Trump Federal Hiring Freeze Scuttles Job Offers for Law Students

President Donald Trump’s hiring freeze is preventing students specializing in public service law from getting federal jobs.

The IRS has canceled job offers for at least four students at Georgia State University’s law school because of the freeze, the associate dean, Ted Afield, said in an interview. At least six job offers were rescinded from law students at William & Mary Law School for the Justice Department and IRS, school dean Benjamin Spencer said.

Emails that students shared with Bloomberg Law showed the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission telling them they can no longer be hired. “Pursuant to the hiring freeze announced January 20, 2025, your job offer has been revoked,” the Justice email said.

“Declining to hire the best and the brightest is going to be a real drain on government capacity over time, and I fear that’s what’s happening,” said Nicholas Bagley, a professor at the University of Michigan’s law school.

Trump imposed the freeze for 90 days until the Office of Management and Budget and other agencies issue a plan to cut the federal workforce “through efficiency improvements and attrition,” according to the order. The IRS freeze will continue after 90 days unless administration officials determine “it is in the national interest” to lift it.

The freeze prompted the Justice Department to cancel the Attorney General’s Honors Program program that typically results in more than 100 law school graduates getting entry-level jobs at the agency each year, the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the matter. A Justice spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg Law.

The FCC has also stopped hiring for its version of the honors program, according to the email viewed by Bloomberg Law. An FCC spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did an IRS representative.

The federal notices are particularly distressing for students because they have limited other opportunities, Afield said. “A lot of the jobs they would have been competitive for several months ago now very well may have been filled by other people,” he said.

William & Mary is prepared to support some students financially in cases where they are unable to secure paid employment in other public interest roles, Spencer said.