Nassau County DA- 50K?? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Is it true that Nassau pays about 10K less than the NYC DA offices? Any word on raises? Is this accurate, or old information? Damn.

Is working there at least nice?

[Anonymous User]

Yes, it is true. They start at 52k and there are no raises. There are ADA who have been there for 5 years and still get paid 52k.

[Anonymous User]

Jesus. I really, really want to be a DA. Is it a bad idea to take that job with the hope of tryng my best to get to another office in 3 years? Or avoid like plague?

[Anonymous User]

I think you get a bump once you get to felony level.

OP: did you already get an offer? I was getting they would wait until after the election to do 3rd rounds.

[Anonymous User]

I grew up there. The cost of living is similar to Manhattan. You save some on rent, but have to own a car. Eating out is the same thing. You may save some on groceries, but with Amazon prime you can cancel out Manhattan's ridiculous prices on most products.

There is virtually no night life or legitimate dating scene if you're single. You will be commuting to Manhattan. If you are not single then you can't live in the cheap parts of the island, because the school districts are terrible. The trick is to live in a poor town that happens to be in the same zoning area as rich towns so you get a good public school.

Being a DA is a very respected job, but in Nassau you're going to be considered poor. If you could teach a clinic or something at Hofstra, maybe you could spruce up the income. Nassau is very safe, so almost all the crime is boring, but it does get a lot of really big shit from time to time. I think there's still a serial killer on the loose dumping prostitutes by an abandoned beach. Nassau also had and still have some mob families, and bodies would turn up in random places until the early nineties. Then of course there's the potential for terrorism. Because of your proximity to JFK, you are likely to eventually get a terrorist doing something in your jurisdiction in furtherance of the crime. In addition, Nassau residents are renowned for their excellence at tax fraud and defrauding investors. If you can write well then maybe you could publish a book.

One issue is almost all the crime is DWI's or things that aren't exciting, and the cool stuff is so cool that the feds normally take it over so IDK how much cool shit you'll get.

[Anonymous User]

It depends but there are felony Ada's that made 52k. You can look up Ada salaries online just google nassau county public employees salary.

[Anonymous User]

I just want a job. I ask because I applied recently and wrote a much better cover letter (had more time bc other places have deadlines) for this place so would suck to have it wasted. Also, funny thing, I'd be doing a reverse commute, I live in manhattan and would be taking the LIRR, and would have to get the residency requirement waived to take a job there.
In all likelihood, it wont happen, because I guess id take an entry level city job (starts at 62K) over nassau DA despite the fact that i really want to be a DA, because 52K is really too low. Other da offices give yearly bumps, so i heard, and youre in touch with the city pension system.

[Anonymous User]

I just want a job. I ask because I applied recently and wrote a much better cover letter (had more time bc other places have deadlines) for this place so would suck to have it wasted. Also, funny thing, I'd be doing a reverse commute, I live in manhattan and would be taking the LIRR, and would have to get the residency requirement waived to take a job there.
In all likelihood, it wont happen, because I guess id take an entry level city job (starts at 62K) over nassau DA despite the fact that i really want to be a DA, because 52K is really too low. Other da offices give yearly bumps, so i heard, and youre in touch with the city pension system.

Nobody mentioned this, but there are a lot of partners who were DA's originally. Many of them also clerked or had the academic profiles of someone who would have clerked. Trial experience is a good tool to have, especially if you get high profile cases.

You should move to Long Island, I don't think the commute makes sense. The train ticket is going to run you about an extra $300 a month. Nassau is very wealthy overall and a sought after place to live, but it doesn't do anything in the sense that there's no industry there. You have a lot of good restaurants, a great mall, and a lot of great people. But this is all because of its proximity to Manhattan. Everyone commutes to Manhattan, and goes home to Long Island. Nobody commutes to Long Island, and then returns home to Manhattan. You're really getting the worse of both worlds economically. The cost of living calculators that people use overrate how expensive Manhattan is, because they assume a car. It is terrible, but Long Island may be worse because you need a car and truly need LIRR to earn your salary as there's no industry in Long Island. You're adding 4k onto your NYC cost of living, and still getting the NYC tax. It's a prestigious job, but you should do it intelligently.

Everyone who relies on the LIRR hates it, and it's government owned so it's impossible to get treated fairly even when you're fucked. If there's a strike or it's not running because they screwed something up, you aren't getting to work for a week unless you cab it for $200. Good luck getting the LIRR to reimburse you or replace your ticket. It's government owned. I once levied a complaint, and got a call back THREE YEARS LATER.

I assume you're in Uniondale/Hempstead? This is a rough neighborhood. It's about = to the East Bronx, and is definitely sketchier than any part of Manhattan. But like many areas of Nassau, there is a very nice neighborhood with a great school district a five minute drive away.

[Anonymous User]

First, the DA's office is in Mineola, in the same building as the County Court. Depending on where you live, you'll drive through Hempstead/Uniondale to get there, which is fine. It's a weird area with a lot of commercial buildings right next to the residential areas. Not a bad place to live actually if you want to be really close.

Yes, that is the salary. Manhattan costs more to live, thus a higher salary for the DAs. I would move to Long Island and avoid the LIRR entirely. Nothing wrong with it, but commuting to the DA's office means going into Mineola and walking ten minutes down Old Country Road. Trains go fairly regularly, but once in a while they mess up and if you have court deadlines, that's not going to be nice for you.

There are plenty of somewhat more affordable areas. On the South Shore, areas of Freeport (southeast to be specific, south of Atlantic Avenue generally), Baldwin, Rockville Centre, and even Oceanside might be worth looking into. South is, in my opinion, less expensive than North Shore, but you may luck into something nice. Mineola has housing as well, and places like Franklin Square and Garden City Park are also more affordable.

Source: Grew up on LI. I'm seriously considering Nassau DA if I decide to go criminal instead of civil.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. For various reasons (was gifted an apartment that I now own, significant other can't move) I can't move to nassau. I take the LIRR every so often, and I seem to recall that the courthouse was much closer than 10 min from the station?

Anyway, the salary is very disappointing but other than finding some sort of way to kill a year and re-apply with a better pitch to the nyc offices I dont know what to do.

BTW, i may be wrong, but could it be that westchester ,as opposed to nassau, pays more to start?

[Anonymous User]

First, the DA's office is in Mineola, in the same building as the County Court. Depending on where you live, you'll drive through Hempstead/Uniondale to get there, which is fine. It's a weird area with a lot of commercial buildings right next to the residential areas. Not a bad place to live actually if you want to be really close.

Yes, that is the salary. Manhattan costs more to live, thus a higher salary for the DAs. I would move to Long Island and avoid the LIRR entirely. Nothing wrong with it, but commuting to the DA's office means going into Mineola and walking ten minutes down Old Country Road. Trains go fairly regularly, but once in a while they mess up and if you have court deadlines, that's not going to be nice for you.

There are plenty of somewhat more affordable areas. On the South Shore, areas of Freeport (southeast to be specific, south of Atlantic Avenue generally), Baldwin, Rockville Centre, and even Oceanside might be worth looking into. South is, in my opinion, less expensive than North Shore, but you may luck into something nice. Mineola has housing as well, and places like Franklin Square and Garden City Park are also more affordable.

Source: Grew up on LI. I'm seriously considering Nassau DA if I decide to go criminal instead of civil.

I went a different route so know nothing about the DA, but Mineola is even a worse commute (is that an hour each way from Penn?) The LIRR is terrible. If you were an associate then relying on it would be terrible. I understand you have shorter hours, but it's expensive, and although it beats driving, isn't nearly as reliable as other railroads.

Those towns that you listed are still pretty expensive, but Rockville Centre isn't such a bad place to live. Long Beach/Atlantic Beach are also awesome for about a third of the year (preferable to Manhattan), but suck for most of it. Freeport is very sketchy. There is one very nice strip on the water, but it's very sketchy outside of that. It's not an area where you would want to be showing that you have an i-phone at night.