Senior Agency Legal Counsel

Most days tend to involve advising agency leadership on complex legal questions, supporting rulemaking and regulatory development, managing or contributing to agency litigation, and mentoring junior agency attorneys. You'll often handle senior advisory work in the morning, review or draft rulemaking documents in the afternoon, and engage with the agency head, division leaders, or external attorneys (DOJ, AG offices) on litigation.

The hardest parts tend to be the political dimensions of agency work and the institutional complexity of government legal practice. Decisions affect regulated parties, policy direction, and sometimes constitutional questions, and the stakes can be substantial. Agency settings vary widely — federal agencies (EPA, FCC, SEC, etc.), state agencies, and independent commissions each operate with distinct cultures, rulemaking traditions, and political sensitivities.

People who tend to thrive here are diplomatically skilled, substantively deep, comfortable with the public-service mission, and patient with the procedural rhythms of government legal work. If you want partnership-track compensation or pure private practice, agency counsel is mission-driven and modestly compensated. If you find satisfaction in shaping the legal foundations of government action, the work can be deeply consequential and intellectually serious.