PD Interview Forum

[tk421991]

2L here. I have an interview for a spring volunteer internship in a couple days with a Massachusetts CPCS office. Just looking for general pointers on what kinds of questions to expect. I had a mock interview earlier today with Career Development and they advised asking around. The mock interviewers mentioned to expect hypos. I'm taking CrimPro, Trial Ad, ConLaw2, and PR that spring.

I would be happy to give more specific details via PM.

[objctnyrhnr]

Let’s say your client brutally tortured and murdered somebody and it’s caught on video. First, will you feel comfortable repping this scumbag to the best of your ability?

What if you’re confronted with the actual statistic that recidivism for murder is whatever it is like say 15% (so if you get the guy off, there’s a 15% chance he’ll murder somebody else)?

What if you learn on good authority (for the sake of the hypo) that murdering and torturing somebody in the specific twisted way that OP did actually increases the recidivism rate to 90%. Can you still rep the guy?

After you answer ready for this trial on the day of trial, one of the prosecutor’s witnesses does not appear and can’t be found and, for whatever reason, the state can’t get a continuance. This witness would have been the best way for the prosecution to authenticate the video. Under oath at GJ, this witness authenticated it with no issues and there’s no reason at all to be suspicious of his credibility. In spite of this, the prosecutor has a different, good (but not fool proof) argument for getting thevideo in anyway. Correspondingly, You realize you have a relatively weak argument that the tape can’t come in, not because it is unauthenticateable but only because this witness is mia today. Do you feel like a good human being making that argument?

If your answer to any of the above is no, you should orobaby pursue another profession. That said, these are more similar to getting hired for a job. Intern pd interview questions might not be intense.

[nixy]

Let’s say your client brutally tortured and murdered somebody and it’s caught on video. First, will you feel comfortable repping this scumbag to the best of your ability?

What if you’re confronted with the actual statistic that recidivism for murder is whatever it is like say 15% (so if you get the guy off, there’s a 15% chance he’ll murder somebody else)?

What if you learn on good authority (for the sake of the hypo) that murdering and torturing somebody in the specific twisted way that OP did actually increases the recidivism rate to 90%. Can you still rep the guy?

After you answer ready for this trial on the day of trial, one of the prosecutor’s witnesses does not appear and can’t be found and, for whatever reason, the state can’t get a continuance. This witness would have been the best way for the prosecution to authenticate the video. Under oath at GJ, this witness authenticated it with no issues and there’s no reason at all to be suspicious of his credibility. In spite of this, the prosecutor has a different, good (but not fool proof) argument for getting thevideo in anyway. Correspondingly, You realize you have a relatively weak argument that the tape can’t come in, not because it is unauthenticateable but only because this witness is mia today. Do you feel like a good human being making that argument?

If your answer to any of the above is no, you should orobaby pursue another profession. That said, these are more similar to getting hired for a job. Intern pd interview questions might not be intense.

So I'm pretty sure there aren't actually questions PD offices ask, and just questions that you think they should ask, which isn't exactly helpful here. Come on.

[tk421991]

Let’s say your client brutally tortured and murdered somebody and it’s caught on video. First, will you feel comfortable repping this scumbag to the best of your ability?

What if you’re confronted with the actual statistic that recidivism for murder is whatever it is like say 15% (so if you get the guy off, there’s a 15% chance he’ll murder somebody else)?

What if you learn on good authority (for the sake of the hypo) that murdering and torturing somebody in the specific twisted way that OP did actually increases the recidivism rate to 90%. Can you still rep the guy?

After you answer ready for this trial on the day of trial, one of the prosecutor’s witnesses does not appear and can’t be found and, for whatever reason, the state can’t get a continuance. This witness would have been the best way for the prosecution to authenticate the video. Under oath at GJ, this witness authenticated it with no issues and there’s no reason at all to be suspicious of his credibility. In spite of this, the prosecutor has a different, good (but not fool proof) argument for getting thevideo in anyway. Correspondingly, You realize you have a relatively weak argument that the tape can’t come in, not because it is unauthenticateable but only because this witness is mia today. Do you feel like a good human being making that argument?

If your answer to any of the above is no, you should orobaby pursue another profession. That said, these are more similar to getting hired for a job. Intern pd interview questions might not be intense.

So I'm pretty sure there aren't actually questions PD offices ask, and just questions that you think they should ask, which isn't exactly helpful here. Come on.

Yeah I have no issues answering "yes" here, but these hypos are not consistent with what I've read on multiple law school websites that are about this topic, such as Harvard's, WUSTL's, and UGA's.

[objctnyrhnr]

I mean I have a number of friends who are PDs in a different area than the ones referenced here and that PDs office interview questions are known for being particularly intense in this vein because they want to make sure you’re committed to repping your client and upholding his sixth amendment right, no matter the potential foreseeable subsequent societal cost. These are paraphrases of the questions I was told were asked. Note that these are final round questions, also, when I am told it gets most intense.

You asked I answered take it or leave it. Other posters’ giving me a hard time “pretty sure these aren’t questions PDs ask,” as if they have interviewed at every PD office across the country is just misguided. Similarly, your asking a question then telling me I’m wrong because you’ve read a couple materials on a couple schools’ websites is also misguided. (On a lesser note, questioning a tls moderator’s posting credibility/integrity also seems a bit silly because clearly the tls powers that be at some point determined that I sufficiently know what I’m talking about and that my posts are sufficiently helpful such that I got the nod to be a moderator...just saying)

Like I said internship questions probably won’t be this intense. It also sounds like this particular district might be a bit of an anomaly but better to be prepared for the craziest questions and then get something easier, right?

Good luck.

[tk421991]

I mean I have a number of friends who are PDs in a different area than the ones referenced here and that PDs office interview questions are known for being particularly intense in this vein because they want to make sure you’re committed to repping your client and upholding his sixth amendment right, no matter the potential foreseeable subsequent societal cost. These are paraphrases of the questions I was told were asked. Note that these are final round questions, also, when I am told it gets most intense.

You asked I answered take it or leave it. Other posters’ giving me a hard time “pretty sure these aren’t questions PDs ask,” as if they have interviewed at every PD office across the country is just misguided. Similarly, your asking a question then telling me I’m wrong because you’ve read a couple materials on a couple schools’ websites is also misguided. (On a lesser note, questioning a tls moderator’s posting credibility/integrity also seems a bit silly because clearly the tls powers that be at some point determined that I sufficiently know what I’m talking about and that my posts are sufficiently helpful such that I got the nod to be a moderator...just saying)

Like I said internship questions probably won’t be this intense. It also sounds like this particular district might be a bit of an anomaly but better to be prepared for the craziest questions and then get something easier, right?

Good luck.

Thank you, but what I really want is knowledge about specific people in the Massachusetts CPCS system (hence my dropping the name of the office and my mentioning that I would be fine PM'ing).

Further, respectfully, being a TLS mod does not equate with being better than a professional career services adviser. Those people who wrote Harvard's PD interview guide are responsible for placing the nation's best and brightest legal minds into positions across the nation. Their job is to put their students in the best position possible.

"The wisdom of crowds" is a serious thing to consider.

[objctnyrhnr]

Look, you as a student came to TLS to ask question. As somebody who has spent a good amount of time during my career as an actual lawyer out in the world representing the government opposite PDs, i have gotten to know some of them quite well. Many a discussion has occurred about each side’s interview process. That said, all of my experience has been in one jurisdiction.

As I have done on these forums for quite some time, I took time out of my day to answer your question based on my knowledge because I like helping students and lawyers with questions like this. (I acknowledge that these mock questions were paraphrases because I do not literally remember what they told me was asked). This isn’t really a respectful difference of opinion like “I think X, but you think Y and we disagree.” You can read my answer that was grounded in anecdotal evidence and take it with whatever grain of salt you want, but to be borderline rude and additionally report me for mod abuse is a little bit ridiculous. Remember—I do not actually care whether you like my answer, dislike it, take advice, don’t take it, or don’t read it at all.

Rather, I take umbrage at your “CSO knows best” attitude and insinuating that I am somehow not qualified to answer your question because, let’s remember, you are the one who came on here to get career advice. Ultimately, coming to TLS for career advice then implyong that I am incorrect because a CSO office disseminated some materials that are include different information (but really not even completely inconsistent when you think about the overall breadth of PDs office across the country) is kind of absurd. Your HLS CSO knows best because it’s HLS sentiment is also somewhat amusing.

If cso’s had a complete handle on every possible type of career advice anybody would ever need, people like you wouldn’t need to come to TLS to ask for career advice.

Worst case you get some good answers to some of those questions I posed and you have them in the back of your head if some general version of those hypos come up.

[nixy]

Well, I will apologize for the strength of my reaction, because I read the tone as just about calling defendants scumbags and disapproving of defending them, which I found consistent with some of your previous posts about defense attorneys, but was also me jumping to conclusions. I get your overall point now and it makes sense. My experience with PDs has not really included them talking about their clients as scumbags or in quite those terms, but then, I’m also not a PD myself.

[The Abyss]

I've never heard of anyone getting hypos for a PD internship. I've interned in 3 different offices and interviewed with many more and never got a hypo until I interviewed for entry-level PD positions. Could Mass ask you hypos? I guess it's possible but I highly doubt they will. Focus on a good answer for why you want to be a PD and be able to discuss your resume. They might ask something like "who was your favorite client over your 1L summer?" (if you did have experience dealing directly with clients). Just don't name the client. Discuss the case in general terms unless high profile and in that case explain that you don't feel comfortable discussing it.

[objctnyrhnr]

Nixy, appreciate the post. Obviously, as I said a couple times, scumbag was my word and a paraphrase from my memory of the hypo that my acquaintance told me was posed. (Frankly, I don’t think there is much room for respectful disagreement as to the notion of calling a factually guilty first degree murderer a scumbag, but maybe that’s just me.)

The point of the post and the question was that there could be a hypo where they give you an exceptionally brutal set of facts where your guy is unequivocally factually responsible for the crime and make sure you have no moral qualms. That’s really the gist of this line of hypos, and it sounds as if my district and/or these peoples interview experiences might be a bit of an anomaly. Still, better to be over prepared than under prepared.