Professional Advice Needed: Moving from big to little

This is a question for anyone who knows anything about public defender hiring preferences (to the extent that any generalizations can be made from office to office):

Is it likely that a public defender in a large city (e.g., Chicago) would be hesitant to hire someone whose only experience is as a public defender in a small town in a different state (e.g. somewhere in Montana)? Or is there likely to be bias the other way? Or does the size of the city where you get your first defender experience really make no difference?

The situation is this: I don't have a job. For various reasons, I want to get a job in either Montana or Chicago and I have relatively promising leads in both places but know for sure I won't have a job offer either place before late June or early July at the earliest. I have a hunch that if I get my first job in Montana, work there a few years, then decide I want to go to Chicago (or some other big city), I might face some problems. On the other hand, this hunch says that if I start in Chicago and then decide to move to a smaller city or town, I will have an easier time finding a job. Can anyone offer any information or thoughts that would either corroborate or refute this hunch?

Thank you!

Posted 01:44 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack |

One Possible Path

A lot of people go to law school not knowing what they want to do with their lives or legal careers. I was sort of one of those people; I thought I wanted to get into crafting policy with some sort of nonprofit like Public Citizen, but my plans were always pretty hazy. After three years of law school I'm heading in a very different direction—I hope I'm going to get a job as a public defender. Exactly where that happens, or how long I will stay in such a position, are much less clear. But after reading this obituary for Joel A. Scelsi, a “small-town lawyer,” I have a new model for one career path I know I would find very satisfying.

“He did a lot of pro-bono work; he just helped a lot of people,” said his daughter, Sylvana Dodd of Endwell. “Growing up, people would tell me if you ever got in trouble, go to Joel Scelsi and he'll help you. That was a wonderful part of his life.”

Wouldn't it be great to have your friends and loved ones say things like this about you when you're gone?

[via My Shingle]

Posted 01:10 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | 3L