The Justice Department is offering bonuses of up to $25,000 to new hires, as the agency reportedly struggles to attract talent to replace thousands of lawyers lost under the Trump administration.
Recent job postings for the DOJ’s civil division advertise that “well-qualified candidates may be eligible for a signing bonus of up to $25,000,” while internally the agency is paying attorneys in the division bonuses of up to $220 per pay period through Thanksgiving, Bloomberg Law reports.
“It has been my privilege to work alongside you over the past year,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate told staff in an email Monday, according to the outlet. “While I wish I could do more to fully express my appreciation for all that you do, I hope this incentive provides some tangible recognition of your efforts and the value we place on your continued service to the Civil Division.”
The incentives come as the DOJ reportedly faces a talent-retention crisis, a dramatic reversal from its traditional position as a destination for top legal talent. Thousands of lawyers have left the agency since Trump took office. The Appellate Section alone has lost more than 40 percent of its attorneys since last February, the DOJ disclosed in a recent filing.
“What we are seeing is a total drop in who is applying,” William Treanor, the former dean of Georgetown University Law Center, told the American Bar Association late last year. “It’s very, very dramatic. It’s gone from a good amount of our graduating class to virtually no one applying for jobs at the Justice Department.”
“This Department of Justice is always looking for talented and qualified attorneys to advance President Trump’s priorities and protect the American people,” Shumate said in a statement to The Independent. “Under the leadership of Acting Attorney General Blanche, the Civil Division will continue to hire hardworking patriots from across the country and offer appreciation bonuses to our loyal attorneys who remain committed to our mission and upholding the rule of law.”
A Justice Department official added that the DOJ is expanding across the country to counter nationwide injunctions and what the agency called “lawless jurisdictions,” using funds from the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill spending package to hire more attorneys. The official added that the DOJ has eliminated “unnecessary layers of staff who don’t effectively contribute to the Department’s mission” and pointed to the low murder rate and recent cartel arrests as major successes.
Active DOJ lawyers have hinted at difficulty inside the legal agency, which has been buffeted by challenges to the Trump administration’s most controversial actions, especially its mass deportation arrests.
In February, a DOJ lawyer in Minnesota told a federal judge they were overwhelmed by their workload, as hundreds of people sought to appeal their detention.
“The system sucks,” DOJ attorney Julie Le reportedly said in court. “I wish you would just hold me in contempt of court so I can get 24 hours of sleep.”
Attorneys have also resigned en masse from the DOJ over policy differences.
A group of federal prosecutors reportedly left the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office in protest over the administration’s reluctance to investigate the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in January.
The DOJ itself has also reportedly fired lawyers tied to past investigations into the president.
Others may have been dissuaded from joining the DOJ over reported changes to its hiring process.
Prospective hires have reportedly been asked to detail a Trump executive order or policy that is personally significant to them, a move critics have charged is akin to a politicized loyalty oath.
Amid these challenges, the Justice Department has suspended a policy requiring U.S. attorneys’ offices to hire prosecutors with at least a year of experience practicing law.
Overall, the Justice Department, which includes law enforcement agencies including the FBI and DEA, has cut more than 4,000 employees since Trump took office, including about 2,600 from the FBI, Reuters reports.
