PDS Overview:
The Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS) is a federally funded, independent organization governed by an eleven-member Board of Trustees. PDS provides legal representation to individuals facing a loss of liberty in criminal, delinquency, and mental health legal matters in the District of Columbia who are financially unable to obtain adequate representation. PDS attorneys, social workers, investigators, and administrative and technical staff collaborate to advance the agency’s client-centered public defense mission. PDS’s main office is located at 633 3rd Street, NW, Washington, D.C. District of Columbia residency is not a requirement for employment. Employment at the Public Defender Service is neither federal nor District of Columbia government employment, and all employees are at-will.
Division Description:
This position is located in the Office of Human Resources (OHR), Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. OHR develops, organizes, administers, and evaluates the agency’s comprehensive human resources management program to ensure the effective use of human resources in achieving agency goals. The office provides leadership and services in recruitment and staffing, classification, compensation, employee and labor relations, performance management, benefits, workforce planning, training, records, and human resources policy.
The Legal Recruiting Manager serves as the agency’s lead program manager for attorney recruitment, law student pipeline development, and selected attorney training coordination. The incumbent works across divisions and with external partners to ensure PDS maintains a strong pipeline of highly qualified, mission-driven, and diverse attorneys, fellows, law clerks, and externs.
Major Duties and Position Description:
The Legal Recruiting Manager designs, leads, implements, and evaluates the agency’s strategy and operations for attorney recruitment, law student outreach, externship programs, fellowship and law clerk pipeline development, onboarding of legal hires, and selected attorney training initiatives. The incumbent serves as the agency’s subject-matter lead for legal recruitment and attorney pipeline development, reports to the Chief Human Resources Officer and works closely with the PDS Director and Deputy Director.
Major duties include:
- Designs, implements, manages, and evaluates the agency’s attorney recruitment program to identify, attract, and retain a highly qualified and diverse legal workforce.
- Analyzes current and projected staffing needs, turnover, vacancies, pipeline gaps, workforce diversity needs, and market competition, and develops responsive recruitment strategies.
- Partners with senior leadership, managing attorneys, office heads, and hiring committees to identify staffing needs for attorneys, fellows, post-graduate hires, law clerks, externs, and related legal positions.
- Manages recruitment processes for staff attorney and related legal positions, including outreach, vacancy announcements, applicant communications, screening, interview coordination, reference checks, and offer support.
- Screens applicants for eligibility, qualifications, mission alignment, and compatibility with agency needs and refers qualified candidates to hiring committees or selecting officials.
- Coordinates hiring committee activities and provides expert advice on selection methods, candidate assessment, process requirements, documentation, and hiring recommendations.
- Builds and maintains relationships with law schools, career services and public-interest offices, bar affinity groups, fellowship sponsors, legal services organizations, law firm pro bono programs, and professional associations.
- Represents PDS at law school programs, career fairs, conferences, recruitment forums, and other national or regional events related to legal recruitment and attorney development.
- Promotes PDS as an employer of choice for candidates committed to indigent defense, client-centered advocacy, fairness, and criminal legal system reform.
- Manages and expands externship, fellowship, and law clerk programs, including application review, selection, placement, onboarding, orientation, logistics, and stakeholder communications.
- Manages the summer law clerk program, including recruitment, orientation, training coordination, program oversight, assignments, evaluations, and records.
- Coordinates onboarding for new attorneys, fellows, law clerks, and other legal staff in partnership with HR, IT, payroll, and office administration.
- Collaborates with leadership and supervising attorneys to identify attorney training needs and coordinates or supports new-attorney orientation, foundational skills training, and selected professional development initiatives.
- Develops and maintains recruitment, hiring, and pipeline program data and prepares reports on applicant flow, hiring outcomes, timelines, workforce trends, and program effectiveness.
- Monitors compliance with employment laws, equal opportunity requirements, hiring policies, and recordkeeping obligations and develops standardized selection materials and evaluation tools.
- Advises management on equitable recruitment, workforce diversity, candidate experience, employer branding, retention, workforce planning, and related employment practices.
- Improves recruitment systems, interview processes, onboarding workflows, and professional development infrastructure for attorneys and law students.
- Provides outplacement employment counseling to attorneys and other staff as requested.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
Required Qualifications: Applicants must demonstrate experience, education, and/or training sufficient to perform the duties of the position. Candidates must possess progressively responsible experience in attorney recruitment, legal hiring, public-interest recruiting, law school career services, talent acquisition, attorney development, or closely related work.
Applicants must have demonstrated experience in the following areas:
- Managing recruitment processes or programs for attorneys, law students, fellows, externs, law clerks, or other legal personnel.
- Developing recruitment strategies, conducting outreach, screening applicants, coordinating interviews, and advising hiring officials or selection committees.
- Building relationships with law schools, career services offices, fellowship sponsors, professional associations, bar organizations, or public-interest partners.
- Managing multiple projects, timelines, stakeholders, recruitment events, and hiring cycles simultaneously.
- Applying employment laws, equal opportunity principles, equitable hiring practices, and recruitment recordkeeping requirements.
- Preparing written guidance, recruitment materials, reports, presentations, and communications for applicants, leadership, and external partners.
- Using applicant tracking systems, HR information systems, databases, or reporting tools to manage recruitment activity and evaluate outcomes.
- Communicating effectively with attorneys, students, administrators, senior leaders, and community stakeholders in a mission-driven environment.
Candidates must possess strong written and oral communication skills, sound judgment, discretion, analytical and project management ability, relationship-building skills, and the capacity to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.
Other Requirements: Periodic travel is required to law schools, recruitment events, conferences, courts, and related sites. Evening and weekend work may be required during recruitment events, networking programs, training activities, and peak hiring seasons. The position requires frequent communication with applicants, employees, law schools, and agency leadership and the ability to manage multiple simultaneous deadlines. All candidates are subject to a criminal background check.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Juris Doctor degree or substantial familiarity with legal education, attorney career pathways, and legal hiring cycles.
- Experience in a public defender office, legal services organization, court system, government legal office, law firm, law school career services office, or attorney development function.
- Experience administering, externship, fellowship, summer associate, or law clerk programs.
- Experience designing or coordinating attorney training, orientation, professional development, or early-career integration programs.
- Knowledge of indigent defense practice, public-interest recruitment, and the competencies associated with effective client-centered representation.
- Experience developing metrics and using applicant tracking systems, HRIS platforms, spreadsheets, dashboards, or data-reporting tools.
- Experience advancing fair, inclusive, and mission-aligned recruitment strategies.
How You Will Be Evaluated: Your application package will be reviewed to determine whether you meet the minimum qualifications and the degree to which your experience, education, training, and accomplishments demonstrate the competencies required for the position. Please provide detailed information supporting your qualifications. Failure to provide sufficient evidence may result in your application not receiving further consideration.
To qualify at the PDS Grade 13 level, candidates must possess one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the PDS Grade 12 level in attorney recruitment, legal hiring, public-interest recruiting, law school career services, human resources, talent acquisition, attorney development, or closely related work.
Specialized experience must demonstrate experience supporting and coordinating recruitment and talent acquisition activities for attorneys, law students, fellows, externs, law clerks, or other legal professionals; developing and executing recruitment activities and outreach strategies; screening applicants and coordinating hiring processes; advising hiring managers or selection officials on recruitment procedures and best practices; establishing and maintaining relationships with law schools, professional organizations, and recruitment partners; applying equal employment opportunity principles, fair hiring practices, and applicable recruitment policies; and preparing recruitment materials, correspondence, reports, and other written products.
To qualify at the PDS Grade 14 level, candidates must possess one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the PDS Grade 13 level in attorney recruitment, legal hiring, public-interest recruiting, law school career services, human resources, talent acquisition, attorney development, or closely related work.
Specialized experience must demonstrate experience independently managing complex recruitment and legal talent acquisition programs; developing and implementing recruitment strategies; advising senior leaders, hiring officials, and selection committees on recruitment and selection matters; managing multiple concurrent hiring initiatives and talent pipeline programs; building and maintaining strategic partnerships with law schools, professional organizations, fellowship sponsors, and other legal recruitment stakeholders; applying employment laws, equal employment opportunity principles, equitable hiring practices, and recruitment compliance requirements; analyzing recruitment data and workforce trends; and preparing recommendations, reports, presentations, and communications that support organizational workforce objectives.
At the PDS Grade 14 level, the incumbent is expected to serve as the agency’s subject-matter expert for attorney recruitment and legal talent pipeline development, exercising a high degree of independence in designing, leading, evaluating, and improving recruitment programs. The incumbent provides strategic advice to leadership, influences agency-wide recruitment outcomes, and leads initiatives that support the continuity, quality, and long-term development of the agency’s legal workforce.
Rating: Your application package will be rated and ranked among other applicants based on your experience, education, training, and other information relevant to the duties of this position. Your rating may be lowered if the information in your application is not supported by the requested documents.
Referral: If you are among the top-qualified candidates, your application package will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration. You may be invited to participate in one or more selection interviews or assessments.
Benefits: PDS is funded by federal appropriations, and employees are eligible to participate in federal benefits plans, federal retirement systems, and the workers’ compensation program. Transferring federal employees receive recognition of creditable federal service for leave accrual and retirement, as applicable. Benefits include:
- Federal Employees Retirement System (retirement annuity)
- Thrift Savings Plan (similar to a 401(k) program)
- Federal Employees Health Benefits Program
- Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance
- Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program
- Flexible Spending Accounts for health care and dependent care
- Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program, when available
- Public transportation subsidy, subject to funding
- Parking garage access, subject to availability
- Employee Assistance Program
- Federal Occupational Health clinic and services
How to Apply:
You must submit a complete application package as one PDF file containing:
- A cover letter;
- A résumé that includes your email address; and
- A list of three professional references, including each reference’s name, address, telephone number, and a statement describing how the reference can evaluate your qualifications.
Your cover letter must specifically address:
- Your experience managing attorney, law student, fellowship, externship, law clerk, or other legal recruitment programs.
- Your experience developing recruitment strategies, conducting outreach, screening applicants, and advising hiring managers or selection committees.
- Your experience building partnerships with law schools, career services offices, bar associations, fellowship sponsors, public-interest organizations, or other recruitment partners.
- Your experience coordinating multiple hiring cycles, events, projects, stakeholders, and deadlines.
- Your knowledge of legal hiring practices, public-interest recruitment, equitable selection methods, and applicable employment requirements.
- Your experience using applicant tracking, HR information, data-management, or reporting systems to evaluate recruitment activity and outcomes.
- Your skill in communicating clearly, orally and in writing, with applicants, attorneys, students, senior leaders, and external partners.
Please ensure your application package contains detailed information supporting your qualifications. Failure to provide sufficient evidence may result in rejection of your application package. To ensure proper consideration, the subject line of your application email must include the announcement number and position title, for example: PDS-2026-26 Legal Recruiting Manager
Applications must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on 08/21/2026 to [email protected].
Pay: $139,395.00 - $153,336.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Flexible schedule
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Application Question(s):
- Describe your experience developing recruitment strategies and building relationships with law schools, career services offices, bar associations, fellowship sponsors, public interest organizations, or other professional organizations. Include examples of outreach or pipeline development initiatives you led.
Work Location: In person
