District Attorney's Offices 2018 Forum

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Nov 20, 2017 2:06 pm

Can anyone speak to how much of an advantage it is to intern 2L summer to get hired at the same office in the NYC boroughs? I know some offices (KCDA) allow you to skip the screener, but beyond that, do you have a really solid chance if you're well-liked in the summer?

Also: any tips to make the most out of your 2L summer at a borough DA? I was just accepted to one of them and any advice helps.

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Nov 21, 2017 3:31 pm

Got an email from Clark County (NV) saying that I am "eligible" for consideration. Anyone else apply there, or know what the process is like?

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Nov 21, 2017 5:53 pm

Manhattan just emailed me and told me to kick rocks after 1 interview and calling my employers.

Great timing - prob won't even bother going home for the holidays and just gonna make up some dumb excuse.

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Nov 21, 2017 5:58 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Manhattan just emailed me and told me to kick rocks after 1 interview and calling my employers.

Great timing - prob won't even bother going home for the holidays and just gonna make up some dumb excuse.
That's weird. Is it possible you got a bad reference from one of your former employers?

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Nov 21, 2017 9:02 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Manhattan just emailed me and told me to kick rocks after 1 interview and calling my employers.

Great timing - prob won't even bother going home for the holidays and just gonna make up some dumb excuse.

Same. Feel like shit. Was really excited about potentially working there. If you're up to it feel free to PM me. We can compare info and see where things went wrong and hopefully use to that improve for next time.

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Nov 22, 2017 4:11 pm

Submitted a competing offer to one of the 4 boroughs that I was deep in the process with and told them I needed to decide by today. I still have not heard anything. Not even an email confirmation that they would let me know (I did call to confirm that they had received my email last week and they said they did and would let me know).

Is this strange to not even get an update? My only thought is maybe they snail-mailed a rejection, but that seems unlikely. From what I've heard they do it by email, and there was just about zero chance I'd get it in time.

Update: I'm calling it. Maybe I'm being over-sensitive, but this strikes me as very unprofessional. If you don't want to hire me, then don't. Don't just let me twist in the wind for a week without word one. I went out to the office three times for interviews and they can't even take 30 seconds to send me a form email?

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Nov 24, 2017 1:10 pm

Ding from the Bronx. Had 3rd round ~3 weeks ago.

Not really surprising. I didn't think my 3rd round went very well.

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Nov 25, 2017 2:21 am

Got an offer from Bronx DA today, accepted it. Had panel 3 weeks ago and had 3rd round this week.

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Nov 25, 2017 4:24 pm

Got an offer from Bronx DA yesterday. I have until Tuesday to respond. I'm two interviews in for Manhattan and summered there. I don't know if Manhattan will be able to give me an answer by Tuesday (I fly back to school outside of NY early on Monday, so even if they wanted to interview me again, I won't be here), but even if they did give me the offer, I'm starting to think it is possible that I actually prefer Bronx. A local WoC vs a rich white dude as the DA, a community with greater need (higher violent crime rates, lower conviction rates), and the ability to specialize in DV right when I start, all make me think Bronx may be a better fit for me. However, I did love Manhattan when I was there, Cy Vance's ideology does seem to align with mine, it has always been my dream, and it has far more resources and prestige. Can anyone speak to a comparison between the two? Someone mentioned that Bronx doesn't have access to Lexis and Westlaw, and struggles to get computers for all ADAs. Is that true?

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by knofcolumbus » Sat Nov 25, 2017 6:41 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Anyone have any clue what the Manhattan DA timeline is? I had my OCI in September, they called my old bosses about 3 weeks ago, and I emailed them about the status of my application and they said it was "pending" 2 weeks ago.

I've never been to these forums ever but I am getting a little nervous now that its nearly Thanksgiving. Any info would be helpful thanks.
Had my initial interview in Oct. From what I have read on this forum they take a while.
Well, that makes me feel better.

I had a round 1 during OCI in September and they called all three of my references the same week. Then I got an email about a week later asking to schedule my round 2, which I did early October. Now, radio silence... If it makes you feel any better, I know people with first round interviews scheduled at the end of this month. As long as you don't get a rejection letter/email there's still hope.
Do you have any advice on the Manhattan 2nd round? What kind of questions did they ask? At my first round, I got bombarded with loads of ethical hypos.
If you search through the previous year's DA office posts here on TLS, you can get a pretty good sense of what round 2 entails. In general, there will be at least one hypo, a few screener type questions (i.e. "Why do you want to work here?"), and very specific questions about your past work experience via your resume (i.e. "I see you've worked at the Bronx DA, what would you do if you got an offer there first?"). The interview will be pretty adversarial with at least one person (sometimes they all jump in) on the panel who will try to play devil's advocate every chance they get. This is all obviously just an act to see how you react under pressure. I know its easier said than done, but don't get flustered, explain your thought process, and stick to your guns until they change the fact pattern so much its not feasible.

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Nov 25, 2017 7:15 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Got an offer from Bronx DA yesterday. I have until Tuesday to respond. I'm two interviews in for Manhattan and summered there. I don't know if Manhattan will be able to give me an answer by Tuesday (I fly back to school outside of NY early on Monday, so even if they wanted to interview me again, I won't be here), but even if they did give me the offer, I'm starting to think it is possible that I actually prefer Bronx. A local WoC vs a rich white dude as the DA, a community with greater need (higher violent crime rates, lower conviction rates), and the ability to specialize in DV right when I start, all make me think Bronx may be a better fit for me. However, I did love Manhattan when I was there, Cy Vance's ideology does seem to align with mine, it has always been my dream, and it has far more resources and prestige. Can anyone speak to a comparison between the two? Someone mentioned that Bronx doesn't have access to Lexis and Westlaw, and struggles to get computers for all ADAs. Is that true?
If you call DANY they will likely give you an answer if you are moving on with your interviews or not but like you said you won't be able to do the interview in time. They will expect you to come back for a third and fourth interview. I was also a DANY intern this past summer (it was nearly two months since my panel with DANY) and accepted an offer with the Bronx DA recently. I spoke to some ADA's and classmates who interned in the Bronx and it sounds like the office has been restructured to be very similar to DANY with verticle prosecution, how the trial bureau, ECAB and assignments work; however, no one mentioned anything about not having a computer or access to Lexis... I think that would have been something important to mention!

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Nov 26, 2017 10:47 am

Anonymous User wrote:Submitted a competing offer to one of the 4 boroughs that I was deep in the process with and told them I needed to decide by today. I still have not heard anything. Not even an email confirmation that they would let me know (I did call to confirm that they had received my email last week and they said they did and would let me know).

Is this strange to not even get an update? My only thought is maybe they snail-mailed a rejection, but that seems unlikely. From what I've heard they do it by email, and there was just about zero chance I'd get it in time.

Update: I'm calling it. Maybe I'm being over-sensitive, but this strikes me as very unprofessional. If you don't want to hire me, then don't. Don't just let me twist in the wind for a week without word one. I went out to the office three times for interviews and they can't even take 30 seconds to send me a form email?
This sounds like Kings County. I'm a Bronx ADA and Kings never sent me a rejection.
Anonymous User wrote:Got an offer from Bronx DA yesterday. I have until Tuesday to respond. I'm two interviews in for Manhattan and summered there. I don't know if Manhattan will be able to give me an answer by Tuesday (I fly back to school outside of NY early on Monday, so even if they wanted to interview me again, I won't be here), but even if they did give me the offer, I'm starting to think it is possible that I actually prefer Bronx. A local WoC vs a rich white dude as the DA, a community with greater need (higher violent crime rates, lower conviction rates), and the ability to specialize in DV right when I start, all make me think Bronx may be a better fit for me. However, I did love Manhattan when I was there, Cy Vance's ideology does seem to align with mine, it has always been my dream, and it has far more resources and prestige. Can anyone speak to a comparison between the two? Someone mentioned that Bronx doesn't have access to Lexis and Westlaw, and struggles to get computers for all ADAs. Is that true?
I never worked in Manhattan but I can tell you that we all have computers and westlaw. For the first few weeks/months of training you won't but once you're situated in an office you'll have what you need.

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Alkgwathien » Mon Nov 27, 2017 7:49 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Got an offer from Bronx DA yesterday. I have until Tuesday to respond. I'm two interviews in for Manhattan and summered there. I don't know if Manhattan will be able to give me an answer by Tuesday (I fly back to school outside of NY early on Monday, so even if they wanted to interview me again, I won't be here), but even if they did give me the offer, I'm starting to think it is possible that I actually prefer Bronx. A local WoC vs a rich white dude as the DA, a community with greater need (higher violent crime rates, lower conviction rates), and the ability to specialize in DV right when I start, all make me think Bronx may be a better fit for me. However, I did love Manhattan when I was there, Cy Vance's ideology does seem to align with mine, it has always been my dream, and it has far more resources and prestige. Can anyone speak to a comparison between the two? Someone mentioned that Bronx doesn't have access to Lexis and Westlaw, and struggles to get computers for all ADAs. Is that true?
I never worked in Manhattan but I can tell you that we all have computers and westlaw. For the first few weeks/months of training you won't but once you're situated in an office you'll have what you need.
Ok, great. Do you like it at Bronx? Under DA Clark?

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Nov 27, 2017 8:42 am

Alkgwathien wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Got an offer from Bronx DA yesterday. I have until Tuesday to respond. I'm two interviews in for Manhattan and summered there. I don't know if Manhattan will be able to give me an answer by Tuesday (I fly back to school outside of NY early on Monday, so even if they wanted to interview me again, I won't be here), but even if they did give me the offer, I'm starting to think it is possible that I actually prefer Bronx. A local WoC vs a rich white dude as the DA, a community with greater need (higher violent crime rates, lower conviction rates), and the ability to specialize in DV right when I start, all make me think Bronx may be a better fit for me. However, I did love Manhattan when I was there, Cy Vance's ideology does seem to align with mine, it has always been my dream, and it has far more resources and prestige. Can anyone speak to a comparison between the two? Someone mentioned that Bronx doesn't have access to Lexis and Westlaw, and struggles to get computers for all ADAs. Is that true?
I never worked in Manhattan but I can tell you that we all have computers and westlaw. For the first few weeks/months of training you won't but once you're situated in an office you'll have what you need.
Ok, great. Do you like it at Bronx? Under DA Clark?
The switch to vertical really detonated the trial bureaus and added a lot of stress that we are waiting for the new, massive classes to alleviate.

I get why we made the switch, and I think plenty of people appreciate it in theory, it's just that, in practice, it's become a big pain, and I think it will continue to be for the next 2-4 years, when at least three classes have been trained by people doing vertical.

Clark, herself, is amazing and comes across as very committed and genuine. In my opinion I feel like some of the criticisms against her are mainly symptomatic of the transition to vertical and "that's not how Rob [Johnson] used to do it."

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Nov 27, 2017 8:00 pm

My legal experience consists entirely of 1 Legal Aid internship and 3 Public Defender internships. While I will be applying to PD's offices all across the state I'm aiming for, I will probably also apply for DA's offices in areas that would put me closer to my SO. Does anyone have any idea whether I will have even the slightest chance of getting a postgrad job in a DA's office without any relevant DA experience? I'm aimed more at small county/small city offices in VA/NC/MD. I assume I would have to spin something along the lines of "spent a lot of time on the other side, it wears me down and at the end of the day doesn't make me feel like I'm making a difference, prosecutorial discretion, etc," and should play up the trial experience from my internships. Does anyone have any insight as to my chances- is this kind of resume an auto-ding or close to it?

Edit: This would be straight out of law school, if I didn't make that clear above.

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Nov 28, 2017 11:35 pm

Anonymous User wrote:My legal experience consists entirely of 1 Legal Aid internship and 3 Public Defender internships. While I will be applying to PD's offices all across the state I'm aiming for, I will probably also apply for DA's offices in areas that would put me closer to my SO. Does anyone have any idea whether I will have even the slightest chance of getting a postgrad job in a DA's office without any relevant DA experience? I'm aimed more at small county/small city offices in VA/NC/MD. I assume I would have to spin something along the lines of "spent a lot of time on the other side, it wears me down and at the end of the day doesn't make me feel like I'm making a difference, prosecutorial discretion, etc," and should play up the trial experience from my internships. Does anyone have any insight as to my chances- is this kind of resume an auto-ding or close to it?

Edit: This would be straight out of law school, if I didn't make that clear above.
Auto-ding at some offices, totally competitive at others. At small offices especially, hiring is very dependent on the office culture and the elected's views. Half the people in my (small VA city) office were public defenders before jumping ship, obviously wouldn't have any issue with it. The county office next door would send it straight to the trash.

Your bigger problem is lack of network -- these jobs are competitive, and with no full-time experience some sort of networking connection is close to a prerequisite. Your best bets are going to be those offices in the middle of nowhere that nobody else wants to work at.

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by BlackOctober » Thu Nov 30, 2017 6:58 pm

Hi all! I am a longtime follower of this thread. I had my final round interview at a DA's office here in New York two weeks ago, and have not heard anything back yet. I have read about people calling and informing the office if they received other job offers (which might speed up the decision process), but I would really appreciate some thoughts regarding calling and just asking for an update on my application status. Any feedback would be much appreciated!

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Nov 30, 2017 7:47 pm

BlackOctober wrote:Hi all! I am a longtime follower of this thread. I had my final round interview at a DA's office here in New York two weeks ago, and have not heard anything back yet. I have read about people calling and informing the office if they received other job offers (which might speed up the decision process), but I would really appreciate some thoughts regarding calling and just asking for an update on my application status. Any feedback would be much appreciated!
2 weeks, with thanksgiving in the middle, is too soon as of yet. Inform of other offers if you actually have them, don't try to bluff it because they could easily say, "ok good luck with XXX office" and ding you right then and there. Source: called an office with another offer and they pretty much said that because they couldn't get me through the last round in time.

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by BlackOctober » Thu Nov 30, 2017 7:53 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
BlackOctober wrote:Hi all! I am a longtime follower of this thread. I had my final round interview at a DA's office here in New York two weeks ago, and have not heard anything back yet. I have read about people calling and informing the office if they received other job offers (which might speed up the decision process), but I would really appreciate some thoughts regarding calling and just asking for an update on my application status. Any feedback would be much appreciated!
2 weeks, with thanksgiving in the middle, is too soon as of yet. Inform of other offers if you actually have them, don't try to bluff it because they could easily say, "ok good luck with XXX office" and ding you right then and there. Source: called an office with another offer and they pretty much said that because they couldn't get me through the last round in time.
Thank you very much! I will take your advice

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Nov 30, 2017 8:10 pm

BlackOctober wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
BlackOctober wrote:Hi all! I am a longtime follower of this thread. I had my final round interview at a DA's office here in New York two weeks ago, and have not heard anything back yet. I have read about people calling and informing the office if they received other job offers (which might speed up the decision process), but I would really appreciate some thoughts regarding calling and just asking for an update on my application status. Any feedback would be much appreciated!
2 weeks, with thanksgiving in the middle, is too soon as of yet. Inform of other offers if you actually have them, don't try to bluff it because they could easily say, "ok good luck with XXX office" and ding you right then and there. Source: called an office with another offer and they pretty much said that because they couldn't get me through the last round in time.
Thank you very much! I will take your advice
FWIW a few cycles ago i had an interview before thanksgiving and an offer in early december.

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:15 am

Thank you all for the advice throughout this fun period! I have been following these forums for the past year (2017 forum first) to gather information about the interviews! It has been extremely helpful and ultimately helped make my decision easier. For those that are interested here is all of the time-frames that I experienced:

Bronx - first interview with OCI in September, second interview end of October, final interview was offered two days after my panel, had my final interview in November and was offered a position during that interview (which I accepted!) (I never interned with the Bronx, so she does still make offers on the spot to those who did not intern there)
DANY - first interview mid-August (I was a DANY summer Intern), second mid-September, then about 8 weeks of silence until I had an offer somewhere else
Queens - first interview with OCI in September, second interview early November, was offered a final interview two-weeks after my second interview (before I had an offer) but could not squeeze it in in time.
Brooklyn - first interview with OCI in October, never heard back.
Nassau (Long Island) - Applied late, but had my first interview within a week of submitting my application, heard back about a second interview one week after my first.
NYC Law Department (I know it isn't a DA office, but most of us applied there as well probably) - took about 1 week after submitting my application to schedule my first interview, then heard back two-weeks after that offering me a second and third interview with them.

Do not be worried if you have different time-frames than I did, everyone is different and sometimes the offices move slower at certain times because of holidays and such! I would be happy to answer any questions if anyone has them! I still follow this forum all the time to see how everyone else did.

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Dec 04, 2017 1:41 pm

Ding from Manhattan today. Had screener back in mid-September, and they contacted my references ~2 weeks ago. No 2nd round.

T14 with decent grades, lots of crim classes, and multiple DA internships + other pro bono/government stuff.

Partly disappointed, partly relieved. Taking this as a sign that I shouldn't stay in NYC (kinda outs me, but whatever). Really don't want to live here anymore, but entry level hiring is post-bar in most places...

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Dec 04, 2017 2:25 pm

Anonymous User wrote: Taking this as a sign that I shouldn't stay in NYC

Did you not apply to any of the other offices?

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Dec 04, 2017 2:32 pm

Yeah, to Q/K/Bx/Suffolk, but haven't had much progress at most of them. I have some interviews out of state before I'm likely to hear back from any of them.

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Re: District Attorney's Offices 2018

Post by sonia23 » Mon Dec 04, 2017 7:31 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Yeah, to Q/K/Bx/Suffolk, but haven't had much progress at most of them. I have some interviews out of state before I'm likely to hear back from any of them.
Just hang in there.The offices are insanely slow sometimes, but you will get something.

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

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