Philadelphia DA Forum

[Anonymous User]

im worried by the lack of postings today. i hope people who get offers will still let the forum know.....so we can have peace of mind

[Anonymous User]

im worried by the lack of postings today. i hope people who get offers will still let the forum know.....so we can have peace of mind

I wouldn't worry. I think everyone is just anxious and tired of the wait.

[Anonymous User]

I am the one that posted earlier about calling today. NO offers have went out. Although the committee has decided, the DA has to approve everything. She said calls should start next week.

[Anonymous User]

I am the one that posted earlier about calling today. NO offers have went out. Although the committee has decided, the DA has to approve everything. She said calls should start next week.

Reading this may ultimately result in me orally painting the bathroom floor tonight. If the hiring committee has made their decisions then I think we've moved past the point of constant "hopefullys." That is...if the DA basically just rubber stamps things. I actually wonder how hands on he is in the process. I would like to know if he personally whittles the list down from a decent number of choices given by the committee or if the committee is mostly responsible and he just generally approves unless he stumbles across something he doesn't like.

[Anonymous User]

I don't know what the DA does because she did not say. It made me feel better, however, because at least no offers have went out. We all have hope for a call next week. Please if you receive any news post to this forum.

[Anonymous User]

I am post-grad, currently employed, and going for a second attempt with this office. On my second go-round, the panel interview was much more relaxed than the first, but I attribute that to leaving my interview knowing that the job was not mine to lose. I understand having anxiety for a response because I too am anxious for a response - I submit my trolling of this message board as additional evidence. The postings on this board are consistent with my experience. This office is flooded with applicants; Catherine Schuler is very busy.

ADAs in this office have told me that keeping an open line of communication with your first round interviewer and/or other ADAs that you know is the best way to gauge/boost your chances. If you have/ had a particularly good rapport with your screener do not be afraid to send them an email about your "continued interested" in the position. Good luck to you all.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the information and the advice. At this point, however, it looks like decisions are all but made. The committee has met. I think they just have not made the list official. Will you please post if you hear something? It will give everyone some peace of mind. thanks again.

[Anonymous User]

I am post-grad, currently employed, and going for a second attempt with this office. On my second go-round, the panel interview was much more relaxed than the first, but I attribute that to leaving my interview knowing that the job was not mine to lose. I understand having anxiety for a response because I too am anxious for a response - I submit my trolling of this message board as additional evidence. The postings on this board are consistent with my experience. This office is flooded with applicants; Catherine Schuler is very busy.

ADAs in this office have told me that keeping an open line of communication with your first round interviewer and/or other ADAs that you know is the best way to gauge/boost your chances. If you have/ had a particularly good rapport with your screener do not be afraid to send them an email about your "continued interested" in the position. Good luck to you all.

Crap, I wish I had known that.

[Anonymous User]

I am post-grad, currently employed, and going for a second attempt with this office. On my second go-round, the panel interview was much more relaxed than the first, but I attribute that to leaving my interview knowing that the job was not mine to lose. I understand having anxiety for a response because I too am anxious for a response - I submit my trolling of this message board as additional evidence. The postings on this board are consistent with my experience. This office is flooded with applicants; Catherine Schuler is very busy.

ADAs in this office have told me that keeping an open line of communication with your first round interviewer and/or other ADAs that you know is the best way to gauge/boost your chances. If you have/ had a particularly good rapport with your screener do not be afraid to send them an email about your "continued interested" in the position. Good luck to you all.

Crap, I wish I had known that.

Same here. But it sounds like it is too late for that now, if decisions have already been made and they are just waiting for the DA's final approval.

[Anonymous User]

The DA's office generally hires a class of 25 attorneys on an annual basis. In May of 2012, the DA requested an additional $630K that would be used to hire 13 additional new ADA's. It appears that DA Seth Williams was more than successful, because the City's five year financial plan per the Council's approved budget allocates an additional $1M for Fiscal Years 2013 - 2017. http://www.phila.gov/finance/pdfs/Finan ... 8-8-12.pdf.

Hoping that this will ease some nerves. Cheers.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the information. Presumably more offers will go out. Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

i thought offers had been made already to people who interned there this past summer as 2l's. anyone know how many of those were made?

[Anonymous User]

Ms. Schuler said 8 offers have went out to the past 2L class. So if we assume around 38 total . . that means 30 calls next week.

[Anonymous User]

Ms. Schuler said 8 offers have went out to the past 2L class. So if we assume around 38 total . . that means 30 calls next week.

Not to mention the numbers they probably need to fill because of retirement and whatnot. That number will most likely increase.

[Anonymous User]

Higher than expected turnover rate + higher than expected budget allocation = Potentially more spots.

[Anonymous User]

The DA's office generally hires a class of 25 attorneys on an annual basis. In May of 2012, the DA requested an additional $630K that would be used to hire 13 additional new ADA's. It appears that DA Seth Williams was more than successful, because the City's five year financial plan per the Council's approved budget allocates an additional $1M for Fiscal Years 2013 - 2017. http://www.phila.gov/finance/pdfs/Finan ... 8-8-12.pdf.

Hoping that this will ease some nerves. Cheers.

I don't mean to pee in anyone's cereal here, but are you sure you're reading this right? Unless I'm looking at something different, the difference between 2011's general fund and 2012's for the DA is $551,876, not a million. 2012 to 2013 didn't move. You also have to remember that the extra money doesn't necessarily translate into more hires...it could go to pay raises, overtime, or restoration of any number of things that had to be cut before.

I think looking at the operating budget would be more useful, since it seems to lay out how many jobs the budget allows. Unfortunately, those numbers are not promising. If you look at the number of non-detective jobs on general full-time positions, the budget was set for 411 non-detective jobs in 2012. Now, the 2013 adopted budget is set for 399...a loss. Not really a great picture.

Of course, I may be reading this wrong since I'm not exactly a budget expert, so someone correct me if they know better. However, my reading of the budget here combined with less positive hearsay compels me to believe we should hedge our expectations. I hope I'm wrong and really want someone to prove me wrong, but I don't think I am.

[Anonymous User]

The DA's office generally hires a class of 25 attorneys on an annual basis. In May of 2012, the DA requested an additional $630K that would be used to hire 13 additional new ADA's. It appears that DA Seth Williams was more than successful, because the City's five year financial plan per the Council's approved budget allocates an additional $1M for Fiscal Years 2013 - 2017. http://www.phila.gov/finance/pdfs/Finan ... 8-8-12.pdf.

Hoping that this will ease some nerves. Cheers.

I don't mean to pee in anyone's cereal here, but are you sure you're reading this right? Unless I'm looking at something different, the difference between 2011's general fund and 2012's for the DA is $551,876, not a million. 2012 to 2013 didn't move. You also have to remember that the extra money doesn't necessarily translate into more hires...it could go to pay raises, overtime, or restoration of any number of things that had to be cut before.

I think looking at the operating budget would be more useful, since it seems to lay out how many jobs the budget allows. Unfortunately, those numbers are not promising. If you look at the number of non-detective jobs on general full-time positions, the budget was set for 411 non-detective jobs in 2012. Now, the 2013 adopted budget is set for 399...a loss. Not really a great picture.

Of course, I may be reading this wrong since I'm not exactly a budget expert, so someone correct me if they know better. However, my reading of the budget here combined with less positive hearsay compels me to believe we should hedge our expectations. I hope I'm wrong and really want someone to prove me wrong, but I don't think I am.

Can anyone please put a positive spin on this? Anyone??

[Anonymous User]

The positive spit is simple. The budget request was approved which was explicitly said was needed to use for 13 additional attorneys. Thus, 38 minimum.

[Anonymous User]

The above online poster was looking at the numbers of an older version of the budget. They probably have not updated the online version of the budget. I have heard from an ADA working in Philly that they are hiring more attorneys this year. I hope we all get a call very soon. Please post if you hear anything. Good Luck to all.

[Anonymous User]

The positive spit is simple. The budget request was approved which was explicitly said was needed to use for 13 additional attorneys. Thus, 38 minimum.

I'm not sure how you're coming to this conclusion when the value of Budgeted FY 12 is the exact same as Budgeted FY 13. Hard to see how that's additional funds. Unless FY 12 actually means the budget for 2013, I don't see a shred of evidence that it was approved. If you know that it was, in fact, approved based upon some sort of personal knowledge, some other part of the report I missed, or some sort of news article, please share. If you're coming to that conclusion based on that report's numbers, please explain how I'm reading it wrong.

Also, I wouldn't assume the website is accurate about the 25 hires. If you recall from the rest of the thread, there were reports of much less than 25 hires being made last year. If the budget was unchanged like it looks, I would say it's a bad idea to assume they're able to even make the 25.

Again, I'm not trying to upset anyone, but I want to be told how I'm reading this wrong if there's something I'm missing.

[Anonymous User]

I was told during my panel interview that they had a higher than expected turnover rate and will be hiring more than usual, thus 25 is minimum.

[Anonymous User]

Where's the updated budget, or at least how do we know it's outdated?

Everyone knows they WANT to hire more, but I have heard from a couple of sources that the money may not be there. I want mine to be wrong, but "an ADA" doesn't strike me as more credible. It's a big office and not everybody's in the loop and/or up to date. Something like "a member of the hiring committee told me last week" would have more weight. Also, anything that's said at the panel interview should be taken with a grain of salt. Remember being told something like, "You'll know by the end of December/January/etc."? Yeah. Nobody actually knows what the budget will be until way after the interviews are done and until then it's pure speculation. Unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast and the best anybody can do before things actually happen is take guesses. Also keep in mind that there are volunteer attorneys at work there who may have already filled in sudden turnovers.

[Anonymous User]

The ADA I was referring to in my prior post is a member of the hiring committee and is a friend of mine. I don't know if the budget was or was not approved. I do know that they are extending more offers this year and their fiscal position is much better than last year. For this reason that is why all the new hires will start in August. Last year because of budget problems, new hires did not start until November. You can chose to believe this information or not, I know more than 25 offers will go out.

[Anonymous User]

That sounds promising...when did they tell you that (hiring committee person)? Last week?

[Anonymous User]

around two and half weeks ago. He said the budget is in good shape and they anticipate hiring more candidates this year.