Public Interest 2014: Thoughts, Anxieties, Experiences... Forum

[Nebby]

ended up getting hired after working in-house for 2 years because one of the counsel in our office LOVED him when he interned and a bunch of people happened to retire. which does not help my nerves about applying for honors programs.)

The office I'm in is in a very similar situation. Three cheers for being a lovable person--let's hope it means a jerb in two years.

[rinkrat19]

Just popping in to mention that if you want to work for the State of Washington, you will start with two full, solid days of training videos, websites, PowerPoints, and quizzes.
This is the 4th government I've worked for in my life and nothing else has touched the sheer amount of ass-covering training I'm currently doing. An hour-long interactive click-through on office ergonomics!

[BlueLotus]

Woah steep learning curve. Really stoked to start working with clients though.

[LSL]

This is the most prepped for me internship I've had in awhile (had all my tech stuff set-up/cases for me to work on, etc.). Everyone is really nice and laid back so far too. I am pretty sure I should buy a lotto ticket.

[BlueLotus]

Can't seem to shake off the little rookie mistakes/awkward missteps I've made so far. The summer is still young I suppose?

[Druid]

Can't seem to shake off the little rookie mistakes/awkward missteps I've made so far. The summer is still young I suppose?

They know it's going to happen. Sweating the small stuff just weakens your further productivity.

[crumpetsandtea]

Can't seem to shake off the little rookie mistakes/awkward missteps I've made so far. The summer is still young I suppose?

What happened? I'm sure they're WAYY less serious than you think they are. We all take our mistaskes so much more seriously than most others.

[LSL]

Can't seem to shake off the little rookie mistakes/awkward missteps I've made so far. The summer is still young I suppose?

Yeah, everyone messes up some stuff and you're new, so they should get that. Are they making sure you have all the stuff to do what you need to do?/Making themselves available?

[BlueLotus]

Thanks for the reassurance, guys. I haven't done anything patently stupid like post about clients on fb, just a couple of awkward moments here and there. But you're right--I can't let this affect my productivity.

[Anonymous User]

fuckfuckfuck. I'm a rising 3L at PD/DA/Legal Aid this summer and expected to (and was really stoked about) being certified to represent clients in court. I submitted my certification application and apparently my school feels the need to notify them about an unfortunate C&F thing from like a year ago (non-academic misconduct) fuckityfuck. Praying SO hard that they'll overlook this

[Anonymous User]

fuckfuckfuck. I'm a rising 3L at PD/DA/Legal Aid this summer and expected to (and was really stoked about) being certified to represent clients in court. I submitted my certification application and apparently my school feels the need to notify them about an unfortunate C&F thing from like a year ago (non-academic misconduct) fuckityfuck. Praying SO hard that they'll overlook this

What does this mean? Is this something that will ordinarily be a problem? I had a CF thing happen (drinking related) and I want to know if this will screw me while in LS.

[Tanicius]

fuckfuckfuck. I'm a rising 3L at PD/DA/Legal Aid this summer and expected to (and was really stoked about) being certified to represent clients in court. I submitted my certification application and apparently my school feels the need to notify them about an unfortunate C&F thing from like a year ago (non-academic misconduct) fuckityfuck. Praying SO hard that they'll overlook this

Probably won't matter.

[Druid]

How bad is the misconduct?

[Anonymous User]

How bad is the misconduct?

verbal abuse/being disruptive. was on university probation for a bunch of months, and the aggrieved individuals put a stay-away order on me (initiated by the school, not a civil restraining order). so yeah, pretty bad. can't divulge much more w/o outing myself, but the situation has been under ctrl with meds/counseling and a lot of penance.

what sucks is that i told my supervisor at the interview that i expected to get certified for the summer and met the requirements (evidence, PR, etc.). my dean just informed me a few days ago that she had to disclose the probation and stay away order.

[Tanicius]

How bad is the misconduct?

verbal abuse/being disruptive. was on university probation for a bunch of months, and the aggrieved individuals put a stay-away order on me (initiated by the school, not a civil restraining order). so yeah, pretty bad. can't divulge much more w/o outing myself, but the situation has been under ctrl with meds/counseling and a lot of penance.

what sucks is that i told my supervisor at the interview that i expected to get certified for the summer and met the requirements (evidence, PR, etc.). my dean just informed me a few days ago that she had to disclose the probation and stay away order.

The reason I don't think it will matter is because you aren't being investigated for stringent passing requirements on C&F when it's just a certification. You're being supervised by another attorney and have virtually no authority.

[Anonymous User]

fuckfuckfuck. I'm a rising 3L at PD/DA/Legal Aid this summer and expected to (and was really stoked about) being certified to represent clients in court. I submitted my certification application and apparently my school feels the need to notify them about an unfortunate C&F thing from like a year ago (non-academic misconduct) fuckityfuck. Praying SO hard that they'll overlook this

Probably won't matter.

i sure hope so. why do you feel this way? btw, if it's relevant my employer is not a DA. so maybe on the bright side, getting caught doing stupid shit and having to redeem myself will make me empathize better with clients.

ETA: thanks, Tanicius. That's what I figured too.

[TooOld4This]

How bad is the misconduct?

verbal abuse/being disruptive. was on university probation for a bunch of months, and the aggrieved individuals put a stay-away order on me (initiated by the school, not a civil restraining order). so yeah, pretty bad. can't divulge much more w/o outing myself, but the situation has been under ctrl with meds/counseling and a lot of penance.

what sucks is that i told my supervisor at the interview that i expected to get certified for the summer and met the requirements (evidence, PR, etc.). my dean just informed me a few days ago that she had to disclose the probation and stay away order.

The bolder is the big deal. Not giving your supervisor the heads up about an issue that there is no way you could have just had slip your mind is where you need to do damage control ASAP. It is seldom the action that will get you, it is the failure to disclose.

[Tanicius]

How bad is the misconduct?

verbal abuse/being disruptive. was on university probation for a bunch of months, and the aggrieved individuals put a stay-away order on me (initiated by the school, not a civil restraining order). so yeah, pretty bad. can't divulge much more w/o outing myself, but the situation has been under ctrl with meds/counseling and a lot of penance.

what sucks is that i told my supervisor at the interview that i expected to get certified for the summer and met the requirements (evidence, PR, etc.). my dean just informed me a few days ago that she had to disclose the probation and stay away order.

The bolder is the big deal. Not giving your supervisor the heads up about an issue that there is no way you could have just had slip your mind is where you need to do damage control ASAP. It is seldom the action that will get you, it is the failure to disclose.

You don't have to disclose issues of C&F to your employer unless (1) the employer's application specifically asks for it, and (2) it's lawful information for the employer to ask about in the first place.

This has nothing to do with failure to disclose things to an employer. It could bite him in the ass if he is unexpectedly certified, but he made a good faith statement to his employer, so if he has to spin it he should stick with what he said ITT and say he had no clue that this kind of thing was ever going to be a problem.

[Anonymous User]

How bad is the misconduct?

verbal abuse/being disruptive. was on university probation for a bunch of months, and the aggrieved individuals put a stay-away order on me (initiated by the school, not a civil restraining order). so yeah, pretty bad. can't divulge much more w/o outing myself, but the situation has been under ctrl with meds/counseling and a lot of penance.

what sucks is that i told my supervisor at the interview that i expected to get certified for the summer and met the requirements (evidence, PR, etc.). my dean just informed me a few days ago that she had to disclose the probation and stay away order.

The bolder is the big deal. Not giving your supervisor the heads up about an issue that there is no way you could have just had slip your mind is where you need to do damage control ASAP. It is seldom the action that will get you, it is the failure to disclose.

Yeah, I suppose you're right. I just didn't expect that this would be an issue when I interviewed way back in October. I wish that right after the misconduct happened that Dean told me, "hey, you know we gotta disclose this if you apply to be certified", etc. She told me late last week instead.

[sd5289]

Can't seem to shake off the little rookie mistakes/awkward missteps I've made so far. The summer is still young I suppose?

After two weeks of cruisin' I made a mistake or two a few days ago (which I would have had NO idea about at any rate, but whatev). No sweat. Just learn and move on.

[Anonymous User]

How bad is the misconduct?

verbal abuse/being disruptive. was on university probation for a bunch of months, and the aggrieved individuals put a stay-away order on me (initiated by the school, not a civil restraining order). so yeah, pretty bad. can't divulge much more w/o outing myself, but the situation has been under ctrl with meds/counseling and a lot of penance.

what sucks is that i told my supervisor at the interview that i expected to get certified for the summer and met the requirements (evidence, PR, etc.). my dean just informed me a few days ago that she had to disclose the probation and stay away order.

The bolder is the big deal. Not giving your supervisor the heads up about an issue that there is no way you could have just had slip your mind is where you need to do damage control ASAP. It is seldom the action that will get you, it is the failure to disclose.

You don't have to disclose issues of C&F to your employer unless (1) the employer's application specifically asks for it, and (2) it's lawful information for the employer to ask about in the first place.

This has nothing to do with failure to disclose things to an employer. It could bite him in the ass if he is unexpectedly certified, but he made a good faith statement to his employer, so if he has to spin it he should stick with what he said ITT and say he had no clue that this kind of thing was ever going to be a problem.

Tanicius, I'm hoping and praying what you're saying is true and that it won't be a big deal. It will be embarrassing as hell to explain this to my employer. Esp. since they've already arranged for me to represent two clients in court later this summer.

[BlueLotus]

My supervisor sensed I was overwhelmed and had a "peptalk" with me. I'm terrible at hiding how I feel, lol.

[volp]

How are you all networking at yr public defenders offices? If you are.

[Tanicius]

How are you all networking at yr public defenders offices? If you are.

I did most of my networking through (a) after-hours events like an office-hosted happy hour or picnic, and (b) by meeting different attorneys when I was assigned to work with them, and following up with them on other stuff. Try not to get tangled up with one single attorney for your entire summer. Do different kinds of assignments when possible, and if you're stuck arranging a discovery file for 2+ weeks, you need to talk to your supervisor and get out of it so you can do something more substantive and with other attorneys. I had some summer classmates who were content to just sit in the library working on a single discovery file for a big case almost all summer, and I think they completely wasted a bunch of opportunities, both social and substantive, by doing that.

[rpcb]

How are you all networking at yr public defenders offices? If you are.

I have kind of gotten lucky. My office assigns us to two attorneys so that is already a pretty big help. Aside from that my more senior attorney has given us a project that involves working with other attorneys so that is also very helpful. Aside from that I just try and be friendly and make conversation when I can.

I am only a rising 2L so obviously I won't get a job offer from this, but I would hopefully like to leave the office on as good terms as possible.