Federal PD after Clerking Forum

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Anonymous User
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Federal PD after Clerking

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Nov 18, 2021 9:59 am

I wanted to start a thread to discuss what federal public defense options are out there for those of us who want to do PD work after a Dist. C. clerkship.

I was a felony PD in state court for a year before I clerked (both state trial and USDC). I wondered if anyone had insights on what federal PD offices find appealing, or don't, about those who clerked. I am also interested in whether I should start with the research and writing positions first, rather than hold out for a trial position.

Any advice is helpful.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428104
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Federal PD after Clerking

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Dec 02, 2021 3:50 pm

Bumping this question!

Anonymous User
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Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Federal PD after Clerking

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Dec 15, 2021 1:57 pm

I'm an AFPD, and your background sounds like one we'd be interested in, i.e., state PD experience plus federal district court clerkship. The main difference in federal practice compared to state court is that ours is much more research and writing intensive, so we definitely want to see a solid writing sample. If you don't have a great writing sample from your state PD time (a suppression motion would be a good one), then try to get one from your clerkship, though I know many district judges tend to handle much if their criminal docket themselves. But we definitely like federal clerks. It shows you know how to research and write, and you get some practical familiarity with how federal court works. Even if you can't land an FPD job right out of your federal clerkship, if you go back to being a state PD, you'll still be a much stronger candidate for an FPD job down the line because of your federal clerkship.

If there's an opening, applying for an FPD job in the district you're clerking in is especially wise. Your judge may be able to put in a good word, and the FPD office will be interested in hiring someone who knows well a judge they routinely practice before. But if you're not picky about location, you may have better luck applying broadly across the country. Once you get FPD experience, it's much easier to get hired in another office. Also, many federal district courts that would otherwise require all attorneys to be admitted to the bar of their state have special local rules allowing AFPDs and AUSAs to practice if they're admitted to any state bar.

As far as research and writing attorney positions, they really vary by office as far as what they do, so it's hard to generalize. Some offices use them to hire more junior attorneys with the idea that it's a training ground to become a trial AFPD. Others use them mostly to do appeals, habeas, and motions work, with the idea that it's more of a separate career path. Other offices are eliminating those positions and just converting R&W attorneys to appellate AFPDs. In your situation, I would recommend applying both to trial AFPD positions and R&W positions. But if you want to do trial work long term, make sure to ask about that if you get an R&W interview.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428104
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Federal PD after Clerking

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Dec 15, 2021 2:34 pm

I don’t have as much info as the poster above, but I do know of a couple of federal clerks who went straight to the FPD after clerking. I will note that this was a jurisdiction that requires FPDs to be fluent in Spanish, though, so I don’t know how much that affects hiring practices.

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