How to be a Prosecution/PD Gunner? Forum

[Cinderella]

NEWSFLASH: Jack McCoy is an actor, kids. His "real name" is Sam Waterston, and the "courtroom" is just a TV-show set (kind of like the Starship Enterprise LOL) Real life DA's sit in grungy basement broom closets and bang out plea deals for pot possessors all day long like DMV clerks (only lower paid rotlf) for 45 K a year and drive salt-rotted Yugos to work, praying every night they don't get laid off and tossed on the unemployment line with the rest of the TTT losers.

Holy shit, you mean I was just hallucinating when I watched roughly 20 criminal trials last year? And the court rooms the attorneys went to every day - those were TV sets? That's wild man!!

Please, tell us more. You clearly know the inside of the biz.

[purr se]

Yo, can we please keep this thread on track? It's been an invaluable source of information so far and I'd hate to see that change. Trolls gonna troll - for the love of god, don't feed them.

That aside, I'm interested in hearing opinions on how to go about answering the "Why did you go to law school? / why criminal defense?" type of interview questions. My reasons for doing so are directly related to my family's experiences with the criminal justice and prison systems (both as crime victims and defendants) and, after having vicariously experienced both sides, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to go to law school and do defense work after graduation. I've run my response to this type of question past multiple CS staffers and have gotten mixed reviews that run the gauntlet from "This is a great answer that really reveals you're passionate about this type of work" to "Do NOT bring up personal matters with potential employers" (which I otherwise believe is good advice, except maybe not in response to this type of question?). Thoughts?

[Tanicius]

Yo, can we please keep this thread on track? It's been an invaluable source of information so far and I'd hate to see that change. Trolls gonna troll - for the love of god, don't feed them.

That aside, I'm interested in hearing opinions on how to go about answering the "Why did you go to law school? / why criminal defense?" type of interview questions. My reasons for doing so are directly related to my family's experiences with the criminal justice and prison systems (both as crime victims and defendants) and, after having vicariously experienced both sides, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to go to law school and do defense work after graduation. I've run my response to this type of question past multiple CS staffers and have gotten mixed reviews that run the gauntlet from "This is a great answer that really reveals you're passionate about this type of work" to "Do NOT bring up personal matters with potential employers" (which I otherwise believe is good advice, except maybe not in response to this type of question?). Thoughts?

Not bringing up personal matters in an answer to what is obviously a personal question is terrible advice. I don't know what kind of career services people you were talking to, whether they specialize in private sector or public sector, but virtually every PD I know would actively want to hear that answer from you. The only exception to this is when your resume doesn't back it up - if you've done no volunteer or aid work, then it just sounds like BS.

[seatown12]

That aside, I'm interested in hearing opinions on how to go about answering the "Why did you go to law school? / why criminal defense?" type of interview questions. My reasons for doing so are directly related to my family's experiences with the criminal justice and prison systems (both as crime victims and defendants) and, after having vicariously experienced both sides, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to go to law school and do defense work after graduation. I've run my response to this type of question past multiple CS staffers and have gotten mixed reviews that run the gauntlet from "This is a great answer that really reveals you're passionate about this type of work" to "Do NOT bring up personal matters with potential employers" (which I otherwise believe is good advice, except maybe not in response to this type of question?). Thoughts?

Not bringing up personal matters in an answer to what is obviously a personal question is terrible advice. I don't know what kind of career services people you were talking to, whether they specialize in private sector or public sector, but virtually every PD I know would actively want to hear that answer from you. The only exception to this is when your resume doesn't back it up - if you've done no volunteer or aid work, then it just sounds like BS.

+1 that answer is money. I also have a very personal reason for wanting to be a PD and interviewers always love it. Most career services don't know shit about getting PD/public interest jobs and it sounds like yours is no different.

[purr se]

That aside, I'm interested in hearing opinions on how to go about answering the "Why did you go to law school? / why criminal defense?" type of interview questions. My reasons for doing so are directly related to my family's experiences with the criminal justice and prison systems (both as crime victims and defendants) and, after having vicariously experienced both sides, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to go to law school and do defense work after graduation. I've run my response to this type of question past multiple CS staffers and have gotten mixed reviews that run the gauntlet from "This is a great answer that really reveals you're passionate about this type of work" to "Do NOT bring up personal matters with potential employers" (which I otherwise believe is good advice, except maybe not in response to this type of question?). Thoughts?

Not bringing up personal matters in an answer to what is obviously a personal question is terrible advice. I don't know what kind of career services people you were talking to, whether they specialize in private sector or public sector, but virtually every PD I know would actively want to hear that answer from you. The only exception to this is when your resume doesn't back it up - if you've done no volunteer or aid work, then it just sounds like BS.

+1 that answer is money. I also have a very personal reason for wanting to be a PD and interviewers always love it. Most career services don't know shit about getting PD/public interest jobs and it sounds like yours is no different.

Thanks for the responses. I do have the resume lines to back this up, so I'll just disregard the "no personal matters" critiques as they apply to this issue from here on out. Our CS office has been undergoing significant staffing changes that have led to students taking appointments with / directing questions to whomever is available, rather than to staff who specialize in a particular area.

[Tanicius]

That aside, I'm interested in hearing opinions on how to go about answering the "Why did you go to law school? / why criminal defense?" type of interview questions. My reasons for doing so are directly related to my family's experiences with the criminal justice and prison systems (both as crime victims and defendants) and, after having vicariously experienced both sides, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to go to law school and do defense work after graduation. I've run my response to this type of question past multiple CS staffers and have gotten mixed reviews that run the gauntlet from "This is a great answer that really reveals you're passionate about this type of work" to "Do NOT bring up personal matters with potential employers" (which I otherwise believe is good advice, except maybe not in response to this type of question?). Thoughts?

Not bringing up personal matters in an answer to what is obviously a personal question is terrible advice. I don't know what kind of career services people you were talking to, whether they specialize in private sector or public sector, but virtually every PD I know would actively want to hear that answer from you. The only exception to this is when your resume doesn't back it up - if you've done no volunteer or aid work, then it just sounds like BS.

+1 that answer is money. I also have a very personal reason for wanting to be a PD and interviewers always love it. Most career services don't know shit about getting PD/public interest jobs and it sounds like yours is no different.

Thanks for the responses. I do have the resume lines to back this up, so I'll just disregard the "no personal matters" critiques as they apply to this issue from here on out. Our CS office has been undergoing significant staffing changes that have led to students taking appointments with / directing questions to whomever is available, rather than to staff who specialize in a particular area.

Really, the more personal you can make your attachment to indigent representation, the better. I've gotten summer offers at every PD office I interviewed with, and I'm sure it's because I had story after story after story about my own experiences and question after question after question about their particular office. PD's get spit on by almost everyone in the justice system, and they like being reminded that there are people out there who find their work important and even exciting. They definitely want those people to be their co-workers.

[purr se]

Really, the more personal you can make your attachment to indigent representation, the better. I've gotten summer offers at every PD office I interviewed with, and I'm sure it's because I had story after story after story about my own experiences and question after question after question about their particular office. PD's get spit on by almost everyone in the justice system, and they like being reminded that there are people out there who find their work important and even exciting. They definitely want those people to be their co-workers.

I definitely agree that enthusiasm is a plus. However, I've had very few opportunities to put that into action. The main reason why I was interested in getting opinions about this is that I have had only two actual interviews (I'm a 2L) and the rest have been mock interviews with CS where I got the above feedback. I was offered by the first PD office I interviewed with 1L (and accepted because it is in a market where I would eventually like to work) and then they invited me back for this summer (which I also accepted and thus did not participate in OCI). Aside from that one interview, my only other experience with legal interviewing is the brief interview I did with a professor to secure my RA position for this year. My "why law school / PD" answer was well received in both of those contexts, but I realize that two interviews do not exactly constitute a representative sample. Looking back, I sort of feel like not doing OCI was a mistake given that it would have provided me with more interviewing practice. I'm also worried that not having comparable interviewing experience will put me at a disadvantage next year when seeking post-graduate employment.

[leobowski]

I definitely agree that enthusiasm is a plus. However, I've had very few opportunities to put that into action. The main reason why I was interested in getting opinions about this is that I have had only two actual interviews (I'm a 2L) and the rest have been mock interviews with CS where I got the above feedback. I was offered by the first PD office I interviewed with 1L (and accepted because it is in a market where I would eventually like to work) and then they invited me back for this summer (which I also accepted and thus did not participate in OCI). Aside from that one interview, my only other experience with legal interviewing is the brief interview I did with a professor to secure my RA position for this year. My "why law school / PD" answer was well received in both of those contexts, but I realize that two interviews do not exactly constitute a representative sample. Looking back, I sort of feel like not doing OCI was a mistake given that it would have provided me with more interviewing practice. I'm also worried that not having comparable interviewing experience will put me at a disadvantage next year when seeking post-graduate employment.

It sounds like you have opportunities for post-grad employment with your 1L/2L summer PD employer, and possibly other PDs who love that kind of substantive experience. I wouldn't worry too much about negative feedback from CSO people. A lot of their advice is downright bad advice.

[Sean Bateman]

Recently received an offer for summer internship at the Miami-Dade SA and likely going to take it. Anyone else going to be there this summer?

[reformed calvinist]

Recently received an offer for summer internship at the Miami-Dade SA and likely going to take it. Anyone else going to be there this summer?

Wow that sounds like it'll be an awesome experience. Before I went to law school I sat in on tons of criminal trials and stuff at the courthouse. Congrats man, that's an awesome job.

[dreakol]

Recently received an offer for summer internship at the Miami-Dade SA and likely going to take it. Anyone else going to be there this summer?

do you have any ties to the area? speak spanish?

[Anonymous User]

Question: I got offered a "hybrid" position with my state's PD office: half the time i would be an investigator intern and the other half an attorney intern. Should I take this? It's the only offer I've gotten so far and it sounds awesome but will it hurt in OCI that part of my time was spent investigating and not doing "legal work?"

[jkay]

Question: I got offered a "hybrid" position with my state's PD office: half the time i would be an investigator intern and the other half an attorney intern. Should I take this? It's the only offer I've gotten so far and it sounds awesome but will it hurt in OCI that part of my time was spent investigating and not doing "legal work?"

Take it. No need to put "investigator intern" on your resume. Intern will suffice, and then when/if someone asks, talk up the substantive legal experience. I don't think it would be detrimental to mention you worked on fact investigation. Also, I imagine an investigator talks to tons of people. Interviewing is hard and directly related to skills lawyers need. This sounds like it could actually be a pretty good experience.

[Sean Bateman]

Recently received an offer for summer internship at the Miami-Dade SA and likely going to take it. Anyone else going to be there this summer?

do you have any ties to the area? speak spanish?

Born and raised in Miami. Ironically, don't speak spanish.

[Anonymous User]

Im a 2L around top 10% at a TTTT. By the time I graduate, I will have interned an entire summer at the local usao and another summer at a major metropolitan DA office in my state. I will also have spent a full academic year in a criminal defense clinic and on the board of advocates. I feel pretty confident about reaching my goal of landing in a DA office after graduation, but I kind of wanted to hear from you guys to see if there is something else I should consider before just jumping to a DA office. Assuming I can maintain top 10% and graduate summa cum laude, I was thinking it might be beneficial to try and clerk for my state's court of criminal appeals; however I'm not on a journal, which will hurt my chances. Also, I hate civil law, but I thought it may be smart to apply to some litigation boutiques, as it would open some doors while not shutting those to the DA office. What do you think? Am I even being too optimistic in the first place about my prospects? Should I just focus on getting a post bar internship in the DA office I want so that I will get a good shot at a job at all? Or should I try for these two (or something else you can think of) first? Also, are there any large nationally known criminal defense firms? From what I've seen they are all pretty small; even the nationally known defense attorneys are pretty much solo right? As a side note, my state is doing relatively well compared to others, so not many offices will have hiring freezes by the time I apply (hopefully), and I will not have too much debt after graduation, if that was a factor in any of this.

[seatown12]

to the Anonymous immediately above:

I think the fact that you are concerned about getting any job at all shows you have the right mindset to succeed in this economy. You should apply to judges and civil lit firms, but think of them as backup plans. You should devote the bulk of your effort to getting a DA job since that is what your experience is geared towards and seems to be what you really want.

[Anonymous User]

I have an upcoming interview for an internship during the next semester for the local U.S. Attorney's Office, and I would love input on what the interview will be like.

-I have a firm job lined up for my 2L summer (internship is for during the semester as a 3L), will this be a negative that I need to address? (Firm does not do white-collar crime. I will be doing business litigation.)

-Is it naive to say that I would love to be an AUSA later in my life after working at a firm for a few years?

-If I have a potential interest in academia down the road, is that something that can be mentioned or should that not be talked about?

-Does it matter that I have no strong preference between working with defendants as opposed to prosecuting them? (If anything, I might have slight defendant-friendly leanings.) Is that something I should admit too, or should I be much more "rah, rah, prosecution!"?

-Any specific types of questions I should be ready for that do not come up in firm-type interviews? I am used to firm interviews by now, but don't know if this interview will be similar or not.

[Anonymous User]

I have an upcoming interview for an internship during the next semester for the local U.S. Attorney's Office, and I would love input on what the interview will be like.

-I have a firm job lined up for my 2L summer (internship is for during the semester as a 3L), will this be a negative that I need to address? (Firm does not do white-collar crime. I will be doing business litigation.)

-Is it naive to say that I would love to be an AUSA later in my life after working at a firm for a few years?

-If I have a potential interest in academia down the road, is that something that can be mentioned or should that not be talked about?

-Does it matter that I have no strong preference between working with defendants as opposed to prosecuting them? (If anything, I might have slight defendant-friendly leanings.) Is that something I should admit too, or should I be much more "rah, rah, prosecution!"?

-Any specific types of questions I should be ready for that do not come up in firm-type interviews? I am used to firm interviews by now, but don't know if this interview will be similar or not.

Anybody? (Interview is tomorrow.)

[target]

Anybody? (Interview is tomorrow.)

You should have made this a new thread if you wanted more traffic. Also, people in this thread may know what is going on in a DA's interview, but may not know what is going on in a USAO's interview.

[NoleinNY]

I have an upcoming interview for an internship during the next semester for the local U.S. Attorney's Office, and I would love input on what the interview will be like.

-I have a firm job lined up for my 2L summer (internship is for during the semester as a 3L), will this be a negative that I need to address? (Firm does not do white-collar crime. I will be doing business litigation.)

-Is it naive to say that I would love to be an AUSA later in my life after working at a firm for a few years?

-If I have a potential interest in academia down the road, is that something that can be mentioned or should that not be talked about?

-Does it matter that I have no strong preference between working with defendants as opposed to prosecuting them? (If anything, I might have slight defendant-friendly leanings.) Is that something I should admit too, or should I be much more "rah, rah, prosecution!"?

-Any specific types of questions I should be ready for that do not come up in firm-type interviews? I am used to firm interviews by now, but don't know if this interview will be similar or not.

1) Only if you can't answer "Why do you want to intern here?"
2) Not really naive, in and of itself. Expressing that you'd like to work in public service at some point or just generally appreciate public service would help.
3) Don't mention it if it's not brought up.
4) No.
5) You might be asked hypotheticals like other government jobs do. Otherwise, it's similar stuff.

[Anonymous User]

Anybody? (Interview is tomorrow.)

You should have made this a new thread if you wanted more traffic. Also, people in this thread may know what is going on in a DA's interview, but may not know what is going on in a USAO's interview.

Yeah, you're right. Will make a new thread, though I probably cut things too close to allow time for feedback from the right people.

[Anonymous User]

I have an upcoming interview for an internship during the next semester for the local U.S. Attorney's Office, and I would love input on what the interview will be like.

-I have a firm job lined up for my 2L summer (internship is for during the semester as a 3L), will this be a negative that I need to address? (Firm does not do white-collar crime. I will be doing business litigation.)

no

-Is it naive to say that I would love to be an AUSA later in my life after working at a firm for a few years?

no, that is quite common

-If I have a potential interest in academia down the road, is that something that can be mentioned or should that not be talked about?

I would mention it. Personally know two professors and a dean who worked USAO before teaching.

-Does it matter that I have no strong preference between working with defendants as opposed to prosecuting them? (If anything, I might have slight defendant-friendly leanings.) Is that something I should admit too, or should I be much more "rah, rah, prosecution!"?

Don't mention it. If you do mention something, "rah, rah, prosecution" is better. But most of these people are probably pretty neutral, and feel both jobs are important.

-Any specific types of questions I should be ready for that do not come up in firm-type interviews? I am used to firm interviews by now, but don't know if this interview will be similar or not.

This is the one thing I can't tell you. My interview was exceedingly informal (because of special circumstances). They asked me what areas of law I was interested in, what I did well in, why I wanted to work there, etc. Pretty standard questions, but very informal atmosphere, so I really don't know if that is what to expect.

[Geist13]

Assuming I can maintain top 10% and graduate summa cum laude, I was thinking it might be beneficial to try and clerk for my state's court of criminal appeals; however I'm not on a journal, which will hurt my chances.

It will hurt your chances just because other applicants will have journal experience, but won't make you ineligible. Also, why limit this to appellate courts? At my 1L DA internship, all the ADAs I spoke to said that the law clerks for the local trial level crim. judges were usually considered very strong job candidates. That doesn't mean they were necessarily hired, but I got the sense that it was considered one of the stepping stones to working as an ADA in the office. A number of the ADAs in my division had taken this route. I guess this doesn't apply if the city you're targeting doesn't have traditional clerks at the trial courts. I know it varies from city to city/ state to state.

[Anonymous User]

I have an upcoming interview for an internship during the next semester for the local U.S. Attorney's Office, and I would love input on what the interview will be like.

-I have a firm job lined up for my 2L summer (internship is for during the semester as a 3L), will this be a negative that I need to address? (Firm does not do white-collar crime. I will be doing business litigation.)

no

-Is it naive to say that I would love to be an AUSA later in my life after working at a firm for a few years?

no, that is quite common

-If I have a potential interest in academia down the road, is that something that can be mentioned or should that not be talked about?

I would mention it. Personally know two professors and a dean who worked USAO before teaching.

-Does it matter that I have no strong preference between working with defendants as opposed to prosecuting them? (If anything, I might have slight defendant-friendly leanings.) Is that something I should admit too, or should I be much more "rah, rah, prosecution!"?

Don't mention it. If you do mention something, "rah, rah, prosecution" is better. But most of these people are probably pretty neutral, and feel both jobs are important.

-Any specific types of questions I should be ready for that do not come up in firm-type interviews? I am used to firm interviews by now, but don't know if this interview will be similar or not.

This is the one thing I can't tell you. My interview was exceedingly informal (because of special circumstances). They asked me what areas of law I was interested in, what I did well in, why I wanted to work there, etc. Pretty standard questions, but very informal atmosphere, so I really don't know if that is what to expect.

Thank you so much. This is very helpful.

[akili]

I really really want to be a DA, but the only job offer I have right now is to work at a PD for 1L summer. I have no problem doing PD work, but will this hurt my chances for 2L summer?