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I feel for you and am so sorry this is happening. I think you leverage the fact that appearing before an ALJ is still essentially litigation. The rules may be different and more relaxed but it’s very similar. Those skills are certainly transferable. I primarily practiced before our state administrative judges in my old job and was able to successfully transfer the skills to predominantly federal and state litigation.
I always think that litigation skills are harder to teach than subject matter specifics, so I would really play that up!!
Lots of states still hiring for ALJ's or attorneys who go before them. Just because you fired during a mass layoff says nothing about the quality of your work.
Feel awful for my friends and colleagues in fed jobs right now. If I were you, I'd maybe lean into transferable skills like regulatory expertise, writing, and advocacy. Private firms, compliance roles, or even in-house legal teams might value your background. Have you looked into bar associations or gov-to-private pipelines?
What a sh**sh**! The irony is that you will be replaced by a combination of lowest bid federal contractors and new hires subject to some yet to be drafted loyalty pledge. All of this will result in significantly greater costs. As some have reported, States will find themselves taking on a larger share of certain tasks - suggesting that this may eventually be a landing place, but 2025 state budgets are already approved. Consequently, it could be a year or more before state employment opportunities may be able to absorb the laid off federal work force.
Obviously, there are contact opportunities but those may be a last resort.
My company has several federal grants under cooperative agreements. We have received stop work orders for certain activities related to DEI and EJ40. Some of the academic institutions that were under agreements to perform the DEI and EJ40 work are evaluating their options with respect to enforcement. Academia may be looking for staff in their counsels’ offices that understand the federal labyrinth. I also anticipate that large DC firms will see litigation opportunities for these and other challenges to funding from various offices in the several federal agencies that try to cancel or curtail grants or loans.
You already are marketable.
If you are in trial before those ALJ’s, then you can cross a witness and think on your feet. Go civil litigation.
If your area involves regulatory for an industry, then you can look towards firms that serve that industry, or to the companies themselves for in-house.