District Attorney's Offices 2015 Forum

[BlueLotus]

would civil indigent legal aid working with crime victims (family law and immigration) be looked upon fondly by DA's offices? my crim experience is scant. i was in the courtroom last summer, doe, and have taken evidence, crim pro, etc.

It doesn't hurt. Apply if you want but keep in mind that you're likely not competitive to be a prosecutor.

yeah, i realize that. i hope to throw some hail mary apps cuz a 2014 grad of my school snagged Middlesex DA (Massachusetts) with 0 crim experience.

[encore1101]

Attn: any people from the last or previous cycles reading this thread:

Can you provide insight on the 2nd round panel interviews? And specify which office you're talking about? Thanks!

What specifically are you asking? They're similar to 1st round interviews, except with 2-3 people. Same questions, etc.

[gdane]

Attn: any people from the last or previous cycles reading this thread:

Can you provide insight on the 2nd round panel interviews? And specify which office you're talking about? Thanks!

What specifically are you asking? They're similar to 1st round interviews, except with 2-3 people. Same questions, etc.

Also miami doesn't use a panel. You interview with one of the higher ups, like the no.2 and 3 people in the department.

[Anonymous User]

Attn: any people from the last or previous cycles reading this thread:

Can you provide insight on the 2nd round panel interviews? And specify which office you're talking about? Thanks!

What specifically are you asking? They're similar to 1st round interviews, except with 2-3 people. Same questions, etc.

You answered it. I was wondering about the NYC area offices.

[encore1101]

Attn: any people from the last or previous cycles reading this thread:

Can you provide insight on the 2nd round panel interviews? And specify which office you're talking about? Thanks!

What specifically are you asking? They're similar to 1st round interviews, except with 2-3 people. Same questions, etc.

You answered it. I was wondering about the NYC area offices.

From my experience, you generally have one "vocal" one, one who's kind of in the background taking down notes, and one that only asks questions intermittently. Just make sure that you address all of them, making eye contact with all of them, etc., even if only one is asking the questions.

With one office, the vocal ADA seemed antagonistic, as well, but the other two were relatively friendly or neutral.
A different office's panel interview only consisted of one Deputy Bureau Chief ADA and one younger ADA (who was only hired within the past few years).

[Anonymous User]

Just received a callback invite for a second round of interviews with the Brooklyn DA's office. I know people have mentioned scheduling their third round of interviews on the same day to save on traveling costs. How does that work? To put it another way, how do you bring it up and/or phrase it?

[BlueLotus]

What is starting salary for Middlesex (MA) DA?

[Anonymous User]

Just received a callback invite for a second round of interviews with the Brooklyn DA's office. I know people have mentioned scheduling their third round of interviews on the same day to save on traveling costs. How does that work? To put it another way, how do you bring it up and/or phrase it?

If your from out of town, in my experience - Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, CCSA - all allowed me to schedule two interviews for one visit. However, they allowed me to schedule the FIRST AND SECOND (in regards to Bronx, Queens and CCSA). I'm not sure if offices allow the SECOND and THIRD because of the long process of determining who goes to the THIRD/LAST Round.

That being said, Manhattan - since they have FOUR rounds - only allowed me to schedule the SECOND AND THIRD round together. The caveat to this is that you must perform very well in the SECOND round interview because the THIRD round is not guaranteed that same day (what they tell you is if the panel likes you they will offer you a third on the spot - however my experience is you must thoroughly impress them because it requires the second round panel to basically find your so exceptional that they dont need to compare you to other second rounders in total and can just move you right to the third). So i would guard against this for Manhattan unless you truly cant afford four trips or are just very confident/worked with office before.

As far as how to go about asking - I did two things. First, if i got a call back for one office for a next round, i contacted the other offices to let them know i was in town - they were awesome and all allowed me to schedule the interviews in the same 5 day span. Secondly, when you call them just simply ask, "hey, i am coming from out of town and was wondering if there was anyway that we could scheudle multiple rounds in one trip - even if its a few days apart." Just be very nice with them when asking and they will reiterate that to you. The sec's i dealt with were super cool and had no problem working with my schedule.

For information - i did not get hired at any NY offices but landed another office. Also, did not have ANY contact with Brooklyn because they did not hire last year. hope this helps.

[Anonymous User]

Attn: any people from the last or previous cycles reading this thread:

Can you provide insight on the 2nd round panel interviews? And specify which office you're talking about? Thanks!

What specifically are you asking? They're similar to 1st round interviews, except with 2-3 people. Same questions, etc.

You answered it. I was wondering about the NYC area offices.

From my experience, you generally have one "vocal" one, one who's kind of in the background taking down notes, and one that only asks questions intermittently. Just make sure that you address all of them, making eye contact with all of them, etc., even if only one is asking the questions.

With one office, the vocal ADA seemed antagonistic, as well, but the other two were relatively friendly or neutral.
A different office's panel interview only consisted of one Deputy Bureau Chief ADA and one younger ADA (who was only hired within the past few years).

Poster above is spot on with the type of DA's you get on the panel. Its ALWAYS a panel of 3 ADA's, normally one is vocal. They usually ask some general questions about prosecution and their office, then throw in some questions off of your resume or work history in another DA's office. The second round panel ALWAYS has hypo's - normally the vocal ADA will state the hypo and continuously pound you giving you new details and asking what you would do in light of those new details.

Be on your feet, be confident, and show them that whatever answer you give you are sure of. Dont be too confident, but show them you have experience and can handle a case load with officers and victims. Any prior experience with victims is a HUGE plus. Always say "id go to my supervisor firs" and make sure to stay ethical.

[Anonymous User]

What is starting salary for Middlesex (MA) DA?

$37,500

The legislature pretty much disregarded the "Blue Ribbon Panel" on DA and PD Salaries (which had recommended an immediate bump of all line ADAs to $50k). They did make some additional funds available to pay ADAs more, but it was a paltry sum that if split evenly works out to about a $700 raise for every ADA.

The DAs themselves got big raises though. As did judges last year, from $130k to $160k. Though, admittedly MA had some of the lowest paid judges in the country.

[Anonymous User]

Had a first round with Manhattan this week. As the poster above said, it was laid back. Mostly the "why prosecution" "why manhattan" questions, plus they asked me to explain in detail one case I worked on when I interned at my local DA's office. No hypos, though I was prepared for them in case.

Told me three weeks to hear back.

[Anonymous User]

From my experience, you generally have one "vocal" one, one who's kind of in the background taking down notes, and one that only asks questions intermittently. Just make sure that you address all of them, making eye contact with all of them, etc., even if only one is asking the questions.

With one office, the vocal ADA seemed antagonistic, as well, but the other two were relatively friendly or neutral.
A different office's panel interview only consisted of one Deputy Bureau Chief ADA and one younger ADA (who was only hired within the past few years).

Poster above is spot on with the type of DA's you get on the panel. Its ALWAYS a panel of 3 ADA's, normally one is vocal. They usually ask some general questions about prosecution and their office, then throw in some questions off of your resume or work history in another DA's office. The second round panel ALWAYS has hypo's - normally the vocal ADA will state the hypo and continuously pound you giving you new details and asking what you would do in light of those new details.

Be on your feet, be confident, and show them that whatever answer you give you are sure of. Dont be too confident, but show them you have experience and can handle a case load with officers and victims. Any prior experience with victims is a HUGE plus. Always say "id go to my supervisor firs" and make sure to stay ethical.

I agree with all of the above but just know that when you say "I would go to my supervisor" the counter to that will always be "there is no supervisor on call/you cannot get in touch with one right now." Make sure you're prepared for anything a hypo may throw at you. While 'I would conference with a supervisor' is actually proper real world application to whatever hypo they are giving you, it will not be a sufficient answer in the long run. You need to be prepared to continue to answer the question as if there really was no supervisor around for whatever reason. They want to know you can handle yourself

[Anonymous User]

Anybody know what the response time is after your first interview with Miami, Philly, Bronx?

Also, I'm taking Crim Pro this semester, so I'm a little worried about 4th amend. hypos. Any areas I should focus on that I may not get up to in class for the (hopefully) second rounds?

[Anonymous User]

Anybody know what the response time is after your first interview with Miami, Philly, Bronx?

Also, I'm taking Crim Pro this semester, so I'm a little worried about 4th amend. hypos. Any areas I should focus on that I may not get up to in class for the (hopefully) second rounds?

For Miami- If they came to your school about 3 weeks, if you were an out of stater who came in they usually let you do all 3 rounds in 1 day.

Focus on search and seizure law, the 3 levels of police citizen encounters, Miranda issues, Lineups and Show ups.

[iShotFirst]

Anybody know what the response time is after your first interview with Miami, Philly, Bronx?

Also, I'm taking Crim Pro this semester, so I'm a little worried about 4th amend. hypos. Any areas I should focus on that I may not get up to in class for the (hopefully) second rounds?

For Miami- If they came to your school about 3 weeks, if you were an out of stater who came in they usually let you do all 3 rounds in 1 day.

Focus on search and seizure law, the 3 levels of police citizen encounters, Miranda issues, Lineups and Show ups.

Miami- I had a different timeline experience, I applied through some resume collection program at my school though:

May/June: applied
early August: 1st interview
early September: got letter inviting me to second interview, emailed to schedule and got scheduled week of Thanksgiving
week of Thanksgiving: went in, had 2nd round interview, sat outside for 30 mins, interviewer then came out and said I would go to the 3rd round that day, sat for 30 mins, went in an had interview with State Attorney, given job offer halfway through interview

I had until January 30th to accept or reject, and a lot of people got the offers earlier than me/had a more compressed timeline.

[Anonymous User]

Got offer from Brooklyn late last week. Have heard from them that they are considering these summer positions for full-time employment. Anyone know how credible this is for that office? I know that Brooklyn has had issues in the past, generally, but it seems they are moving in the right direction, salary increases and the like. What are your thoughts on the office?

[Anonymous User]

Anybody know what the response time is after your first interview with Miami, Philly, Bronx?

Also, I'm taking Crim Pro this semester, so I'm a little worried about 4th amend. hypos. Any areas I should focus on that I may not get up to in class for the (hopefully) second rounds?

For Miami- If they came to your school about 3 weeks, if you were an out of stater who came in they usually let you do all 3 rounds in 1 day.

Focus on search and seizure law, the 3 levels of police citizen encounters, Miranda issues, Lineups and Show ups.

Miami- I had a different timeline experience, I applied through some resume collection program at my school though:

May/June: applied
early August: 1st interview
early September: got letter inviting me to second interview, emailed to schedule and got scheduled week of Thanksgiving
week of Thanksgiving: went in, had 2nd round interview, sat outside for 30 mins, interviewer then came out and said I would go to the 3rd round that day, sat for 30 mins, went in an had interview with State Attorney, given job offer halfway through interview

I had until January 30th to accept or reject, and a lot of people got the offers earlier than me/had a more compressed timeline.

Did you end up accepting? I'm the anon from earlier, I'm just wondering if I currently work with you. LOL

[iShotFirst]

Anybody know what the response time is after your first interview with Miami, Philly, Bronx?

Also, I'm taking Crim Pro this semester, so I'm a little worried about 4th amend. hypos. Any areas I should focus on that I may not get up to in class for the (hopefully) second rounds?

For Miami- If they came to your school about 3 weeks, if you were an out of stater who came in they usually let you do all 3 rounds in 1 day.

Focus on search and seizure law, the 3 levels of police citizen encounters, Miranda issues, Lineups and Show ups.

Miami- I had a different timeline experience, I applied through some resume collection program at my school though:

May/June: applied
early August: 1st interview
early September: got letter inviting me to second interview, emailed to schedule and got scheduled week of Thanksgiving
week of Thanksgiving: went in, had 2nd round interview, sat outside for 30 mins, interviewer then came out and said I would go to the 3rd round that day, sat for 30 mins, went in an had interview with State Attorney, given job offer halfway through interview

I had until January 30th to accept or reject, and a lot of people got the offers earlier than me/had a more compressed timeline.

Did you end up accepting? I'm the anon from earlier, I'm just wondering if I currently work with you. LOL

Haha yes I did, I'm assuming we are best friends that just havent shared our love for TLS yet.

[andythefir]

Almost every New Mexico DA's office needs people badly. As in people who have never been to the state with terrible credentials can get jobs for sending in a resume. I'm from the state with solid credentials, but I had 4 pre-bar job offers despite spending neither summer in criminal law. My office hired someone whose resume was a disaster because it was the only resume we got. Seriously, apply to every single office and you'll find something.

[Anonymous User]

Anybody know what the response time is after your first interview with Miami, Philly, Bronx?

Also, I'm taking Crim Pro this semester, so I'm a little worried about 4th amend. hypos. Any areas I should focus on that I may not get up to in class for the (hopefully) second rounds?

For Miami- If they came to your school about 3 weeks, if you were an out of stater who came in they usually let you do all 3 rounds in 1 day.

Focus on search and seizure law, the 3 levels of police citizen encounters, Miranda issues, Lineups and Show ups.

Thanks! It looks like on my Crim Pro syllabus we will have gotten through all 4th amend. stuff by the time of second round interviews. Will def focus on what you recommended.

[BlueLotus]

Almost every New Mexico DA's office needs people badly. As in people who have never been to the state with terrible credentials can get jobs for sending in a resume. I'm from the state with solid credentials, but I had 4 pre-bar job offers despite spending neither summer in criminal law. My office hired someone whose resume was a disaster because it was the only resume we got. Seriously, apply to every single office and you'll find something.

Is the same true for NM PDs?

[gdane]

miami hypos most likely to be asked:

1) there has been a string of dead babies in baskets found ashore at local beaches. You're the prosecutor on duty for the evening. At 1 am, you receive a phone call from a detective that you know well and that has a lot of credibility. He tells you that he is currently watching a man walking around the beach with a basket in his hands. Fearing that the man is the one responsible for the recent baby deaths, the detective wants to know what to do.

Answer: there is no right answer per se. The interviewers mainly want to see how well you go through the reasonable suspicion to stop analysis. In the end you can say that you'd probably advise the detective to stop the man because although any evidence would be suppressed, and youd be violating the person's 4th amendment rights, stopping a potential murder is more important than getting evidence in.

2) you get a call from a detective in which he tells you that he's received a tip telling him that a hispanic lady with dark hair wearing a blue skirt and a white top will be smuggling in cocaine on a flight from Colombia. He sees a lady matching the description. He asks you if he can stop the lady. What do you tell him? I got a lot of push back with the hypo. Just stay firm.

Answer: first, talk about consent searches. Then, talk about whether the informant is known to be reliable or not, does the detective have a good reputation, essentially the whole anonymous tip analysis. Your interviewer will likely give you an airtight hypo at this point. The best answer seems to be that yes the detective can stop the lady because he's in an airport and he likely has enough probable cause to search her bag without a warrant anyway.

3) the day before trial your key witness dies. Do you tell the defense and drop the charges?

Answer: no. This mainly tests Brady and the obligations of a prosecutor to disclose certain things.

4) same as above, but now the defense comes to you right before trial agreeing to take a plea. Do you tell them that your key witness is dead?

Answer: no. Same analysis as above. Also, a bit of policy to discuss in here as well as you can talk about how the plea was voluntary and willing and all that. You will get a lot of push back here though. The main issue is "is it fair to the defendant to take a plea without being fully informed about the evidence against him?" Read Brady.

5) you're a prosecutor and the day before you file an indictment your key witness dies. Do you still file it?

Answer: no. Informations/indictments require prosecutors to affirm, under oath, that they have all the necessary evidence to indict, and to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. So, it would be lying to file because you don't have your key witness.

6) a lady is robbed in the street. Immediately afterwards, she is interviewed by a police officer. She tells the officer that the man was white with blond hair. A few hours later the police find and arrest the robber. At a lineup the lady identifies a Hispanic man with dark hair as the perp. She is 100% sure. At trial the lady testifies that the robber was a Hispanic man with dark hair, the defendant. In the hallway the interviewing officer tells you "I think we got this guy. I was worried for a second there because the day of the robbery she told me that it was a white guy with blond hair that robbed her." What do you do?

Answer: immediately disclose to the judge what happened and tell the defense about the statement. Read Brady AND Giglio (impeachment evidence).

[andythefir]

Almost every New Mexico DA's office needs people badly. As in people who have never been to the state with terrible credentials can get jobs for sending in a resume. I'm from the state with solid credentials, but I had 4 pre-bar job offers despite spending neither summer in criminal law. My office hired someone whose resume was a disaster because it was the only resume we got. Seriously, apply to every single office and you'll find something.

Is the same true for NM PDs?

It wouldn't surprise me. The PD office here hired a Cooley grad who had a provisional license until he took the Feb bar. He failed the February bar, but the office kept him on until he passed the July bar. Not what you'd do if you had other options.

[Anonymous User]

For the various DA offices mentioned ITT (Miami, Philly, Bronx, Manhattan, etc.), what is the manner in which the DA office communicates CB interview offers? Email, phone, or snail mail?

[gdane]

I got email from Manhattan and a letter from miami. It's actually very mean that miami sends you a letter because I thought it was a rejection.