Working for the Government as a Corporate Lawyer

One option for lawyers interested in corporate matters is to work for a government agency. Corporate lawyers can work for a number of different agencies in the government. At the federal level, they work for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Justice Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, among other places. (If you want to know what sort of work corporate lawyers do for the CIA, check out the CIA Office of General Counsel web site at http://www.cia.gov/ogc/best.htm.) Lawyers can also find jobs related to corporate law in state and local government. For purposes of this book, federal jobs will be the focus, because they tend to provide the most transferable experience to the private sector.

How much do government lawyers make?

Each government agency has its own salary rate for attorneys, and each attorney will be offered a different starting salary depending on credentials and experience. Most entry-level attorneys are hired at the GS-11 or GS-12 pay rate. The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) posts federal employee pay tables every year on the OPM web site (www.opm.gov). For 2003, GS-11 attorneys might be paid between $42,976 and $55,873, while the range for GS-12 attorneys is between $51,508 and $66,961.The SEC web site lists the following salary ranges for attorneys in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area:

• One year of legal experience: $72,000 to $92,000
• Two years of legal experience: $86,000 to $110,000
• Senior/supervisory positions: $99,000 to $153,000

"There is a great disparity in pay between government lawyers and private-sector lawyers," says one lawyer who has worked for the government since 1989. "How much of a disparity depends a lot on where you live. If you're out in the middle of nowhere, government jobs can be fairly price-competitive. There are cost of living adjustments, but they don't make up for the difference in cost of living. I make $98,000 a year. If I were living in Iowa, this would be a great salary, but D.C. is getting more and more expensive. If I were to go to a private sector job now, even if it were in a boutique firm rather than a large firm, I would be paid between $125,000 and $200,000. The conventional wisdom is that there is a trade-off, since the hours of a government lawyer are so much better than those of a big firm job. But this isn't always necessarily true. When I worked at the U.S. Attorney's office, we worked 80 hours a week."

How can you get hired?

There are three ways to get hired as a federal government lawyer. The first is to go through a hiring program sponsored by an agency. Several agencies have honors programs for entry-level lawyers and internships for law students. The second method is to reply to a job listing. Government job listings can be found in the same places as other legal job listings, and also in The National and Federal Legal Employment Report. (See www.attorneyjobs.com for information on how to obtain a paid subscription.) The third way (you guessed it!) is through networking. Attorney jobs in the federal government are coveted. Just because they must be advertised doesn't mean that hiring is done on a completely objective basis. Of course, an internship is the best way to network. If you've interned with an agency and made a good impression, it will be a lot easier to get a permanent position with that agency.