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I'm trying to decide between the two. OC pays much more for their entry-levels and I think I'd rather live there. So here's my question: does anyone know about odds of 2L's getting permanent later on? Obviously you'll have to re-apply, but does anyone know how much either office pulls from their 2L clerks?

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I don't know the answer to your specific question but under their current "Fellows" program they hire recent graduates at like $50,000 flat - no bene's to act as quasi-DDA 1's - and then as gov. money becomes available they claim to hire first from the fellows - assuming they are competant - before hiring from the general population. So basically they raise the fellows up from mere fellows to DDA-1's.

Being a 2L clerk can only help your chances but I don't think they is currently a "path" whereby a 2L clerk is earmarked to be hired down the road. My knowledge comes from both the SD and OC fellows coming by my law school last year - and discussions I had with the OC rep. That's pretty much all I know.

No clue for the OP's question.

arhmcpo is correct in that a number of DA offices do this practice.

If you think you are going to want to work for one of them or the other post-graduation, it helps. I can't speak for OC, but I spoke to a DDA did the SD post-bar route before getting hired in another county; supposedly SD can be stingy in upgrading from the post bar to full-DDA1 slots.

I have friends working at SDDA. There are very, very, very few positions (1-2/yr) and with the way things are going, there won't be any come next year.

Thanks for the responses. Anyone know about OC specifically?

SD DA also has a fellowship program already full of ppl who will be first selections when positions open up I would guess. I think the best thing you can do to distinguish yourself is to work for a DA office, get certified, and try cases. When youre "certified" you can do prelim trials, argue motions, and other basic DDA work. Try to find out from your school what branches of a DA are known to let students get more work because I know in LA some branches had a reputation for letting law students do a lot of trial work (compton) and others did not.

The fact that OC DA has had job postings for the general population recently, even though they already have a Fellows program, either means (1) their hiring need is large enough to go beyond the Fellows program or (2) they don't know their hiring needs yet and are developing a list of preferred candidates to contact when positions do open up.
I know when LA officially decided to hire a few months ago, they had a major job posting where they supposedly hired about 30 DDA's and received a 1000+ applications.

Has anyone heard back from the Orange County DA about their fellowship decisions yet? Should come this week.

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Apparently the evaluation is based on more than one's lawyering skills and fit.