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Long Term Career Prospects in Prosecution

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 12:31 am
by Fiddler
Hi everyone,

This is probably a dumb question, but here goes...


I would really like to spend the bulk of my career in Criminal Prosecution (if at all possible). However, after checking out the salaries in this field - it appears that they start fairly low and that there is no promise that they will go up higher.

Is it possible for someone to do prosecution for many years and then move to another field for a while for significantly greater money? I would really like to do prosecution for most of my life, but supporting a family and saving for retirement in middle age on 60k seems a little tough.

Also, as a side question: how many hours do ADAs work on average? 50, 60, 70?

Thanks,

Re: Long Term Career Prospects in Prosecution

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 12:43 am
by Leeroy Jenkins
You could probably easily transition from the DA's office to a firm that does defense for people with the money to pay for it.

Re: Long Term Career Prospects in Prosecution

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 12:55 am
by Esc
Fiddler wrote:Hi everyone,

This is probably a dumb question, but here goes...


I would really like to spend the bulk of my career in Criminal Prosecution (if at all possible). However, after checking out the salaries in this field - it appears that they start fairly low and that there is no promise that they will go up higher.

Is it possible for someone to do prosecution for many years and then move to another field for a while for significantly greater money? I would really like to do prosecution for most of my life, but supporting a family and saving for retirement in middle age on 60k seems a little tough.

Also, as a side question: how many hours do ADAs work on average? 50, 60, 70?

Thanks,
I don't know how the salaries for ADAs work in your state, but I'm pretty sure that in a lot of states they rise fairly significantly over time. In Texas most counties start ADA's out at about ~50k/year, but go up to ~70k after 5 years, ~90-100k after 10, and ~110-125k after 15. That's pretty decent money.