Anonymous User wrote:QuickQuestionsRN wrote:I'm going to be interning with Manhattan DA's office. Does anyone have any suggestions for preferences for bureaus? We have the options of investigation, appellate, special narcotics, and general trial. I originally thought investigation because I'd like to work my way into major economic crimes but had a professor point out to me that I should try to see court as much as possible to make myself a more competitive hire.
So... any general advice?
Anyone know if where you intern impacts where you wind up or if you get hired?
Your professor is right. Go to a trial bureau (general, DV, sex crimes, or vehicle, etc.). As an intern, the experience you'd get at investigations, special narcotics, appeals wouldn't be worth it. Investigations are long term, and interns are short term, so the work you'd get would be listening to tape, or collating data. Plus they wouldn't be too comfortable talking to an uncleared intern about the investigations. Not too much actual legal stuff, maybe a memo. Appeals would have legal research, but all youd be doing is writing about appeal waivers or excessive sentences.
Trial bureaus are great because you can come out of the internship confident that you can calculate 30.30 time, argue facial insufficiency, know the standards for all the Huntley/Dunaway/Wade/etc. hearings. Plus you'll likely get to go on the record for some calendar calls.
Disagree. I interned in Appeals over a summer (Queens, not Manhattan) and yes, although I wrote an appeal waiver and excessive sentence brief, I also wrote a 4th Amendment brief. Along with those, I also wrote a brief regarding sufficiency of accusatory instruments which, maybe not as sexy as other topics, requires your ability to analyze statutes and case law. You'd be surprised how many experienced ADAs don't know the standards governing the sufficiency of a complaint/information/indictment and use those terms interchangeably instead. Just like how some ADAs don't know how little it actually takes to be "ready" for 30.30 purposes.
As an intern, if you get to work on a substantive brief, even as assistance for one issue, you'll get your name in a reported decision. I got a kick out of searching my name in Westlaw and seeing results before I even graduated. To me, that's more impressive than being on the record on calendar call. I think student interns can argue cases in the Appellate Term if it gets scheduled fast enough. You'd also come out with 3-4 writing samples; its almost a 3-month lesson on effective legal writing.
I preferred Appeals because you come out of it with quantifiable work ("I wrote x briefs/motions that discussed __, ___, and/or ___.") that shows up on a resume and you can have a discussion about it, as opposed to saying "I know how to calculate 30.30."
OTOH, I also know interns that only did excessive sentence, appeal waivers, and FOIL, but those interns were the ones that had little interest in actually becoming a prosecutor. What you get out of it will depend on what you put into it. If you want to learn and do substantive work, it's definitely there for the taking, but you have to be pro-active about it.
Good luck!
