How long does it take for ADAs to take on "substantial" work? Forum

[girlinthecity]

By substantial I mean felonies, white collar/economic crimes (specifically in NYC), etc.

[andythefir]

In my first job in the middle of nowhere you stayed in mag court 8-12 months, then moved onto felonies. Anything less than that is shooting yourself in the foot because you don’t want rookie mistakes screwing up serious felonies. In addition to the bad guy getting away with it, as a DA there can be political consequences to a botched case.

In bigger cities it can take years and years because there’s way less turnover. In the biggest (and worst run) DAs office in my state you can anticipate spending at least a year in metro court (parking tickets, speeding) then when there’s turnover you move up to mag court, then on to felonies.

[Anonymous User]

By substantial I mean felonies, white collar/economic crimes (specifically in NYC), etc.

In my state, it takes 2.5-4 years to get to “superior court.” This depends on a number of factors

[girlinthecity]

In my first job in the middle of nowhere you stayed in mag court 8-12 months, then moved onto felonies. Anything less than that is shooting yourself in the foot because you don’t want rookie mistakes screwing up serious felonies. In addition to the bad guy getting away with it, as a DA there can be political consequences to a botched case.

In bigger cities it can take years and years because there’s way less turnover. In the biggest (and worst run) DAs office in my state you can anticipate spending at least a year in metro court (parking tickets, speeding) then when there’s turnover you move up to mag court, then on to felonies.

Thank you for responding! That is interesting. I wonder if it is worth it to go to a "flyover" state's DA's office to get experience with felonies and then lateral to a larger office.

I appreciate all the responses, everyone.

[Anonymous User]

At the Miami state attorney’s office you can start prosecuting felonies after 1.5ish years. You’ll do juvinline felonies after 8-12months, but it’ll take you about 18 months to get to real felonies.

[Anonymous User]

Currently in an NYC office.

You do misdemeanor trial training in your first year and grand jury training in your second year. You might get unofficial grand jury training earlier if you are in a specialized bureau, but they tend to keep things in cycles. I think at about your third year you'll get felony trial training. Now the thing is that based on luck you could get a felony trial before your actual felony trial training, i.e., one of your cases that you presented to grand jury is being sent out for trial.

As for trials with white collar/ economic crimes, I have no idea. The investigations take forever, and I would imagine that these are less likely to go to trial as they work out a restitution based plea deal.

[girlinthecity]

Thank you so much!

I posted this on another thread, but maybe you're a good person to ask.

I want to be an ADA but my end goal is federal government, ideally the SEC or the DOJ. I am committed to public service but I realize that as someone who wants to take the ADA route, I am already at a disadvantage for the bigger offices (SDNY/EDNY/DC, etc).

Is it advisable to do a year of BigLaw and clerk before going the ADA route? Or will the DA's office view my credentials as skeptical because they are not public service-oriented? Essentially, I want very much to be an ADA and view BigLaw only as a stepping stone (much in the way that many other people do), but I also want to have exit options for the federal government 5-10 years down the line after being an ADA.

Is it advisable to do a year of clerking and a year of BigLaw to get it out of the way in the beginning of my career? When does an ADA clerk if he knows he wants to be an AUSA or work for the federal government?

[Anonymous User]

Thank you so much!

I posted this on another thread, but maybe you're a good person to ask.

I want to be an ADA but my end goal is federal government, ideally the SEC or the DOJ. I am committed to public service but I realize that as someone who wants to take the ADA route, I am already at a disadvantage for the bigger offices (SDNY/EDNY/DC, etc).

Is it advisable to do a year of BigLaw and clerk before going the ADA route? Or will the DA's office view my credentials as skeptical because they are not public service-oriented? Essentially, I want very much to be an ADA and view BigLaw only as a stepping stone (much in the way that many other people do), but I also want to have exit options for the federal government 5-10 years down the line after being an ADA.

Is it advisable to do a year of clerking and a year of BigLaw to get it out of the way in the beginning of my career? When does an ADA clerk if he knows he wants to be an AUSA or work for the federal government?

I am an ada plus fedclerk with no biglaw. In hindsight, I kind of wish I had done a couple years of biglaw first. I want to be an ausa. Trying to lateral now is difficult.

[girlinthecity]

Do you think that a year or two of BigLaw > Clerk > ADA for a few years would be overkill for an AUSA job? Essentially, I am worried that the DA's office wouldn't hire me because starting in BigLaw might make them think I am not committed to public service when in reality I don't want to work in BigLaw at all and only see it as a necessary evil.