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How difficult is it to get hired into a big city DA office? i.e. NYC, LA Chicago, Miami etc. I've heard since the decline of firm hiring, these jobs have become more competitive. Is it a top 10% at a t14 or bust for these type of markets?

For NYC it is, from there it gets far less competitive, but it is indeed getting more competitive with current job market.

King County for Seattle?

DA offices don't just look at grades, they look at other stuff, but are still incredibly picky. Interviewing doesn't working like law firm interviewing. Usually, sometime in 3L year, you go through a 3 or 4 step process for each office, at least one of which will be a group of attorneys feeding you hypos to see how you respond.

As far as the competition goes, one office I applied to got something like 3000 applications for 20-25 spots, contingent on state budgetary issues. And this was a "less popular" office near one of the big cities you listed.

Big city ADA is highly selective, and as mentioned, in a different way. Particularly for something like NYC, grades still matter but like all public interest interviews, they want real believers and will grill you.

It's also highly state budget dependent. Which means it's gotten *much* tougher in the financial crisis because of hiring freezes.

What about non-big-city ADA?

I work at a DA's office that is large by most standards, with 100 ADAs, but small compared to NYC and the mega offices which have ~400-500 ADAs. Here, hiring is very competitive, with dozens of applicants per spot, but interestingly a primary focus is NOT given to grades. A demonstrated interest in the field is mandatory- the office recently hired a T50 grad with only a 3.0 over a Boalt grad with a much higher GPA b/c of his experience in moot court. This office also gauges "jury appeal" through a set of very stressful, and long, interviews. I am sharing this so you know that if your grades aren't stellar you shouldn't immediately disqualify yourself (excluding Manhattan or other really prestigious offices). Just make sure to prepare A LOT for the interview.

What other things besides moot court help you stand out? Are you screwed if you didn't do a 1L internship with a DA or judge?

Definitely not- just try to do something to demonstrate your "unequivocal love for serving the public interest," or something like that. It shouldn't be hard to find someplace to volunteer. I think if you do that, and take relevant electives you'll have demonstrated a convincing amount of interest. Just don't spend every summer at a firm and expect to get hired, apparently that is the only thing that would really screw you because it's blatantly obvious that the economy fucked you and you would rather be somewhere else.

A'nold wrote:What other things besides moot court help you stand out? Are you screwed if you didn't do a 1L internship with a DA or judge?

Sounds strange, who you are matters way more than your numbers. Are you eloquent? Are you likeable? If you can speak, really communicate in a way that gets your point across without seeming condescending, and while still being likeable, you will really stand out because it isn't a common ability. Say your grades are all in stone and your summers are complete, the best thing you could do is to practice reading aloud, watching press conferences and attempting to answer, as if the spotlight were on you. If you can really develop that skill you'll stand out and be way above most of the competition.

I think one of the greatest barriers to getting a job as a DA or PD or AG is the current hiring freezes going on in lots of states or counties.

No one can say how long these will last. Maybe they will end soon or maybe they will continue for years. Worse yet is that no one is leaving even state level government jobs in this economy. Arg...how long will 'ITE' last!

True, but ADA positions have so much turnover that hiring/firing takes place nearly every week.

Anonymous User wrote:True, but ADA positions have so much turnover that hiring/firing takes place nearly every week.

Not a fan of the bolded above, lol.

So, would doing clinical work in crim. law-esque settings help out then, even enough to negate a 1L summer firm position? Also, does this mean (if all the stars alligned and I actually got an SA position out of OCI) that I would have to turn down a 2L SA position to go work at the DA's office? Kind of seems that way.

A few of my good friends/classmates did DA/PD here. Basically how it worked here was all of them that got offers interneted there, and the ones that stayed on during 3L tended to get offers. Never heard of anyone getting an offer who just 'applied" everyone I know who got offered interned there for at least six months if not a year. PD is a little different because its state wide rather DA, so PDs who were willing to move to BFE got offers first.