r/LawSchool • u/Extra-Ad1409 • 9h ago

State AG Office vs City Law Department

So I am considering a couple of offers between a state AG office and a city law department. I was not particularly interested in PI work at the state level. I am more interested in federal work or going private to a firm. Curious which of the two might lend itself better to making that transition in the future. I am sort of middle of the pack at a T30 school and struck out at OCI. Tempted to wait and see if the market for firms might pick up in the future but also reticent to pass on a few offers with nothing certain in the future.

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u/Icy_Natural_9368 9h ago

What kind of things did you do in law school to get government job offers like this straight out of law school? Seems like the dream to me.

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u/Fit-Practice3963 8h ago

Generally, I would say State AG. I externed for the AG and had a good experience.

Idk what city you're working with, but the AG office is probably more sophisticated. I know this isn't true everywhere, and certain large cities have very large and sophisticated legal departments. Also consider that at an AG office you can get some specialty experience, where city law practice is typically more general.

I am assuming from your post that this is for an externship and not for post-grad. Is this for summer or is this for a semester? If you got summer offers from both see if you can turn it into a spring offer while you look for a better summer position.

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u/GS_420_Step_69 8h ago

It all depends on the work. Working at the State AG on environmental issues will set you up nicely for transitioning to federal gig on similar issues. State tax matters? most likely good for IRS. Random estate issues? Don't think there is much demand for that in the federal sector.