DA's office 1L summer/Firm job 2L summer/school year Forum

[Young Marino]

So I've done an internship with a local DA's office in Florida as a 0L and was offered to come back next summer. I am gunning for a prosecutor job in that office. Unfortunately, as with most gov agencies we know getting a paid gig isn't going to happen as an intern so I wanted to know if it's possible to do a paid gig at a small law firm (personal injury, family law) 2L summer and into the school year during 3L for a semester and still look like a good hire if I do my 1L summer and Certified Legal Internship at the DA's office I wanna work at. I'd really like to lower my debt load and make some $$ in law school..

[A. Nony Mouse]

You run the risk of looking like you don't want to work as a DA if you work at a firm, particularly if you start at the DAs and then go to a firm. You should be interning for the DA during the school year, too. If you want to make some money, you could try working as an RA.

[BigZuck]

So I've done an internship with a local DA's office in Florida as a 0L and was offered to come back next summer. I am gunning for a prosecutor job in that office. Unfortunately, as with most gov agencies we know getting a paid gig isn't going to happen as an intern so I wanted to know if it's possible to do a paid gig at a small law firm (personal injury, family law) 2L summer and into the school year during 3L for a semester and still look like a good hire if I do my 1L summer and Certified Legal Internship at the DA's office I wanna work at. I'd really like to lower my debt load and make some $$ in law school..

I think I would intern with that office as much as possible to show your commitment. Hopefully this DA office is in a big enough city to where they actually hire people sometimes.

Also, I think you're overestimating the ease of getting a worthwhile paid job unless you already have some sort of connection. If its one of those $8 an hour gigs I see posted on Symplicity I don't think that's worth it just to make some cash if you risk making the DA office think that you're not committed to the cause.

Just my thoughts, I'm by no means a DA office gunner so maybe more PI-minded folks can chime in.

Eta: scooped.

[Young Marino]

You run the risk of looking like you don't want to work as a DA if you work at a firm, particularly if you start at the DAs and then go to a firm. You should be interning for the DA during the school year, too. If you want to make some money, you could try working as an RA.

I plan to do my clinic at that DA's office during the school year of my third year. In terms of connections, I actually have a really good relationship with THE District Attorney of the county. We email back and forth every few months to keep in contact and my mentor is a top DA who is the head of an entire division with 30+ years of experience who I keep in contact regularly. I won't go into specifics as to what I did during my time there but let's just say it's far more advanced than what a regular 0L would be doing. The thing is, I would like to be exposed to the private firm environment also and don't want to limit myself. I know I want to be a prosecutor because of what I see going on in my hometown and I know I have what it takes to truly make a difference but during the next three years I'd like to dive into other areas I may find interesting as well. Is a clerkship internship okay to do then Nony? Or something with another PI organization? It's not weird to RA my 2L summer in law school and is it possible to do during the school year in most cases?

[A. Nony Mouse]

If by clerkship internship you mean interning for a judge, I think that's usually a good thing to do - it's neutral, it's useful for any (litigation) job. I would do that during the school year rather than during your 2L summer though - 2L summer is more important than 1L for securing future employment. In terms of DA gigs, in a lot of places law students can appear in court their 2L summer but not their 1L summer, for instance (don't know if that's true for you). Interning for a judge won't pay, of course. And I meant to RA on top of other work, not instead of (though I didn't make that clear).

I get wanting to explore other options, and maybe it will all work out as you hope. But generally the best way to get a PI job is to show serious commitment and get as much practical experience in that area as possible. Going outside that pattern can be a risk. Did you get to know any recently-hired ADAs in that office who could tell you what background they had when they got the job? (Also, do you know that the DA will still be the DA when you're looking for a job?)

[Young Marino]

If by clerkship internship you mean interning for a judge, I think that's usually a good thing to do - it's neutral, it's useful for any (litigation) job. I would do that during the school year rather than during your 2L summer though - 2L summer is more important than 1L for securing future employment. In terms of DA gigs, in a lot of places law students can appear in court their 2L summer but not their 1L summer, for instance (don't know if that's true for you). Interning for a judge won't pay, of course. And I meant to RA on top of other work, not instead of (though I didn't make that clear).

I get wanting to explore other options, and maybe it will all work out as you hope. But generally the best way to get a PI job is to show serious commitment and get as much practical experience in that area as possible. Going outside that pattern can be a risk. Did you get to know any recently-hired ADAs in that office who could tell you what background they had when they got the job? (Also, do you know that the DA will still be the DA when you're looking for a job?)

Yes he'll still be the DA. Thanks for the idea of contacting a younger ADA. I'll be sure to do that to gain some perspective although from what I've seen some of them didn't really have gigs their 1L summer so they RA'd or did something not law related like work a summer camp gig. Now what do you mean RA on top of other work? Like RA and work at Target or something? I may be thinking a little bit ahead but during the time in between taking the bar and getting my results (about 5 months) shouldn't I do some sort of legal job like a legal assistant?

[A. Nony Mouse]

If by clerkship internship you mean interning for a judge, I think that's usually a good thing to do - it's neutral, it's useful for any (litigation) job. I would do that during the school year rather than during your 2L summer though - 2L summer is more important than 1L for securing future employment. In terms of DA gigs, in a lot of places law students can appear in court their 2L summer but not their 1L summer, for instance (don't know if that's true for you). Interning for a judge won't pay, of course. And I meant to RA on top of other work, not instead of (though I didn't make that clear).

I get wanting to explore other options, and maybe it will all work out as you hope. But generally the best way to get a PI job is to show serious commitment and get as much practical experience in that area as possible. Going outside that pattern can be a risk. Did you get to know any recently-hired ADAs in that office who could tell you what background they had when they got the job? (Also, do you know that the DA will still be the DA when you're looking for a job?)

Yes he'll still be the DA. Thanks for the idea of contacting a younger ADA. I'll be sure to do that to gain some perspective although from what I've seen some of them didn't really have gigs their 1L summer so they RA'd or did something not law related like work a summer camp gig. Now what do you mean RA on top of other work? Like RA and work at Target or something? I may be thinking a little bit ahead but during the time in between taking the bar and getting my results (about 5 months) shouldn't I do some sort of legal job like a legal assistant?

I meant RA (for the money) on top of interning with a judge or the DA (for employment prospects). Obviously if you need money you do what you have to do, but it's better to make all your employment law-related than go work at Target or something.

As for the period between taking the bar and getting results, that's not usually how it works. First, Florida's results come back in September, so it's not a 5 months wait - it's not really long enough to do any other job. Second, in states that hire people before graduation, you can sometimes start working before bar results come back, so that's what people tend to do. (Not all states even hire entry-level people until after bar results come back, but some of those will let people/expect people to intern between taking the bar and getting results back, if they want a permanent job.) Finally, while people often want/need money for that period, taking a legal assistant job is not a good move for someone who is still looking for a permanent legal job (if you have an offer already, I suppose it doesn't really matter - but again, no one's going to hire a legal assistant for 2 months) - it looks like you're giving up on getting/unable to get a real legal job.

At least, this is my take on it - others may have different perspectives.

[sublime]

..

[Young Marino]

Thanks for the responses. I think I'll try for a judicial internship if I really want to get experience in other areas of law. But I really want to work at this specific office and don't really want to work in another county so again, I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket but theuy do hire a class of about 10-15 new ADAs per year.

[Kronk]

You'll thank yourself later for spending your 2L summer / year at the DA's office.

I did PD work my 1L year, then decided to try out civil stuff, then got hired into a DA's office after law school and the first month was realllllly nervewracking because I had never done any of the shit that new hires have generally done at a DA's office. Most people that get hired have already done trials, motions hearings, arraignments, etc. I didn't know how to do anything.

[Young Marino]

You'll thank yourself later for spending your 2L summer / year at the DA's office.

I did PD work my 1L year, then decided to try out civil stuff, then got hired into a DA's office after law school and the first month was realllllly nervewracking because I had never done any of the shit that new hires have generally done at a DA's office. Most people that get hired have already done trials, motions hearings, arraignments, etc. I didn't know how to do anything.

How are you liking the DA's office Kronk?

[Kronk]

It's awesome, man.

[Young Marino]

It's awesome, man.

Cool. Do u think you'll stay a while or are u thinking of bolting for private practice?

[baal hadad]

Google certified legal intern

If you want to be an asa in fl then u should do that

[Kronk]

It's awesome, man.

Cool. Do u think you'll stay a while or are u thinking of bolting for private practice?

I will be staying a long time. Client management seems like a pain in the ass on the private side and I think if I left for anything it would be for a civil government job--County/City Attorney, Legal Counsel for Governor, etc.

[Young Marino]

Google certified legal intern

If you want to be an asa in fl then u should do that

Yea that's done during the school year of 3L. You actually have to do that to graduate from my school.

[sublime]

..

[Young Marino]

It's awesome, man.

Cool. Do u think you'll stay a while or are u thinking of bolting for private practice?

I will be staying a long time. Client management seems like a pain in the ass on the private side and I think if I left for anything it would be for a civil government job--County/City Attorney, Legal Counsel for Governor, etc.

I worked PD, and believe it or not, I would rather deal with clients than victims. There is a lot of ideological shit wrapped up in that though.

I never envisioned you as a DA, Kronk. Glad you are enjoying it though!

Probably on the PD side that sucks. I know at my DA office the prosecutors really don't need to deal with victims unless it's really necessary because you aren't "representing" the victim so to speak you're representing the state.

[Kronk]

Yeah but at the PD you don't have to collect monies and money isn't a factor. That is what would be shitty about private practice. I hate asking people for money and I hate turning people down because they can't afford something.

I also worked at the PD, working as a private attorney would be a lot different IMO. The PDs here have a lot of hate for DAs though, which I think is kind of lame. They blacklisted me when I tried other shit for a summer, so I became a DA. If you have integrity, I think you have more power to help defendants as a prosecutor than as a defense attorney.

[Kronk]

I never envisioned you as a DA, Kronk. Glad you are enjoying it though!

Me either, man. If you asked me up until graduation the legal job I would simply have refused to do, I would've said DA. I had a really skewed notion of what it was like.

[Young Marino]

If you have integrity, I think you have more power to help defendants as a prosecutor than as a defense attorney.

This. God bless ya Kronk hope you stick around for a while. I look forward to exchanging "war stories" with u in a few years.