Government attorneys have been inundating the job market in Washington, D.C., even before the election results were in. However, the overcrowded market is forcing some attorneys to take a pause on their search for the moment. Resumes of President Joe Biden's political appointees who will be out of a job in January and high-level officials coming out of that administration will be at the top of the candidate pile at law firms, while midlevel and career attorneys are more likely to float to the back, according to several D.C. area legal recruiters. “Law firms are prioritizing the political appointees and the very senior officials, the division heads, the chairs, folks with really significant titles, and [those senior candidates] probably will demand quite an investment of money to afford,” said D.C.-based recruiter Rachel Nonaka at Macrae. Even as law firm demand for government talent hasn't exploded, area recruiters say they are hearing from a high volume of candidates. “It is truly remarkable how many phone calls we are getting and how many candidates we have on the market right now. I mean, honestly, I have not seen anything like this,” said Nonaka. D.C.-based recruiter Jeffrey Lowe at CenterPeak said he saw more candidates start their job search “earlier this year than in any of the previous 20-plus years,” followed by a “flood immediately following the election.” President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, for U.S. attorney general prompted a number of calls from attorneys in the government, particularly career attorneys, to recruiters inquiring about their options. However, Gaetz’s withdrawal and then Trump’s subsequent nomination of Pam Bondi, former Florida attorney general, has some candidates rethinking whether they should stay in government. “At first, candidates asked, ‘Can you get me out by early January?’ And now the approach is more, ‘OK, I can take a breath. I can wait for the right opportunity instead of just the first opportunity,” said D.C.-based recruiter Amy Savage at Garrison. Full story from Abigail Adcox: https://lnkd.in/ehguQn-n
