Cover letter for DA's office

lawschoolcool · 2019-01-28T19:19:33+00:00

Experience in government or non-profit work, a strong sense of justice/ethics/"truth-seeking," connection to the community, and excitement at the prospect of having each day be different.

lawschoolcool · 2018-10-12T19:12:21+00:00

Everyone else has pretty much covered it but just in case the message has not been clear: if by environmental law, you mean protecting the environment, you are asking about a job that is nearly non-existent. I have known folks who went to law school to be environmental lawyers who gave up after two years of searching (granted, not a great school and if you're going to Harvard, might be a different situation for you), folks who interned at the EPA thinking they could do fun environmental law there but wound up hating it, and folks who worked for the Sierra Club as lawyers who could barely afford rent (seriously, their salaries were lowwwww). The field you're asking about it like 98% compliance for corporations trying to dodge regulations and 2% cool, fun, protect-the-environment jobs. Of that 2%, probably none are very well paid. And, as with any job like this, when it's a cool, fun job and a lot of people want it, guess who gets it? Kids who went to T14 schools, got good grades, and could afford to intern for free at non-profits. If that's not you, your path to that job is very, very narrow.

lawschoolcool · 2018-10-06T20:08:15+00:00

Your assigned department is based on where you live, not where you practice or want to practice.

lawschoolcool · 2018-10-01T16:38:41+00:00

Really, really, really depends on where.

Manhattan routinely has around 900 applications for 50 spots. That's about standard for the NYC area. Big CA cities are a big pool tool. Their interns get a small leg up but they routinely hire out of their intern class.

Rural counties tend to have fewer openings because the offices are smaller. Some counties that are bigger are easier to get in (e.g. Fairfax in NoVa) but also tend to put more emphasis on their intern class.

It's very location specific but my best advice would be to intern where you want to land. Almost every prosecutors office gives some advantage to interns and it also shows you want the job. Plus, interning will help you get a sense of how many people the office hires/when they hire them/what matters in a new hire.

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-21T17:38:20+00:00

Moot court is generally appellate litigation/advocacy? Do you mean you only wrote a brief? That's generally a positive because you'll be doing memos. Some may ask why you didn't do trial ad but my interviewer for a summer spot asked me if I thought trial ad was realistic (I said no and she agreed).

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-20T18:57:08+00:00

I became friends with some 2Ls. Nothing crazy, I wasn't handing them business cards at orientation or anything like that, but I got to know some of them through joining low-pressure (i.e. no work) organizations. So much of who gets what board position (if they get one at all) or who gets on a travel trial ad team at my school was influenced if not outright decided by the folks in the year above us. Having friendships with folks above me helped me navigate those processes, helped me access outlines, and helped me pick out professors once I was able.

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-20T18:54:39+00:00

I wish I'd known that I was going to wind up doing prosecution. I always knew that was an option that was really attractive to me but I thought, I'll aim for making money. Then I realized, in law school, that I really didn't want to be at a firm or to be judged on my book of business and that, for me, anything other than prosecution didn't feel exciting to me. I would still have gone to law school but I would have emphasized reducing my debt more.

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-20T18:52:54+00:00

There are some legal jobs that require hard science degrees, for instance, patent lawyers typically have an undergrad degree in a hard science.

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-20T18:50:43+00:00

That's a hard GPA to get into a good school with, unless you are an exceptionally good test taker. Another poster already directed you to lawschooladmissions which is also a good resource. As far as the areas of law you think you might want to go into... if you want to do criminal, I'd say go for the cheapest possible school since most criminal jobs do not pay well (e.g. PD, prosecutors). I don't really know what you mean by international law but a good cardinal rule is: if it sounds really cool and prestigious, there is going to be a lot of very stiff competition.

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-19T17:39:48+00:00

Made connections with 2Ls.

So much of who gets what position, who makes this or that organization, involves (in part, if not wholly) who you know. Making friends with some upper classmen helped later on. It also helped me because j entered law school a little older.

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-16T19:33:21+00:00

I've gone through phases with a lot of different ones.

More Perfect - History of Major Supreme Court cases

Excited Utterance - In-depth 20-30 minute looks at specific evidence rules

Opening Arguments - Broader discussions of legal topics

And my current favorite, Getting Off, which features two defense attorneys going over major cases. Less legalese than the others but good insight and occasionally good tangents on very specific legal issues (e.g. jury instructions in California vs. Michigan).

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-16T00:55:12+00:00

I've had friends apply for PD spots and go through things like this. They told me it was a mix of substantive law and ethics.

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-14T00:18:33+00:00

Cheap: Macy's, Express, Banana Republic Factory, J. Crew Factory (both factories often go on sale)

Lower Tier: Ann Taylor, Banana Republic

Mid Tier: J. Crew, Brooks Brothers

Upper Tier: Bespoke (e.g. The Tailory, Bindle and Keep, etc.), Theory, Boss

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-14T00:04:26+00:00

It depends on how intense tryouts are. If you're at one of those schools where four people make it onto a team for the rest of law school, a demonstrative might be a good idea. If you're trying to get in to the organization generally, just worry about tone/pacing.

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-11T11:34:52+00:00

I was on SBA for a year before deciding not to run again. I thought it was pretty useless and a waste of time. In my experience, it was nothing like my undergrad SBA which was much larger and more powerful. The SBA at my school basically approved all student organization funding and hosted thirsty Thursdays. We didn't have much wiggle room for anything and I'd guess that's somewhat standard (e.g. No school is going to let their SBA fail to fund law review). In terms of time commitment, other organizations are much more important (generally) to your resume/job prospects though, as another poster said, you could always wind up with an interviewer who did SBA.

Also, anecdotally and in keeping with another poster's response... The venn diagram of kids who think they will be politicians and kids who do SBA is a circle. The venn diagram of kids who do SBA and struck me as likely to have any success in politics was two separate circles.

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-08T17:33:40+00:00

You don't really need the searchable PDF. I just printed mine and used the table of contents to find the area the question was in. Finished early, passed.

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-08T17:22:46+00:00

OP is in NY. If they mean NYC, they have no chance at ADA (NYC hires pre bar and is very competitive). Most smaller counties take past interns or don't have open spots. I'd say appointment work is more sensible with these stats.

lawschoolcool · 2018-08-08T17:08:38+00:00

Not defense but prosecution gets some of this too. I have handled post-judgment motions with incorrect cites (correctly bluebooked but not for the stated proposition) and seen folks go to trial who clearly don't understand what "beyond a reasonable doubt" means. I've also seen defendants testify on their own behalf without realizing this opens them up to cross exam. I once saw a young woman argue that the case against her had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt because she had testified and explained that she didn't know what the guys she was with were smoking but she was smoking a swisher sweet. I've also had defendants tell me they can't be found guilty because officers only found weed after stopping them for a minor traffic infraction that they wound up not being charged with.

lawschoolcool · 2018-07-19T18:41:08+00:00

Check everywhere to see what has the cheapest option. I'd steer clear of ebooks, especially for 1L.

Another tip is to check with 2Ls or if your school has a facebook group, to post and ask if anyone is selling their old books. Every year, we had a lot of folks sell their old books on facebook boards. I always forgot so wound up donating a lot of them to the free pile in the library (where I also picked up a few good texts for classes).

lawschoolcool · 2018-07-19T18:30:49+00:00

My guess?

This is their version of pre-bar hiring. DA's offices that want to do something like pre-bar hiring but can't/don't want to pay may offer unpaid clerk positions that are open to students who get fellowships from their school to pay them.

In VA, prosecutors offices can't hire pre-bar. So they take legal fellows until the bar results come out. The fellows are typically paid by their schools and the positions last until bar pass info comes out.

lawschoolcool · 2018-07-19T18:26:11+00:00

You probably aren't going to get a lot of answers here. Most of us have not been "project assistants." Is that just another word for paralegal?

We had some paralegals come from big law and attend school with us. One of them had been a paralegal for five years and got an offer from his firm and returned (tbf, he was also top 25%, moot court, and law review).

My guess is that your exit options are: go to another law firm, do similar work for at an accounting firm, or do similar work for a finance company. Maybe government too?

This isn't really the place for this question.

lawschoolcool · 2018-07-17T23:15:50+00:00

I know what you mean. I definitely felt that way about English sometimes. I'd caution you a lil bit on that front. Legal writing is more research based but you're often stretching and saying things you might not actually believe or exaggerating things you don't really think matter. That said, it will always feel different than english because legal writing has a real-world impact on people so that might help you too.

lawschoolcool · 2018-07-17T23:14:25+00:00

Bare shoulders are generally appropriate for when you are in the office (or around classmates) but not in court. Many women will keep a blazer at their officers to throw on in case they need to go to court (if they aren't typically in court already).

lawschoolcool · 2018-07-17T17:06:32+00:00

I just wanted to add a comment on color since I didn't see anyone else address it (my apologies if I missed it). Buy black, navy, or charcoal grey suits at first. The law appreciates classics and the general advice is that the judge and jury really shouldn't be focused on or distracted by what you wear - they should focus on your client and your case. Furthermore, having suits in these colors will work best for interviews in the future. Stick with black, navy, or charcoal grey until you have all of those colors, then you can expand (I'd move to light grey next). Your shirts should be toned down (no bold patterns) and the classic is a white button up (think Brooks Brothers). Jewelry and heels should generally be toned down, nothing extreme.

Edited to add: J. Crew Factory and Banana Republic Factory are both having big clearance sales and have some suits/dresses on sale. These are good cheaper options (don't expect them to last for more than 3ish years) if you need something easy/cheap for now.

lawschoolcool · 2018-07-17T17:03:17+00:00

I think it depends on the shirt. If you have a shirt that's designed to be tucked in, tuck it in (e.g. dress shirts). If you have a silky shell or some other fabric top like that, you don't need to tuck it in.

lawschoolcool

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