OCI interview for DA offices Forum

[Anonymous User]

What kind of questions do you get asked at OCI interviews for DA offices? In particular, Cooks County, Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Philadelphia, and Miami offices...??

[Rocío]

What kind of questions do you get asked at OCI interviews for DA offices? In particular, Cooks County, Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Philadelphia, and Miami offices...??

The big one is, why do you want to be a prosecutor? And why this office? Make sure you have a great answer for that - you wouldn't believe how many people can't explain this well. And there will be hypotheticals (fact pattern, strategy, and ethical dilemmas), and also some role playing. Several offices also have you prepare an opening or closing statement for callbacks. Others will have you argue something on the spot.

Pslawnet.org has some guides for prosecutor and PD jobs put out by schools like HLS and Yale that have lots of sample interview questions and fact patterns - definitely worth checking out.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/current/care ... on2010.pdf

http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/C ... ro2010.pdf

[Anonymous User]

To ask another question- am I in a bad position if I apply directly, rather than through the OCI system for postgrad employment? Unfortunately, I missed a deadline to upload documents. Very frustrating because, at least in the past, I've found that some of the NYC area offices (not manhattan) are incredibly slow to respon. I'm concerned I lost my only shot at an interview.

Edit- additional question: anyone know how hard it is to get a Bronx DA interview applying directly? I.e. how many people are interviewed other than through simplicity?

[Rocío]

To ask another question- am I in a bad position if I apply directly, rather than through the OCI system for postgrad employment? Unfortunately, I missed a deadline to upload documents. Very frustrating because, at least in the past, I've found that some of the NYC area offices (not manhattan) are incredibly slow to respon. I'm concerned I lost my only shot at an interview.

Edit- additional question: anyone know how hard it is to get a Bronx DA interview applying directly? I.e. how many people are interviewed other than through simplicity?

It depends. Some offices, like Manhattan DA, tend to only interview at OCI events. You should look for other career fair opportunities - for instance, schools in Boston have a public interest/government career fair every Fall and Spring. You should also look at the Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair if you can make it. A lot of offices will accept mass mailing, and others only accept applications for a limited window of time. You should look carefully at each office's website to determine how they prefer to receive applications. Also, I would highly recommend finding alumni of your law school at offices to which you are applying and reaching out for advice.

I applied almost exclusively to prosecutor and PD jobs, and I received several interviews (and even an offer) from offices outside of those interviewing at OCI.

I am not sure about the difficulty of obtaining an interview with Bronx DA outside of OCI - I interviewed with them at OCI, and everyone else I knew who interviewed there did so through OCI, though.