NYC ADA taking questions... Forum

[encore1101]

Thanks for doing this. I just got an offer from one of the 4 NYC offices so I'm very interested in your insight. I have a few more questions:

1) How much leeway do you have when deciding to throw out a case? Is it true that you can't throw out cases without a supervisor's permission? Have you ever tried to dismiss a case and have your supervisor tell you no?
2) How often do you talk to actual clients? Do PDs let you negotiate with the client present? Is this common or uncommon?
3) How do you work with police? I understand they're your investigators, but how else do police serve your role as an ADA? Do you conduct trial prep with them and such? On that note, how much investigating (like visiting the crime scene) do you do yourself?
4) Is being an ADA accurately portrayed in legal dramas like Law and Order?

I'm not OP, but I'll chime in.


1) Extreme amounts in misdemeanor-land, less so in felony cases. Unless the case is a special interest (i.e. involves a politician's child or assault of a cop), the supervisors generally don't care if you dispose of a misdemeanor case. In felonies, they will generally go by your recommendation, although they might tweak the plea offer a bit.
2) Clients? Do you mean defendants or victims? Defendants, never. I generally didn't offer pleas to defense attorneys with their clients around.
3) Like you said, police serve as the primary investigation. In some cases, there are times when further investigation of a lateral/tangential issue is needed (i.e. subpoena of phone records), in which case my office has their own detective squad for that. For misdemeanors, you almost never visit the crime scene. For felonies, you can be on "beeper" duty, which means that if something happens in your jurisdiction while you're on call, you're expected to show up to the scene, go with the police to the precinct, watch them do line-ups, etc.
4) No. Nothing is ever as sexy or glamorous as it is on TV.

Same anon. Thanks for the answer! If you don't mind, could you also explain what your typical day was like as a first year ADA? How long were you in court most days? One thing I'm looking forward to is extensive courtroom experience.

I'm also glad to hear that ADAs have autonomy and discretion to throw out cases.One of my friends going PD route told me to expect the opposite.

Of course, you should always be able to explain why you're dismissing a case if asked.

During my first year, I rotated between spending a few weeks on Intake, and a few weeks in Criminal Court. Intake is just what it sounds, you receive paperwork from police officers about arrests that they made, decide what charges to arraign the defendant on, draft the accusatory instrument, etc. Generally, you try to fill in some of your own work during any downtime, but downtime is not always reliable.
During my criminal court rotation, I did work related to my own caseload. That could be scheduling witness/victim interviews, making phone calls, writing motions, etc. You can also be scheduled for arraignments, which is just taking the complaints that other people have drafted, and serving defendant and/or his attorney, along with any additional notices, and making an argument for bail or remand. You can also be put on calender duty, which is just going through a ton of cases for other attorneys, asking for an adjournment to whatever date, announcing ready, etc.

If you're handling arraignments or calender, you might be in court all day, but the work is pretty brainless. You'll eventually have hearings and the court would want status updates every now and then, so those are a little more substantive.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for doing this. I just got an offer from one of the 4 NYC offices so I'm very interested in your insight. I have a few more questions:

1) How much leeway do you have when deciding to throw out a case? Is it true that you can't throw out cases without a supervisor's permission? Have you ever tried to dismiss a case and have your supervisor tell you no?
2) How often do you talk to actual clients? Do PDs let you negotiate with the client present? Is this common or uncommon?
3) How do you work with police? I understand they're your investigators, but how else do police serve your role as an ADA? Do you conduct trial prep with them and such? On that note, how much investigating (like visiting the crime scene) do you do yourself?
4) Is being an ADA accurately portrayed in legal dramas like Law and Order?

I'm not OP, but I'll chime in.


1) Extreme amounts in misdemeanor-land, less so in felony cases. Unless the case is a special interest (i.e. involves a politician's child or assault of a cop), the supervisors generally don't care if you dispose of a misdemeanor case. In felonies, they will generally go by your recommendation, although they might tweak the plea offer a bit.
2) Clients? Do you mean defendants or victims? Defendants, never. I generally didn't offer pleas to defense attorneys with their clients around.
3) Like you said, police serve as the primary investigation. In some cases, there are times when further investigation of a lateral/tangential issue is needed (i.e. subpoena of phone records), in which case my office has their own detective squad for that. For misdemeanors, you almost never visit the crime scene. For felonies, you can be on "beeper" duty, which means that if something happens in your jurisdiction while you're on call, you're expected to show up to the scene, go with the police to the precinct, watch them do line-ups, etc.
4) No. Nothing is ever as sexy or glamorous as it is on TV.

Same anon. Thanks for the answer! If you don't mind, could you also explain what your typical day was like as a first year ADA? How long were you in court most days? One thing I'm looking forward to is extensive courtroom experience.

I'm also glad to hear that ADAs have autonomy and discretion to throw out cases.One of my friends going PD route told me to expect the opposite.

Do first years do night court? if so, how many hours are they expected to do?

Are you friends at all with any public defenders? Is that useful you think in practice?

[encore1101]

Do first years do night court? if so, how many hours are they expected to do?

Are you friends at all with any public defenders? Is that useful you think in practice?

If by "night court," you mean evening arraignments, then yes, they will do that (not being snide, just making it clear). and night intake as well. My classmates have complained to me about getting out from either of those roles extremely late (i.e. around 2 AM or so).

I am friends with some public defenders, but the usefulness is limited. I've also made friends with defense attorneys. Really, the usefulness is limited to "Would it be all right if I filed this motion late?" Some defense attorneys, friend or not, are willing to tell you that they think their client is guilty or that you have a strong case, but they obviously have a role that they still need to fulfill.

Ultimately, it's always useful to show respect across the aisle, because you never know when you'll need a favor. You'll see that you'll deal with the same defense attorneys throughout your career, and you and your classmates will talk about which defense attorneys are good to go, and which ones are turds, and I'm willing to bet that their side is the same way.

[Anonymous User]

Do first years do night court? if so, how many hours are they expected to do?

Are you friends at all with any public defenders? Is that useful you think in practice?

If by "night court," you mean evening arraignments, then yes, they will do that (not being snide, just making it clear). and night intake as well. My classmates have complained to me about getting out from either of those roles extremely late (i.e. around 2 AM or so).

I am friends with some public defenders, but the usefulness is limited. I've also made friends with defense attorneys. Really, the usefulness is limited to "Would it be all right if I filed this motion late?" Some defense attorneys, friend or not, are willing to tell you that they think their client is guilty or that you have a strong case, but they obviously have a role that they still need to fulfill.

Ultimately, it's always useful to show respect across the aisle, because you never know when you'll need a favor. You'll see that you'll deal with the same defense attorneys throughout your career, and you and your classmates will talk about which defense attorneys are good to go, and which ones are turds, and I'm willing to bet that their side is the same way.

Once again, thanks very much for your insight. It really helps me get a better understanding of what to expect in the fall. I have so many more questions, but if you get tired of answering just let me know lol. I was also wondering:

1) What "typical" hours are like. I use parenthesis for typical because I know that can depend on a lot of things.
2) Is there a lot of competition between ADAs at these offices?
3) How secretive are grand jury proceedings?
4) How much are (or aren't) diversion programs pushed by supervisors?

[encore1101]

1) What "typical" hours are like. I use parenthesis for typical because I know that can depend on a lot of things.
2) Is there a lot of competition between ADAs at these offices?
3) How secretive are grand jury proceedings?
4) How much are (or aren't) diversion programs pushed by supervisors?

1) Intake = 8 hours, but you may occasionally have to stay longer to finish processing a case. Criminal court = supposed to be 9 to 5, but I don't know of any assistants that work only 9 to 5. A lot of them put in extra hours. Other bureaus are generally 9-5.

2) Not more than you'd find at any other office. People are generally always willing to help out. Your classmates are the ones that you'll depend on for a template of a motion, or to cover your arraignment shift so you can prepare for a hearing, etc., so it pays to be close with them. People are a little more political at the upper management levels, though.

3) If you're asking if you can sit in occasionally at a GJ proceeding, I'm sure you can. Of course, they're generally shielded from the public, though.

4) Heavily, but the problem is whether the person qualifies or not. Logistically, defendants are more likely to plead guilty if they're told that their sentence will be a diversionary program and no imprisonment, which helps dispose of a lot of low level cases. As a practical matter, my supervisors were aware that imprisonment was not appropriate in some cases, but appropriate in others. If a person is obviously addicted to a drug, he may be offered a diversionary program, but if he's out committing home robberies to feed that addiction, and he's dropped out of other programs in the past, the diversionary program may not be available.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for all answering questions!

Some extremely random questions:

1) What were some of the things you think helped the most in landing the job? Pedigree? Strong writing skills/journal membership? Moot court experience? Certain coursework?

2) Would doing a semester internship help at all in getting a job at one of the offices (I work full-time so I can't do a full-time internship)? Are some offices more likely to look positively on applicants who did internships, or are some less likely to care about whether you did prosecutor internship clinic or not?

3) What was the interview process like? How long did it take, how many rounds, etc.?

4) What was the biggest surprise once you started working?

5) Which neighborhoods are affordable on this salary and reasonably close to your offices/do you know where colleagues in other offices typically live?

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for all answering questions!

Some extremely random questions:

1) What were some of the things you think helped the most in landing the job? Pedigree? Strong writing skills/journal membership? Moot court experience? Certain coursework?

2) Would doing a semester internship help at all in getting a job at one of the offices (I work full-time so I can't do a full-time internship)? Are some offices more likely to look positively on applicants who did internships, or are some less likely to care about whether you did prosecutor internship clinic or not?

3) What was the interview process like? How long did it take, how many rounds, etc.?

4) What was the biggest surprise once you started working?

5) Which neighborhoods are affordable on this salary and reasonably close to your offices/do you know where colleagues in other offices typically live?

Starting next year so i feel like I can chip in and help out with these types of questions as I had a lot of them when I applied last summer. Bear in mind that this only speaks to my experience and the hiring process is such a anxiety-inducing "black box".

1) My Stats are probably pretty terrible (local TTTT middle third) but I nailed Evidence & Criminal Procedure. My experience was that only NYDA cares about grades and schools. I was the only "prosecutor kid" from my school who couldn't land a screener for them, so I presume that they care more about grades, and that my grades were the lowest. I also know they rarely hire from my TTTT, and no one from my class. I know that at the office who hired me, I beat out people with better grades at my school and likely some people from better schools. I had Moot court and journal membership but in my opinion they helped more in getting internships than the actual job offer itself. I took a trial advocacy course but didn't shower myself in glory with it (no competitions or anything) so I think I was an underwhelming candidate in that regard. However in regards to writing ability, I definitely believe that gave me a leg up. Whenever possible I sold my strength as a person who can craft winning motions. My internships helped me much more than journal membership or academic writing there.

2) As you might have gathered by now, I think what stood out is that my resume not only "screamed" prosecutor, but also a substantial interest in criminal law, particularly in NYC. I am a NYC native (not dispositive) who had went out of his way to intern at as many places as possible, even during the school year. I interned for both DA offices and judges (improving my writing/learning NY Law). I put wayyy more effort into (non-credited) internships than law school itself. I arranged my schedule specifically so I could work an extra 15-20 hours a week at a placement. I interned essentially non-stop from 1L summer until this past winter break. I see that you can not intern full time during the semester, which is fine as you won't be expected to. If you could do part time it will be very helpful. I found that summer internships which take 200+ interns tend to overwhelm the ADAs and it's tough to make an impression and stand out versus the whole bureau sharing only 2 interns during the winter. My internships really helped me build up a network of people (ADAs, court attorneys, and judges) looking out for me giving me info about offices and helping me practice interviewing. They were also invaluable references and were able to attest to the fact that I could indeed go right into practicing NY Criminal Law with minimal extra training or supervision.

3) I think the NYCDA offices all list the interview process, and it's on the 2016 thread so I'm not going to go too in depth with it. The dreaded hypothetical has also been written about to death. Just know that these interviews can get very combative. I believe that your performance in those interviews can equalize any advantages or disadvantages in pedigree candidates have going into it. Going into the interview process I had a whole pitch and narrative set up of what I wanted to do as a prosecutor and why their office. I researched the hell out of every program each office had and what empirical support it may have. I practiced with other prosecutors and studied as much NY criminal procedure, evidence, and ethics as possible. I was fortunate that a lot of it had overlap with briefs and memos i drafted but I crammed before every interview. I also knew my weaknesses and strengths and fought back every time the interviewer tried to back me into a corner. You are going to feel like shit after every interview, this is their intention. I backhandedly called an interviewer an asshole once after he implied I was one.

4) Whelp, I can't answer this one.

5) I live in a very modest apartment in Queens and will continue to do so. From personal experience every office is pretty much accessible from my place. Just assume that your commute will be roughly an hour. ADAs seem to live all over the place, even Long Island. Some come from money and some have rich spouses, most don't. I'm fortunate that my loans will be minimal, but there were definitely miserable ADAs only scraping by. You start at roughly ~60-63k which is not a lot in NYC but there are still decent places to be had. You just have to manage your expectations. You likely won't be living in Manhattan (maybe Wash Heights, but even that seems pricey now). I'm not going to attempt to predict the real estate market by the time you start looking for places, but once again, manage your expectations.