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Trump’s B.S. ‘Efficiency’ Effort Steals Jobs from Real J.D.s,– by Joe Patrice

Above the Law, Joe Patrice

Hiring freeze leaves young lawyers in the cold.

Elon Musk’s cost-cutting efforts are mostly a farce to sell chintzy merchandise to America’s most gullible marks. The “Department of Government Efficiency” is not an actual cabinet department, but rather rebrand of the existing US Digital Service, an organization that — despite Musk’s self-branding — cannot actually do much but break the White House website.

Not that his lack of actual authority matters much. Musk is still boasting about bringing the same energy to America that Javier Milei brought to Argentina where he haphazardly slashed government departments to deliver a government surplus. He’s also doubled the poverty rate. Here in America we actually know how to deliver a budget surplus because the Democrats did it in the 90s and every Democratic president curtails the budget deficit year after year only to watch it explode under every Republican president since Nixon has left office having thrown the country into deeper budget shortfalls than when they arrived.

But that would require “rich people paying taxes” so instead Musk and Trump will engage in the kayfabe that there’s a magical, untapped reserve of government “waste” that can just be eliminated to cover the couple trillion dollar hole in the deficit that Trump’s tax cuts create.

Somehow I don’t think they’re going to get there by firing a handful of public service attorneys but that’s not really the point.

When the new administration took office, it trumpeted a Federal Civilian Hiring Freeze. Like most of the administration’s efforts, many assumed this would be a slipshod publicity stunt from the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. But now we’ve heard from young lawyers expected to start work with multiple government agencies finding out that their jobs have been cut as part of the farcical efficiency experiment.

The annual Attorney Honors Programs are run by the DOJ and other executive agencies. These are the jobs that recent law school graduates can do while maintaining their eligibility for a competitive job offer while they are not yet ready to start full-time employment.

It’s a uniquely harsh knee to the genitals because the Attorney Honors Program attracts a lot of candidates who have now missed out on last fall’s interview cycle and have now learned — a few months from graduation — that the solid service jobs they’d opted to take are just gone. Some tipsters who reached out to us confirmed that they turned down returning offers for Biglaw firms to accept the DOJ position.

Hours before inauguration, the IRS seemingly expected to go forward as usual, probably expecting any hiring freeze to come with the usual carve outs for positions like these. Often highly credentialed positions are excluded from freezes because the government requires some key competencies. But competency is not a priority for DOGE heads and so — by the end of that very evening — the IRS was already sending out offer retractions.

Obviously the IRS is an agency that this administration holds in particularly low regard, but it’s not the only one facing cuts. We’ve heard but haven’t been able to hear back about the CFPB, a perennial GOP hobby horse. Nor have we locked down reports of this is happening at DHS, which one would think is the agency Trump most needs staffed up to deal with the bazillion lawsuits he’s about to get for trying to start a mass deportation including a bunch of American citizens.

One might have thought main Justice would avoid staffing hiccups, but apparently not. The DOJ Civil Division blasted its Honors lawyers with an automated email from the Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management informing them that their jobs were gone. We already know the administration is straight up shuttering the civil rights division for retooling, so it’s hard to imagine anyone got to keep their jobs over there either.

The bleeding may not be limited to the incoming Honors folks. Above the Law is hearing unconfirmed reports that other term employees at DOJ have been affected as well. Online boards include reports of DOJ SLIP (2L summer internships) having offers revoked and that’s almost certainly spilling over to other agencies.

Now might be a good time to make a run on your bank like an extra from It’s A Wonderful Life, because the FDIC is sending out messages revoking job offers to lawyers. One tipster reports that people who’ve had their jobs lined up for months are getting dropped with little more than a “We wish you success in your future employment endeavors.”

Yes, they’re making cuts at the “people who make sure your bank doesn’t lose your money” agency.

The real damage from this assault on young lawyers will be felt down the road. A whole crop of attorneys will not now enter public service and future law students will look askance at federal jobs. At least if they’re applying in an election year. For positions that rely on quality applicants willing to trade compensation for prestige and job security, the government’s talent pool could take a measurable hit going forward.

But Elon will report that he managed to claw back $100,000 here and there. I’m sure that will take care of that deficit once he finds… let’s see here… 30 million federal government lawyers.

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