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Leaving PD: post-conviction/appellate/what next?
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 7:57 pm
by foamborn
Tried PD, not for me. What do people do next? I'm leaving early enough that virtually all doors are open to me that were open in law school. I'm hoping to transition into something where I don't spend my time managing clients and setting up meetings no one will attend. I'd like to, ya know, read and write. Be a lawyer rather than a social worker. I'd love to hear from former PDs about what they did next. Did people do post-conviction work? Appellate? Leave crim justice entirely and do general litigation?
In short, feeling pretty lost.
Re: Leaving PD: post-conviction/appellate/what next?
Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 11:52 am
by criminaltheory
Not a former PD, but I can say plenty of PDs in my office. Criminal appellate work is awesome if you still want to be on the team but don't like the banalities of trial practice. Also, clients very easy to reach.
Re: Leaving PD: post-conviction/appellate/what next?
Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 12:24 pm
by foamborn
criminaltheory wrote:Not a former PD, but I can say plenty of PDs in my office. Criminal appellate work is awesome if you still want to be on the team but don't like the banalities of trial practice. Also, clients very easy to reach.
Do you work at a private firm specializing in this? I know there are non-profits that specialize in this kinda work and some state offices dedicated to this work (which I suppose
are PD). I haven't at this point considered private criminal work.
Re: Leaving PD: post-conviction/appellate/what next?
Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 1:02 pm
by criminaltheory
foamborn wrote:criminaltheory wrote:Not a former PD, but I can say plenty of PDs in my office. Criminal appellate work is awesome if you still want to be on the team but don't like the banalities of trial practice. Also, clients very easy to reach.
Do you work at a private firm specializing in this? I know there are non-profits that specialize in this kinda work and some state offices dedicated to this work (which I suppose
are PD). I haven't at this point considered private criminal work.
I work in a state office; the privates that do appeals tend to do also an assortment of federal criminal, civil rights, and/or state criminal. Tend to be small offices, so you'll have to do some research to find a spot. Specialist crim appellate firms are probably solo offices who take conflicts or work where courts do a lot of private appointments.