As a lawyer who currently serves in a position where I provide career advice to law students, I am dismayed by a recent trend: the unpaid legal position, following law school. The best (or worst) example of this phenomenon, in my view, are new positions advertised as uncompensated special assistant U.S. attorneys, offered by the agency where I spent my prior career, the U.S. Department of Justice.
Having served as a special assistant U.S. attorney (known as a SAUSA) for six months in 2003-2004 in the Northern District of Texas, I can attest that the experience for a new attorney is incredibly valuable. I served, while on detail from another DOJ component, immediately after admission to the bar. I wrote motions, prepared pen register/trap and trace applications, presented to a grand jury and, most importantly, gained both district court and magistrate court time. I even second-chaired two trials. And I was paid for my work.
