November 19, 2025
Justice Department struggles as thousands exit—and few are replaced
The Justice Department has lost thousands of experienced attorneys since the start of the Trump administration and has backfilled a fraction of the open jobs, with the process snarled by a lack of qualified candidates, bureaucratic delays and hiring freezes, according to people familiar with hirings in the department.
Last year, roughly 10,000 attorneys worked across the Justice Department and its components, including the FBI. Justice Connection, an advocacy group that has been tracking departures, estimates that around 5,500 people—not all of them attorneys—have quit the department, been fired or taken a buyout offered by the Trump administration.
The department did not provide a breakdown of attorney departures, but officials did not deny that widespread vacancies exist.
The department’s struggle to fill vacancies reflects a dramatic shift for a law enforcement agency that has long attracted high-performing alumni from the nation’s top-ranked law schools and law firms.
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https://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/governmental_legislative_work/publications/washingtonletter/november-25-wl/outside-the-gao-1125wl/
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