Students secure highly competitive entry-level federal agency positions

Attorney hiring at federal agencies is an extremely competitive process, with thousands of applicants for a much smaller number of positions. This year, in addition to five NYU Law students and recent alumni who will join the U.S. Department of Justice through the entry-level Attorney General’s Honors Program, five other Law School students or new graduates have been hired as attorneys by a variety of federal agencies through their respective entry-level programs.

Megan Brown '12Megan Brown ’12 was one of nine new attorneys hired by the U.S. Department of Transportation through its Office of the General Counsel Honors Attorney Program, out of a total of 2,300 applicants. Brown, an executive editor of the Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, a teacher in the Prisoners’ Rights and Education Project, and a student in the Brennan Center Public Policy Advocacy Clinic, earned a B.A. in the Plan II interdisciplinary honors program as well as English honors and a history minor from the University of Texas at Austin. She previously interned in the Transportation Department’s Office of the General Counsel.

 

Lucy Joffe '12Lucy Joffe ’12 was one of roughly a dozen attorneys hired out of 800 applicants by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of General Counsel Legal Honors Program. A notes editor for the Journal of Legislation and Public Policy as well as a student in both the Family Defense Clinic and the Administrative and Regulatory State Clinic, Joffe received a teaching M.S. from Pace University and a B.A. in sociology with a political science minor from the University of Michigan. Before studying at NYU Law, she was a Teach for America corps member in East Harlem and a legislative aide to New York City Councilman Daniel Garodnick. 

 

Martha Kinsella '11Martha Kinsella ’11 was hired by the National Labor Relations Board’s Honors Program; she will work in the Office of the Chairman. Kinsella is currently clerking for Judge Philip Carchman of the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division. While at NYU Law, she was an executive editor of the Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, a student in the Government Civil Litigation Clinic—Southern District of New York, and a law clerk for both the NLRB and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Kinsella received a B.A. in comparative literature from the University of Chicago and an M.A. in comparative literary studies from Northwestern University.

 

 

Steven Rowings '12Steven Rowings ’12 was among five new attorneys hired by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s Attorney Honors Program out of more than 750 applicants. He will work in the Media Bureau’s Audio Division. Rowings, who has served as the Moot Court Board’s Immigration Law Competition chair and Public Service Auction donations committee co-chair, has a B.A. in journalism from Loyola College in Maryland and an M.S. in broadcast journalism from Syracuse University. He also worked as a TV sports reporter and interned previously with the FCC.

 

 

 

Gene Smilansky '12Gene Smilansky ’12 will work in the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser. He was one of five entry-level attorneys hired out of more than 500 applicants. Smilansky has served as an articles editor of the Journal of International Law and Politics and chair of the Immigration Court Observation Project, in addition to being a student in the Brennan Center Public Policy Advocacy Clinic. He earned a B.A. in economics and international relations from Yale University, and will receive a master in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government simultaneously with his J.D. Smilansky previously worked as an extern in the State Department’s Office of the Legal Advisor and as a senior council manager at Gerson Lehrman Group.

 

Posted on April 20, 2012