I went from biglaw to public defender. AMA. Forum

[Anonymous User]

Went from a v10 at a large secondary market to a public defender office. AMA.

[lookatriffraffplease]

Was this move difficult to make in terms of convincing said PD's office you were "down with the cause" for lack of a better term? Did you do much criminal pro bono? This is a similar path to what I want to do

[j2ls100]

How long were you at your firm for? What practice group? Do you feel like there's a max time for people to be at a firm for PD offices to be interested? Can you describe the process of making the switch? Also am very interested in making this transition, but in NYC.

[Anonymous User]

Can you give us a rough timeline? I.e. when you first conceived of the idea, when you began making plans, when you first took concrete steps, when you finally made the jump, etc.

[Anonymous User]

I am considering this jump but on the appellate side. Any tips on that transition or appellate public defender positions in general?

[Anonymous User]

Was this move difficult to make in terms of convincing said PD's office you were "down with the cause" for lack of a better term? Did you do much criminal pro bono? This is a similar path to what I want to do

Actually not as hard as I expected. I had some solid personal reasons for having to go biglaw and my resume also screamed PI. Obviously they asked about it (a few times), so make sure you have a clear answer for why you're in biglaw and why you want to make the change. Sounding like a true believer also probably helps.

[Anonymous User]

How long were you at your firm for? What practice group? Do you feel like there's a max time for people to be at a firm for PD offices to be interested? Can you describe the process of making the switch? Also am very interested in making this transition, but in NYC.

I was at the firm for about a year and a half. I was a transactional associate.

Regarding timing, hard for me to say. I can imagine that if you're at a firm for 8 years it's probably harder to convince people you're really invested in the work.

The process itself was pretty easy. Just looked around for offices that were hiring. Applied, got a screener, then a callback, then was hired.

[Anonymous User]

Can you give us a rough timeline? I.e. when you first conceived of the idea, when you began making plans, when you first took concrete steps, when you finally made the jump, etc.

Decided I wanted to be a public defender in my second semester of law school (due to my involvement in a couple criminal defense orgs). 1L summer job was in a sort of defense job, but not PD. Did OCI, 2L summer at a firm, then worked at the firm after I graduated.

Started looking seriously around September. Applied October, first interview October, second interview late November, offer early December, started mid-January.

[Anonymous User]

I am considering this jump but on the appellate side. Any tips on that transition or appellate public defender positions in general?

No specific advice for appellate work.

[M92]

I’m thinking of doing a similar switch after a few years of big law so that I have at least some financial security.

Any financial advice or thoughts before making the switch? What are salary and benefits like? I’d likely be in New England (MA, NH, or ME most likely) if that helps.

[Anonymous User]

I’m thinking of doing a similar switch after a few years of big law so that I have at least some financial security.

Any financial advice or thoughts before making the switch? What are salary and benefits like? I’d likely be in New England (MA, NH, or ME most likely) if that helps.

Salary is about 60K, but that’ll go up about 10K in like a year and a half, and then other raises as I progress. Good benefits and if I stay in this office for at least 10 years I’ll get a pension. I’m in the Midwest so the money goes further too.

Honestly, just financially maximize your time in biglaw. Like, enjoy the money but also make sure to save and invest. Recognize that the window is short.

[jotarokujo]

I was at the firm for about a year and a half. I was a transactional associate.

curious how much harder it is to make this transition as a transactional associate

[Anonymous User]

I was at the firm for about a year and a half. I was a transactional associate.

curious how much harder it is to make this transition as a transactional associate

Honestly not as big of a deal as I expected. Really, unless somebody has some experience in biglaw you don’t really get the difference between lit and corporate sides. I definitely didn’t play up being corporate, but they didn’t hone in on it at all.

I had about a three sentence explanation of my corporate work but made sure to pivot quickly to my pro bono criminal defense work and carceral system adjacent work (like clemency). It helps that public defender work isn’t really like biglaw at all, so focusing on skills and interest worked.

[jotarokujo]

I had about a three sentence explanation of my corporate work but made sure to pivot quickly to my pro bono criminal defense work and carceral system adjacent work (like clemency). It helps that public defender work isn’t really like biglaw at all, so focusing on skills and interest worked.

I didn't know transactional associates did litigation pro bono matters. how much time did you spend on pro bono at your firm?

also side question: why go into transactional and not litigation at the firm? No judgment, I totally understand that preferences can change quickly and dramatically

[Anonymous User]

I had about a three sentence explanation of my corporate work but made sure to pivot quickly to my pro bono criminal defense work and carceral system adjacent work (like clemency). It helps that public defender work isn’t really like biglaw at all, so focusing on skills and interest worked.

I didn't know transactional associates did litigation pro bono matters. how much time did you spend on pro bono at your firm?

also side question: why go into transactional and not litigation at the firm? No judgment, I totally understand that preferences can change quickly and dramatically

At my old firm nobody really cared what sort of pro bono work you did. In my year and a half at the firm I billed probably like 300 pro bono hours, give or take.

I did transactional because I figured I could do pro bono anyway and wanted to keep exit options open if I changed my mind.

[Lacepiece23]

I had about a three sentence explanation of my corporate work but made sure to pivot quickly to my pro bono criminal defense work and carceral system adjacent work (like clemency). It helps that public defender work isn’t really like biglaw at all, so focusing on skills and interest worked.

I didn't know transactional associates did litigation pro bono matters. how much time did you spend on pro bono at your firm?

also side question: why go into transactional and not litigation at the firm? No judgment, I totally understand that preferences can change quickly and dramatically

At my old firm nobody really cared what sort of pro bono work you did. In my year and a half at the firm I billed probably like 300 pro bono hours, give or take.

I did transactional because I figured I could do pro bono anyway and wanted to keep exit options open if I changed my mind.

It’s not like biglaw teaches you that much about actual litigation. You learn to write briefs and civil procedure. But no one taught me how to do a deposition or present an oral arguments. Or even handle clients.

And for PD work I’m sure you have to learn a different set of skills than you would even for PD work.