Leah Deskin ‘21
Professor Liaison Editor
Last Thursday, February 20th, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, G. Zachary Terwilliger, visited the Law School for a lunchtime discussion with Annie Kim, Assistant Dean for Public Service, followed by a brief Q&A period with students. As the United States Attorney, Terwilliger oversees civil litigation in which the United States has an interest and federal prosecution for matters within the Eastern District of Virginia, a region including Hampton Roads in the southeastern portion of the state, Richmond, and also parts of Northern Virginia. The event was titled “Overcoming Adversity in Law School and the Path to Becoming a Federal Prosecutor,” but the discussion ended up focusing less on overcoming adversity and more on Terwilliger’s road to becoming a federal prosecutor, as well as recommendations he had for students hoping to go down that path.
Pictured: U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, G. Zachary Terwilliger.
Photo Courtesy www.justice.gov
Initially, Terwilliger spent some time discussing what led him to a legal career in the first place. He mentioned that his dad had worked as a prominent official in the Department of Justice and then in private practice in Washington, D.C. His first experience working in the federal prosecution context came in high school when he interned in a United States Attorney’s Office. But he wasn’t always dead-set on becoming a lawyer. He briefly delved into bioethics while an undergraduate at UVA but, somewhat jokingly, talked about his realization that perhaps that wasn’t the right career for him. After college, he attended William & Mary Law School, clerked, and then immediately began working as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Terwilliger spent the bulk of the event discussing his experience working as a line attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and then the United States Attorney. He discussed his victim-centric approach to prosecution (he did a lot of sex-trafficking prosecution early on in his career), as well as the decisions he has to make as the head of the office in the Eastern District of Virginia (including decisions related to the delegation of work, as well as his approach to prosecutorial discretion). He also briefly discussed his time working for the Department of Justice in D.C., in particular, the work he did to get DOJ working again at the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency. He specifically mentioned that he was working nearly all hours of the day during that period, and that being the United States Attorney for a region containing over six million people is much, much easier than what he was doing at “Main Justice.” And you thought Biglaw had it tough!
He also spent time at the end of the event answering student questions and providing insight into how to become a federal prosecutor. Here’s the gist: First, you’ve already started off on the right foot by going to such an amazing Law School. Congratulations. Second, consider clerking, it’s a big plus. Third, show an interest in government work. Spend at least one summer working for the federal government at a place like DOJ. Work in the Law School’s prosecution clinic or Supreme Court litigation clinic. In addition, if you choose to work at a firm, the best time to apply to become a federal prosecutor is once you’re a second or third-year associate. After that, you start becoming too expensive, and frankly, everyone starts leaving Biglaw around their fifth or sixth year. You wouldn’t want to be just another fifth or sixth-year associate in a sea of other fifth or sixth-year associates.
Terwilliger didn’t spend much time talking about law school. He mentioned that he felt really pressured to succeed because of his dad’s position, and then he told us that he ended up doing very well in school—standard fare for someone in his position, it seems. For a talk with a title about overcoming adversity, it would’ve been nice to hear a story about someone who didn’t initially succeed in law school and overcame it. One of the more interesting points he made, however, was that he viewed law school as a means to an end. He didn’t nerd out about the law in school. For all of those students out there who have found themselves not being a law school nerd and wondering whether they’re cut out to be a lawyer, perhaps that provides some heartening encouragement. You don’t have to love the word “jurisprudence,” the humor of Scalia’s dissents, or your professors’ policy questions on final exams to succeed as a lawyer.
Terwilliger concluded by mentioning that he thinks he has the greatest job in the world: He gets to do the right thing at work, he enjoys being there for law enforcement, and he enjoys delivering justice for victims.
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lcd4ew@virginia.edu