DOJ Offers Lawyers $25,000 Signing Bonuses as Hiring Lags (2)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

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DOJ Offers Lawyers $25,000 Signing Bonuses as Hiring Lags (2)

May 5, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT; Updated: May 5, 2026, 6:32 PM EDT

The Justice Department is taking a new tack to overcome hurdles in attracting qualified legal talent and to prevent current lawyers from leaving: offering signing and retention bonuses throughout the Civil Division. ... New vacancy postings show signing bonuses of $25,000 are newly available to staff offices investigating youth transgender treatments and litigating the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.

Further, the head of the Civil Division—which plays a crucial role advancing and protecting the president’s policies in court—informed all his attorneys Monday that they’ll begin receiving a “retention incentive allowance” ranging from around $60 to $220 every pay period through Thanksgiving, according to an internal email reviewed by Bloomberg Law.

The financial enticements are an apparent first for a department that in previous years would be inundated with resumes from lawyers willing to take significant salary reductions compared to private sector legal practice. Padding lawyers’ biweekly paychecks signals a division growing more desperate to stave off further departures of valuable legal minds, including those who’ve expressed discomfort with defending the president’s policies from a slew of lawsuits.

Trial attorney vacancies posted on DOJ’s website Tuesday for the Civil Division’s recently created enforcement and affirmative litigation branch describe in bold print “a signing bonus of up to $25,000" that may be awarded to “well-qualified candidates.” The job advertisements, which would support a DOJ team that’s been repeatedly losing in court over efforts to subpoena pediatric hospitals for sensitive data on minors prescribed drugs for gender dysphoria, instruct applicants that time is of the essence.

{snip}

Reposted by Kevin M. Kruse
https://bsky.app/profile/kevinmkruse.bsky.social

Bradley P. Moss
‪@bradmossesq.bsky.social‬

When I came out of law school in 2006, DOJ's prestige was such that liberal and conservative graduates alike would have gladly stepped over their friends' dead bodies to get a position there.

Trump has ruined it now to the point they're having to bribe new graduates to apply.

‪Ben Penn‬
‪@benjaminpenn.bsky.social‬
· 18h

JUST IN: The Justice Department is taking an apparently new tack to overcome woes in attracting qualified lawyers: Offering $25,000 signing bonuses. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/doj-offers-lawyers-25-000-signing-bonuses-as-recruitment-lags

DOJ Offers Lawyers $25,000 Signing Bonuses as Recruitment Lags
The Justice Department is taking a new tack to overcome hurdles in attracting qualified legal talent: offering $25,000 signing bonuses to staff an office investigating youth transgender treatments and...
news.bloomberglaw.com
12:10 PM · May 5, 2026

When I came out of law school in 2006, DOJ's prestige was such that liberal and conservative graduates alike would have gladly stepped over their friends' dead bodies to get a position there.

Trump has ruined it now to the point they're having to bribe new graduates to apply.

— Bradley P. Moss (@bradmossesq.bsky.social) 2026-05-05T16:10:13.469Z

Ben Penn
‪@benjaminpenn.bsky.social‬

JUST IN: The Justice Department is taking an apparently new tack to overcome woes in attracting qualified lawyers: Offering $25,000 signing bonuses. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/doj-offers-lawyers-25-000-signing-bonuses-as-recruitment-lags

DOJ Offers Lawyers $25,000 Signing Bonuses as Recruitment Lags
The Justice Department is taking a new tack to overcome hurdles in attracting qualified legal talent: offering $25,000 signing bonuses to staff an office investigating youth transgender treatments and...
news.bloomberglaw.com
12:04 PM · May 5, 2026

JUST IN: The Justice Department is taking an apparently new tack to overcome woes in attracting qualified lawyers: Offering ,000 signing bonuses. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

— Ben Penn (@benjaminpenn.bsky.social) 2026-05-05T16:04:23.489Z

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Hope as lawyers, they pick up these Weasel Words:

may be awarded.

That means there's discretion NOT to pay a $25,000 bonus.

Kids, don't even bother going to court.

Sure, you can make an argument for ENTICEMENT TO CONTRACT, but the Ad did say "may".

[enough]

2. Cheaper than an ICE agent.

[underpants]

3. "Who the hell would want to work at the DOJ?"

Recently said by a former DOJ employee I know

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. MaddowBlog-Why the Justice Department's signing bonuses are so deeply embarrassing

There’s no great mystery as to why the DOJ is left resorting to these humiliating tactics.

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/why-the-justice-departments-signing-bonuses-are-so-deeply-embarrassing

It is an enormous problem for the Justice Department that, between politically motivated purges and widespread resignations, it finds itself noticeably short on attorneys. In fact, there are real practical consequences to the hollowing out of the DOJ, as prosecutors with increasing frequency are forced to seek delays in cases, simply because they lack enough lawyers to handle the disputes.

But making matters even worse is the fact that the flipside is also true: The Justice Department hasn’t just lost or ousted too many attorneys — it’s also struggling to replace them. Bloomberg Law reported:

The Justice Department is taking a new tack to overcome hurdles in attracting qualified legal talent and to prevent current lawyers from leaving: offering signing and retention bonuses throughout the Civil Division.

New vacancy postings show signing bonuses of $25,000 are newly available to staff offices investigating youth transgender treatments and litigating the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.

.....After this report was published, I heard from some lawyers who were absolutely amazed to learn that conditions are this bad at the DOJ. Bradley P. Moss, a prominent attorney in Washington, D.C., wrote via Bluesky, “When I came out of law school in 2006, DOJ’s prestige was such that liberal and conservative graduates alike would have gladly stepped over their friends’ dead bodies to get a position there. Trump has ruined it now to the point [the department is] having to bribe new graduates to apply.”

In other words, the fact Main Justice has resorted to signing bonuses and retention incentives is profoundly embarrassing for the institution. These developments make it painfully clear that some of the most important and sought-after jobs in American law have become, for all intents and purposes, positions attorneys simply do not want......

As recently as this week, the DOJ had to apologize to a federal judge after the administration pushed false information about her, which came as many federal judges have conceded they can no longer trust claims from the department’s lawyers.

The question isn’t why lawyers are refusing even to apply for jobs that used to be among the most prestigious in the profession; the question is how long it will take to restore the Justice Department to what it was before Trump and his team decided to corrupt it.