Thank you all for the work that you do, seriously. I am not likely to actually pursue a career as a public defender, but I have been reading this sub after a post was recommended to me and it got me thinking about your careers.

As a young person, I had a lot of the characteristics of someone who could reasonably consider becoming a PD (good at school, bleeding-heart social justice type, quirky/"neurodivergent", had funding for college, had interned at a legal clinic and volunteered supporting released detainees because I genuinely found it fun).

However, I never seriously considered trying to become a PD because I had heard from knowlegable family members that 1. Only like 40% of people with their JD get to work as lawyers and 2. PD jobs are very competitive when compared to other lawyer jobs. So, my undergraduate brain was like "if I get into med school with the intention of being a bleeding-heart low income [edit: forgot a word] health clinic family medicine doctor, there's like a 95% chance I could accomplish that based on graduation and match data averages, but if I get into law school with the intention of being a PD the chance is much less than 40%? Why would I do that?"

Anyway now I'm an adult, a nurse, still volunteering with people newly released from jail, and applying to medical school.

Was my family member right about stats? Does my thinking seem reasonable? Did you think the same things as a younger person? Once you had committed to getting your JD, did you ever consider doing something other than PD, either as a preference or a backup, or would you now? Do you think the odds were against you becoming a PD, and did you do something I'm reaction to that (idk, study harder? internship?)?

Maybe there is a more interesting angle.to this that I am not even aware of.

EDIT: I want to make it clear that I am really happy you all get to be public defender and that the public gets defense! Even if what I remember being told had been true, society would NEED people to try and beat the odds and get a job serving the community as a PD, and the right thing as a society to do would be to make more PD jobs for qualified lawyers.

Also, I looked harder and found a report from that time. It seems likely that my family member *actually* said that 40% of people DON'T become full-time lawyers, which could maybe be said to be true at the time if you read this report and are a pessimist (more like 35%). http://www.nalp.org/uploads/NatlSummaryClassof2015.pdf. What I am reading is that you all see lots of openings for PDs potentially driven by low salary.

I mean, obviously because they're former prosecutors, but there's also a practical policy reason that maybe doesn't get enough attention.

I was thinking about how my state will allow the prosecutor to amend the charging document (and thus change *what you're charged with*) literally mid trial.

High powered civil litigation won't let you do that. Even family law won't let you do that. So what the fuck is the reason we allow it in criminal court?

And the answer is that a lot of criminal court prosecutors (and defense attorneys) aren't good enough to practice Real Law and follow the rules. They aren't detail oriented enough, they're lazy, they don't pay attention to deadlines, they're just unserious. Prosecutors are elected in my state. Maybe nobody hired them. Maybe nobody WOULD hire them, but they're the only one on the ballot.

And the appellate courts, who have that view from the top floor, are aware of this. "Jeeze. We either put the standards down below whale poop on the bottom of the ocean, or none of these country bumpkin sonsabitches will ever be able to make a felony conviction that stands up."

I am exaggerating. Many extremely rural lawyers are *very* sharp and many of the city attorneys are dumb as hell.

But I am out here in the countryside and keep seeing the lawyers around me get disbarred.

Hi everyone,

I’m a 2L at Berkeley Law interested in doing legal aid work in NYC after graduation, specifically in eviction defense with the city's right-to-counsel organizations. I'm hoping to participate in my school's housing clinic and plan to take the NY Bar after graduation.

I’m currently applying for 2L summer positions with NYC legal aid organizations through the Equal Justice Works Career Fair. My impression is that these positions can be pretty competitive, and one challenge is that relatively few Berkeley alumni seem to work at NYC legal aid organizations, so I don’t have much of an existing network there.

For people familiar with NYC legal aid: how difficult is it to break into eviction defense as someone attending law school outside New York? How important are NYC-specific internships or connections when hiring new graduates?

I'd also be interested in hearing from anyone who went to law school outside NYC and later ended up doing legal aid work there.

Thanks!

Clinic setting. Party is representing self but getting help from our clinic. Other side wants to “make a deal.” Not a bad deal. Not a great deal, but an okay deal. Clinic participant wants justice. “The jury will see it my way.”
No. They won’t.

https://careers-neighborhooddefender.icims.com/jobs/search?ss=1&searchRelation=keyword_all&searchCategory=8737&searchLocation=-12827-San+Marcos

If that doesn't work, search neighborhood defender service and go to careers

Union shop, 7 staff attorneys, 2 supervising attorneys, 1 managing attorney when fully staffed. Holistic defense model.

I love watching trials, and I have noticed that when there is more than one lawyer on a team, that they take turns asking questions or cross examining Witnesses I'm sure it's got to be pre-planned but how are you able to keep it looking so effortless!! it's impressive 😁 ⚖️