Overview
- The department is offering $25,000 signing bonuses for attorneys in Civil Division roles that investigate youth transgender medical care and litigate the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.
- An internal Civil Division email promises biweekly retention allowances of $60 to $220 through Thanksgiving to encourage current attorneys to stay.
- In March, the department dropped its long-standing rule that new prosecutors have at least one year of practice, and current postings list some roles as needing up to one year.
- The incentives follow a steep loss of attorneys, with reporting that DOJ ranks fell from about 10,000 before 2025 to roughly half by September 2025.
- Key units have been hit hard, with reporting that the Solicitor General’s Office lost at least half its career lawyers and the Civil Rights Division shed more than 60% since January 2025.