Office of Legal Education, including two-week trial practice courses where students have the
opportunity to conduct mock jury trials before sitting federal judges. New prosecutors are often detailed to a local
United States Attorney's Office for a four- to six-month intensive prosecution training program, where they will be assigned
their own misdemeanor caseload and can expect to prosecute as many as twenty to thirty bench trials and litigate dozens of motions.
Attorneys also have access to the extensive resources of the Justice Library System and a cadre of highly experienced law librarians
who can help them find even the most obscure treatise.
Most important, our attorneys have access to experienced colleagues and managers who provide
invaluable advice, guidance, and expertise. Each new attorney with less than five years of experience is assigned a mentor.
Beyond this starting point, attorneys are encouraged to consult colleagues and section managers when they are faced with
new legal challenges.
A Great Place to Start as a Lateral
The Division also welcomes lateral attorneys who have had a few (or more than a few)
years' experience as litigators elsewhere, and would like to give government service a try. We prefer lateral attorneys who
have had experience with complex civil litigation or with criminal prosecutions. In large part, and depending on their
level of experience, lateral attorneys are given the same training and mentoring opportunities that newly minted lawyers
hired under the Honors Program receive.
A First-Class Work Environment
A major appeal of the Division is the collegial, non-competitive work environment. The Division provides
the opportunity to engage in the pure practice of law, as close as it can be achieved - a practice not burdened by the pressure of billable
hours or client development, and where legal positions only believed to be correct are advanced. In addition the Division encourages
attorneys to maintain a reasonable work-life balance." The Division is rated as one of the Government's top places to work.
Each attorney is assigned to a section which has its own chief and assistant chiefs who provide
first-line supervision and guidance. Most sections have approximately 25 attorneys. Because of the relatively small size
of the sections, attorneys get the advantages of attention and assistance that one might find in a small firm, while also
being able to draw on the resources of the larger organization of the Division, and the Department of Justice as a whole.
Division attorneys are well supported by sophisticated information technology systems that include:
encrypted laptops (with docking stations) and flash drives, so attorneys can easily work while they travel; document management
that assists in collaboration among attorneys and sharing resources; case management; and automated litigation support resources.
Additionally, all attorneys have access to automated legal research from their desks.
Travel
Because the Division's cases are located all over the United States, Division attorneys can expect
to travel in order to investigate their cases and to appear for trials and hearings. The extent of your travel will depend on the nature
and location of your cases.
Recognition
Each attorney receives an evaluation at least once a year. Those evaluations serve as an opportunity
to receive formal feedback on your career progress, in addition to the daily feedback you receive relating to specific documents or cases.
Cases are assigned and attorneys are promoted based on their experience and the quality of their performance, not longevity or other bases.
Each year the Division recognizes the contributions of many of its employees with cash awards and recognition at an Awards Ceremony
in the Great Hall of the RFK Main Justice Building. Attorneys are also eligible for time-off awards in recognition of their contributions
to the mission.
Four-year Commitment
The Tax Division requires all new attorney hires to agree to serve four continuous years with the Division.
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