3L Public Defender Applications Forum

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know if Spanish is required for San Diego Fed Defenders? The application says Spanish 'preferred' but I'm thinking it's code for 'required.'

[Tanicius]

Anyone know if Spanish is required for San Diego Fed Defenders? The application says Spanish 'preferred' but I'm thinking it's code for 'required.'

It is not.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know if Spanish is required for San Diego Fed Defenders? The application says Spanish 'preferred' but I'm thinking it's code for 'required.'

Is San Diego FPD still hiring from those vacancy announcements? (I noticed one of them says open till October 31, 2014 or until filled, so it's not clear whether the position hasn't been filled or whether they just haven't gotten around to taking the announcement down.)

[Scruffy_the_Janitor]

Scruffy comes here every day checking on updates. Scruffy hoping to hear back from some offices about offers or more interviews. No updates is killing Scruffy.

[gogol bordello]

Scruffy comes here every day checking on updates. Scruffy hoping to hear back from some offices about offers or more interviews. No updates is killing Scruffy.

^^that.

[Anonymous User]

The wait for LAS is killing me, additionally, from previous years I think Bronx will be offering next week some time..

[Anonymous User]

The wait for LAS is killing me, additionally, from previous years I think Bronx will be offering next week some time..

Any idea how many people made it to Bronx final rounds this year? The CDP took on quite a few people last year, which is pretty encouraging...
http://www.bronxdefenders.org/the-bronx ... new-hires/

[Anonymous User]

The wait for LAS is killing me, additionally, from previous years I think Bronx will be offering next week some time..

Any idea how many people made it to Bronx final rounds this year? The CDP took on quite a few people last year, which is pretty encouraging...
http://www.bronxdefenders.org/the-bronx ... new-hires/

or it could mean that they are hiring fewer this year, i feel as if no one knows how many offers they are doing. Also, from looking at that list, it looks like half were prior Bronx inters, either 1L or 2L summer.

When they sent out the available dates for interviews it looks like there were almost 100 spots, but I'm guessing all of those spots were for all divisions, not just CDP. If anyone knows when we should hear could you please chime in

[Anonymous User]

Maryland OPD is conducting interviews for its 2015 Fall Class.

Interesting that they accepted applications early this year pre-bar when traditionally they don't hire until months before the class starts.

[Anonymous User]

Maryland OPD is conducting interviews for its 2015 Fall Class.

Interesting that they accepted applications early this year pre-bar when traditionally they don't hire until months before the class starts.

Is there a link about this? I thought the same thing and the website says to check back in March 2015.

Are they just accepting direct applications?

[Anonymous User]

Maryland OPD is conducting interviews for its 2015 Fall Class.

Interesting that they accepted applications early this year pre-bar when traditionally they don't hire until months before the class starts.

Is there a link about this? I thought the same thing and the website says to check back in March 2015.

Are they just accepting direct applications?

They are conducting interviews for people who turned in their application before November 21, 2014. The link was on their website for a while.

I e-mailed my materials directly to Johanna Leshner in November and just heard back about scheduling an interview via Skype.

[Anonymous User]

This was the job posting:

http://www.opd.state.md.us/Portals/0/Do ... 202015.pdf

[Anonymous User]

Maryland OPD is conducting interviews for its 2015 Fall Class.

Interesting that they accepted applications early this year pre-bar when traditionally they don't hire until months before the class starts.

Wow. I talked to them and EJW and she told me to send her my stuff but to know that they aren't hiring until after the bar. I wish I had followed up now!

[starrguy01]

I had my panel interview with LAS on October 29th. I called a week ago for an update because I have a final interview with a PD's office in Florida in mid January. LAS said no decisions had been made yet. I've already passed the bar and I am a volunteer attorney at NYCDS, this waiting game is so frustrating. I just want to get started already!!

[Anonymous User]

Anyone hear back from PDS in DC yet? I know they had final round interviews over the past three weeks.

[Anonymous User]

Any offers go out yet?

[Anonymous User]

Philly sent out interview invitations.

[Lawst]

Philly sent out interview invitations.

Wow, they're way ahead compared to last year. Maybe they're hiring more people this time.

[Anonymous User]

Any offers go out yet?

Yeah...any news? Anyone? Anyone?

[Anonymous User]

Any offers go out yet?

Yeah...any news? Anyone? Anyone?

Contra Costa (CA) has given at least some offers.
Alameda has given callbacks.
Bronx has given callbacks.
Miami has given first-wave callbacks.

[Anonymous User]

has bronx made all offers?

[Anonymous User]

has bronx made all offers?

My understanding is they have done a lot of callbacks -- no word on any offers.

[Anonymous User]

I have a friend who has a bronx offer, but I'm not sure if all of them have been made

[Anonymous User]

While we all (well, most of us) wait for any news, can we have a lively discussion on the definitive ranking of PD office reputation? I know most of us actually have no idea what we're talking about, but I for one feel like beyond Bronx/PDS being the best, I don't know what falls into, say, the top 10

Discuss.

[Tanicius]

While we all (well, most of us) wait for any news, can we have a lively discussion on the definitive ranking of PD office reputation? I know most of us actually have no idea what we're talking about, but I for one feel like beyond Bronx/PDS being the best, I don't know what falls into, say, the top 10

Discuss.

It's a meaningless exercise. Top 10 offices for what, exactly? Moving elsewhere across the country? Beyond a few offices -- less than even one handful -- employers aren't going to sit there stacking your pedigree like it's a mathematical equation. Actual demonstrated experience is far more important. If you took five violent felony cases all the way to trial in a super backwater, underfunded part-time-only office in Nowhere, Alabama your first two years as a public defender, you could be a lot more qualified than someone who wrote motions and took an open-bottle case to trial in their first two years as a PD at PDS. It totally depends on what kind of lawyer your new office wants and what kind of experience they value.

Maybe the new office wants experience with Spanish-speaking clients. That might bump your experience at Miami PD up to the top. But oh, also, they don't like theory-of-innocence approaches to litigation, so that bumps your Miami resume down some notches. But wait, you explain, to them -- that's just a generalization, you never litigated in that manner, and you prefer academic and reasonable-doubt approaches to litigation. Well, okay, they say, now you're going back up. But then they decide that they really don't want a big-city lawyer who will leave their office for a bigger city in their same state a few years down the road, so they nix you. See how the Miami line on your resume could have almost no impact on their decision?