Federal Attorneys
A federal attorney or a federal court attorney is an attorney who has been admitted to practice before a Federal court for a particular jurisdiction. Federal attorneys can work for the federal government and represent the United States federal government in United States district courts and United States courts of appeals. Federal attorneys are referred to as United States attorneys, chief federal prosecutors, and United States district attorneys. An attorney that works for a private citizen or entity in a federal case may also be referred to as a federal attorney.
There are approximately 18,000+ federal attorneys and 1,500 federal judges in the United States.
There are 93 U.S. Attorney offices located throughout the United States, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each U.S. Attorney is the chief federal law enforcement officer within their particular jurisdiction. They supervise as many as 350 Assistant U.S. Attorneys (AUSA) and as many as 350 support personnel. An AUSA is a public official who represents the federal government on behalf of the U.S. Attorney in criminal prosecutions and in some civil cases. They can represent the government as either a plaintiff or defendant.
Government Attorney
A federal attorney is just one of the many kinds of government lawyers out there. In general, a government attorney works for some branch of the government at either the federal, state, or city level. A government lawyer often conducts their approach to and practice of law, in the same manner as a private attorney does but their focus will be on the laws and policies that pertain to the specific governing party they represent.
To be an attorney in the U.S. a person needs to have attended and earned a degree from an accredited law school in the United States, as well as to have passed at least one bar exam and earned a license to practice law in the jurisdiction they passed their bar exam for. A federal attorney has to go through this same process regardless of whether they are working for the government or in the private sector.
Federal Criminal Lawyer
When someone or an entity goes against federal legislation, it is considered a federal crime or a federal offense. A federal criminal lawyer may work as a United States attorney (chief federal prosecutor) for the federal criminal courts, as a a federal public defender, or as a private lawyer who defends or prosecutes individuals and entities in federal crime cases. Some crimes fall under both state and federal jurisdictions and depending on a particular case’s circumstances, these will be tried in one of these jurisdictions.
Many different federal agencies have the power to investigate federal offenses. These include but are not limited to. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Secret Service.
Learn more about criminal law information with the Best Federal Criminal Attorney.