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Hey all,

I'm a junior associate at a smaller firm in a small, semi-rural market. Nobody at my firm does real criminal work, my firm isn't against me trying to do this, and I'm friendly with one of the judges that appoints folks for criminal defense in the county who stated they'd be open to appointing me for cases, however, obviously my concern is getting experience and some understanding before trying to seriously defend someone. I'm a litigator with a decent amount of experience for my year, but am unsure if this is something I should seriously pursue (albeit, it is something that really interests me). Any tips on how to get more criminal experience or good books to read about the procedures and important things for criminal cases? I don't want to mess up, and to me, criminal issues are supremely important (thus, why I'm considering just not pursuing this at all). I have some, very limited white collar defense experience, but that's it. At the moment, I'd guess that I shouldn't be pursuing this since I don't have a proper mentor for it nor the expertise. Would welcome any insight though if anyone has experience.

Read lots of appellate briefs & decisions in criminal matters.

Apply to become a Federal Public Defender (typically for those with 5 or more years experience as a PD in the state / local system) or work as a public defender in your state or local jurisdiction. (Many regard the statewide Colorado public defenders office as among the best training grounds.)

Maybe talk to the judge you’re friendly with about whether they can recommend some people to talk to in the local bar, to find some kind of mentor(s)? I think a lot of smaller criminal defense practitioners would actually be pretty open to giving someone tips about getting started. The judge also probably would have some ideas. If you can find someone who’d let you co-counsel on a couple of cases to get a sense of the local procedure and major issues to consider, you’d probably be able to take on very small cases relatively quickly.

(I mean yes you could quit your job and become a public defender and they would train you, but I presumed you want to stay with your firm for now, based on your post.)

If you’re into/good at the research/writing side of things, starting with local appellate cases would also give you a good overview of a lot of the issues you’d be likely to see. Most criminal appeals have no chance, to be honest, but defendants are entitled to raise them, so this may sound bad, but you’d be unlikely to do a lot of harm.

Thanks y'all, appreciate it. Yeah, I'd like to stay with my firm for now. I'm not opposed to govt work and will consider it in the future. I'll meet with folks at the local bar and get some tips. Thank you again!

Yeah, figure out who the most-respected criminal practitioners are in your state and go from there. The person who’s the state CJA representative, the FPD, or the head of the state criminal bar group, probably isn’t a bad place to start (semi-rural states are small enough that you can likely cold call these people).