Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Justice Department has started hiring federal prosecutors straight out of law school. A wave of departures has left the department short on experienced lawyers, according to reports this week. This policy change lifts the long-standing minimum experience requirement for some new assistant U.S. attorneys. It comes after thousands of DOJ employees left, were fired, or accepted buyouts during President Donald Trump’s second term.
This shift marks a significant change in hiring in a department that usually requires at least 1 year of legal practice for new federal prosecutors. Many offices had an even higher standard of three years or more.
Bloomberg Law reported that DOJ leadership informed U.S. attorney’s offices this month that the one-year minimum would be suspended due to “an urgent hiring need for attorneys across the Department.” Job postings in places like Minnesota, Alaska, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma now list only a law degree, bar admission, and U.S. citizenship as basic qualifications.
Justice Department purge continues, firings include Trump classified document case investigators and Jan. 6 prosecutors – just filed for @CBSNews https://t.co/9LJ7ovZL8f
— jake rosen (@JakeMRosen) July 12, 2025
A DOJ spokesperson defended the move in a statement to Bloomberg Law. They said the department was “proud to empower young and passionate prosecutors and offer attorneys at every level the opportunity to invest their talents into keeping their communities safe.” The Daily Beast reported this hiring change under the headline that Bondi’s DOJ had to lower standards after lawyers “quit in droves.”
The hiring change comes after significant staffing losses in key areas of the department. The American Bar Association reported in November that around 5,500 DOJ attorneys and staff members had quit, been fired, or taken buyouts since Trump returned to office.
Reuters reported in July last year that nearly two-thirds of the lawyers in the Federal Programs Branch, which defends major administration policies in court, had resigned or planned to leave. Additionally, the Civil Rights Division lost 368 employees in the early months of the administration.
🚨President Trump administration FIRES DOJ official Molly Gaston a prosecutor who worked with Special Counsel Jack Smith on criminal investigations against Trump
The Justice Department fired several career lawyers involved in prosecuting Donald Trump, escalating the president’s… pic.twitter.com/RMEmazRXB6
— SANTINO (@TheRealSantino) May 27, 2025
One clear example occurred in Minnesota, where prosecutors left in unusually high numbers. The Daily Beast, citing the Star Tribune, reported in February that 14 prosecutors had left or were preparing to leave the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota.
This number exceeds what the office would typically lose in a full year. Fewer than 20 attorneys were staffing the office’s criminal division, down from at least 50 in previous years, according to that report. The outlet also noted that attorneys had been transferred in from other states, and some had less experience than those who left.
Bondi publicly criticized a group of departing Minnesota prosecutors during a Fox News appearance in January. “They wanted the taxpayers to pay for them to go on vacation because they decided they didn’t want to support law enforcement,” she said. “So, the breaking news tonight? I fired them all! They are FIRED from the office.”
The department has stated that the new hiring flexibility aims to fill urgent vacancies. However, this change also highlights how understaffed many offices have become after months of exits, stalled backfilling, and internal conflict over politically charged cases.
The result is a Justice Department that now relies more on newly licensed lawyers at a time when it is handling some of the country’s most sensitive prosecutions and legal battles.
