Federal government attorney jobs are hired by the agencies themselves: attorney positions sit in the excepted service under Schedule A (5 CFR 213.3102(d)), so agencies hire directly instead of through competitive-service examining and announce openings on USAJOBS and their own careers pages.
You apply to individual announcements with a federal resume, and vetting can include a background check, depending on the seat.
Here is how the process works.
Federal attorney hiring runs through the excepted service (Schedule A)
Federal attorney jobs have their own classification: the Office of Personnel Management puts them in the GS-0905 General Attorney series, which covers preparing cases for trial and trying them before a court or an administrative body, giving legal advice to an agency, and drafting regulations, contracts and legislative comments.
The hiring machinery is different from private practice too.
Attorney positions sit in the excepted service under Schedule A, 5 CFR 213.3102(d) ("Attorneys"), so they are not filled through competitive-service examining.
Practically, that means you apply to the hiring agency: it announces its openings and runs its own process.
The Department of Justice's Attorney General's Honors Program is one structured doorway — running since 1953, it is DOJ's entry-level attorney recruitment program.
There is also a door for graduates who have not yet been admitted: agencies can appoint law school graduates as law clerk trainees under 5 CFR 213.3102(e), in appointments confined to graduates pending admission to the bar that may not exceed 14 months.
Federal practice is one slice of the government attorney career path — the parent guide covers state agency counsel, attorneys general offices and city and county attorneys as well.
Confirm the hiring authority before you rely on it
Where federal attorney jobs are posted: USAJOBS and agency sites
Attorney openings are announced on USAJOBS, and agencies also publish openings on their own legal-careers pages.
The Justice Department, for example, runs its entry-level attorney recruitment through its own legal careers pages.
Search by the GS-0905 series number, not only by the word "attorney" — it is the classification federal agencies use for these positions.
A good announcement is the specification for the seat: it names the agency, the duties, the pay and the vetting involved.
Check close dates on a schedule rather than once a season, and set the search to alert you when a new GS-0905 announcement appears.
How to write a federal resume for attorney applications
Approach the federal resume as a record rather than a pitch: document your history clearly enough for the agency to see how you meet what the announcement asks for.
Write it to be checked, not skimmed:
- Every legal position with month-and-year dates, the employer and your core responsibilities.
- Bar admissions, with the jurisdiction and the year you were admitted.
- Judicial clerkships, fellowships and any government or public-interest work, including any law clerk trainee service.
- Legal writing you can document: publications, regulatory comments, substantial briefs or memoranda.
- Anything the announcement names specifically — subject-matter background, language skills, licensure in a particular jurisdiction.
Describe your experience in the announcement's own language where it is honest to do so, and make the fit between your record and the announcement's list easy to see.
Keep the application complete and consistent, too — the facts you submit can come up again in background vetting.
Read the announcement before you write anything
Which agencies hire the most lawyers?
Federal seats are one slice of government lawyer jobs.
Per the BLS, the largest employers of lawyers in 2025 were legal services (52%), self-employed lawyers (11%), local government (8%), state government (7%) and the federal government (5%) — a real market, but a limited one.
Within the federal government, the ABA's 2024 Profile reports that the Justice Department employs the most general attorneys — nearly 13,000 — and counted women at 51.5% of federal executive-branch general attorneys as of December 2023.
Our research verified headcount rankings for no other federal agency, so the honest way to see who is hiring now is a USAJOBS search by the GS-0905 series.
One DOJ component shows how specific an agency's requirements can be: immigration judges — appointed by the U.S. Attorney General and hearing cases at roughly 70 locations — are asked for an LL.B., J.D. or LL.M., active bar membership and seven years of post-bar legal experience.
Those requirements belong to that role; each announcement states the ones for its own seat.
On pay, the BLS's May 2025 median annual wage for lawyers (SOC 23-1011) in the federal government was $178,380 — an occupation-wide median for the industry row, not a pay scale.
The grade and salary for a specific seat are the ones its announcement states.
And an honest note on the entry-level market: NALP counted new graduates hired by the federal government (excluding judicial clerkships) falling 37.0% — from nearly 1,100 in the Class of 2024 to about 690 in the Class of 2025.
With new-graduate federal hiring at that level, timing and a complete application carry real weight.
Security clearances and background vetting
Vetting is part of federal legal hiring, and its depth depends on the seat and the agency — the announcement and the agency's hiring pages state what applies to the role you want.
One verified example shows the depth: EOIR says immigration judge finalists undergo a background check covering bar complaints, taxes, credit and criminal history, along with fingerprinting and a drug test.
That process belongs to that role, but it gives a realistic picture of what federal vetting can involve.
Clearances come up on the military side of federal legal service too: Army JAG Corps applicants need secret-clearance eligibility among their other requirements — our JAG officer guide covers that path and the requirements our research verified for the Army.
Practically, treat your application as the first round of vetting: answer every question completely and consistently.
Where to find government attorney jobs
Two searches cover the ground.
USAJOBS carries the agencies' announcements — search the GS-0905 series and set alerts.
And on LawFirmHires you can browse government attorney jobs in one place, with openings as employers post them.
Federal service also changes the student-loan math: PSLF forgives the remaining balance on eligible Direct Loans after the equivalent of 120 qualifying monthly payments made while working full-time for a qualifying employer, and U.S. federal, state, local and tribal government entities all qualify.
Our PSLF guide for lawyers covers which legal jobs count and how the clock runs.
This page is career information, not legal advice. Hiring authorities, announcement requirements and vetting are set by each agency and can change — confirm current details with the hiring agency and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and pay figures with the BLS release named above.