Assistant United States Attorney

The United States Department of Justice; Scranton (Lackawanna County); On-site; USD 77,000 - 197,000; Full time

Job summary

The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania seeks Assistant United States Attorneys to represent the United States in federal court across a broad spectrum of criminal cases, including drug trafficking, public corruption, and financial crimes. Successful candidates will possess a J.D. and be eligible to practice in the U.S.

bar by the start date. Preferred applicants have substantial experience in handling complex prosecutions, strong written and oral

Qualifications

• J.D. degree and active bar membership by duty entry date.
• Experience handling complex criminal litigation is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Represent the United States in federal court across a wide variety of criminal matters.
• Perform legal research and drafting of pleadings, motions, and briefs.
• Engage in pre-trial and trial proceedings, sentencing, and post-sentencing matters.
• Collaborate with agencies and colleagues to manage cases and investigations.

Skills

Strong communication

Teamwork

Self-sufficiency

Ability to work under pressure

Education

J.D. degree

Active bar admission

Tools

Electronic court filing

Electronic mail systems

Job description

Location: 235 N. Washington Avenue
William Nealon Federal Building
Scranton, PA 18503 - United States

Application Deadline

Wednesday, July 28, 2027

About the Office

The United States Attorney's Office prosecutes federal criminal offenses, seeks recovery of government funds fraudulently obtained, litigates affirmative civil fraud and enforcement actions, and defends the U.S. Government's interest in civil cases. The United States Attorney's Office, Middle District of Pennsylvania has staff in three offices: Harrisburg, Scranton, and Williamsport, and maintains an unstaffed office in Wilkes-Barre.

This is an open-continuous announcement which will be used to fill two immediate vacancies within the district. First round consideration will be given to applications received by August 12, 2026. Thereafter, review of applications received from this announcement will be conducted periodically to fill additional positions as needed.

Job Description

AUSAs in the Criminal Division have the opportunity to represent the interests of the United States in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a wide variety of complex cases involving drug trafficking, money laundering, firearms and other violent offenses, cyber-crimes, public corruption, terrorism, financial fraud, crimes against children, human trafficking, and environmental crimes, among others.

Qualifications

Applicants must possess a J.D. degree (or equivalent) and be an active member of the bar (any U.S. jurisdiction) by their entry on duty date. Law school graduates and current law students taking a July 2026 bar examination may be considered, subject to the foregoing requirements.

Preferred Qualifications: Preferred applicants will possess substantial experience in handling a variety of complex criminal litigation including but not limited to major economic crimes, public corruption, drug trafficking, violent crimes, child exploitation cases, and grand jury practices. The preferred applicant will have substantial experience prosecuting and handling all phases of prosecution to include pre-trial litigation, trials, sentencing, post-sentencing proceedings and appeals. Preferred applicants will also demonstrate superior oral and written communications skills, possess the ability to work as part of a team, with an emphasis on working well with client agencies. Applicants should have strong character and interpersonal skills and demonstrate the capacity to function with minimal guidance in a highly demanding environment.

Applicants will conduct their own legal research and writing and will be substantially self-sufficient in preparing day-to-day correspondence and pleadings. Applicants must also demonstrate excellent computer literacy skills to include experience with automated research on the Internet, electronic court filing, and electronic e-mail and word processing systems.

Assistant United States Attorneys' pay is administratively determined based, in part, on the number years of professional attorney experience. The range of annual pay is $76,748 to $197,100 which includes the applicable locality pay supplement for the duty station.

Travel

Travel will be required, primarily within the Middle District of Pennsylvania (33-county area) with occasional trips to other districts, as well as to the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina for training and conferences.

Relocation Expenses

Relocation expenses will not be authorized.

This and othervacancy announcements can be found underAttorney Vacancies andVolunteer Legal Internships . The Department of Justice cannot control further dissemination and/or posting of information contained in this vacancy announcement. Such posting and/or dissemination is not an endorsement by the Department of the organization or group disseminating and/or posting the information.