Top Law Schools

Hello all,

I know this site is for law school students but this is the best site I've found for attorney employment. I'd like to know if anyone has experience working with Arizona District Attorney offices. I'm an attorney in New Mexico and I've worked as a DA who prosecuted felonies, first chair drug trafficking, drug possession, felony shoplifting, felony dwis, felony battery and second chair murder cases. I've also worked as a private attorney in civil defense, mostly civil litigation in the realm of personal injury and insurance defense. I've spent a bit of time figuring out what kind of law I like to do and I enjoyed being a prosecutor more than anything else.

I'd like to relocate to Arizona, perhaps Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tuscon type areas and work at a DA's office at one of those locations. I'm getting all the materials required for Admission by Motion to the Arizona bar and I will be submitting the materials this month (February, 2017). I don't know how long that process takes but I'm guess 6-9 months. I'd like to relocate to Arizona late in 2017 or early 2018.

I'd appreciate anyone who has any insight into the DA offices in Arizona. I'd like to relocate to the state as I am a more conservative guy and culturally I fit in better with Arizona. I know Tuscon tends to be more liberal but not compared to Santa Fe, NM. I also have a close friend who lives near Phoenix and his family is there so it would be nice to see him. Plus I like the fact places like Phoenix are relatively close to Vegas and California and allow for some fun weekend trips but I'd still be able to live in an area I fit in. This isn't met as a liberal-conservative bashing just a statement as to my personal leanings and why I'm interested in Arizona vs my current location as I expected that question to be forthcoming.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you for all who spent the time in reading this and best of luck to all of you in your employment searches (and in taking the bar for you February bar takers, kick ass!)

As I'm sure you can tell, there aren't a ton of Arizona TLS'ers in this Forum. I'm a 2L in AZ, so I can't help you out with your questions unfortunately. Best of luck mate.

Tucson as a community isn't that much less liberal than Santa Fe, and it's a really really small legal community. My impression is that all the state prosecutors there know each other, so while your experience is great, you may need to make connections and get known in the community to break in there. (My sense is also that the prosecutors there are underpaid and understaffed, and that the office is kind of authoritarian, but I don't know that from personal experience, just the impression I've got from people who worked there.)

I'm afraid I don't know anything about Phoenix.

(Also, in Arizona they're county attorneys.)

Any update on your application process?