Advice for careers in criminal law

Professor Kerr recently asked for opinions on good advice for law students who might be considering careers in criminal law.

I always encourage my students to pursue their interests in criminal law, as I think careers in criminal law on the whole are vastly more rewarding than lives wasted in discovery disputes on behalf of large corporations careers in civil litigation practice (the latter being the primary competition). Less lucrative, granted, but vastly more rewarding.

Coming from a law professor that is priceless! The post generated a veritable goldmine of priceless advice. First, these helpful thoughts on pursuing criminal appeals work, and more generally:

My advice to students interested in criminal defense (the same advice I give to my kids): volunteer to work where you want to get hired. Get to work early, stay late and leave no room for doubt that you are the person that the firm will want to hire when you graduate. If a summer clerk, or student volunteer impresses me by his/her ingenuity, dedication, intellect during a few months while clerking for the firm, I wouldn’t consider looking at another person’s resume regardless of how impressive it is on paper. In short, get your foot in the door and don’t waste the opportunity.

Excellent advice, I'm sure, but not so helpful if you made the mistake of taking internships in geographical areas where you can't/don't want to work. For people in that position (like me), a public defender offered this encouraging advice:

How you can get a job with a PD’s office: Although, many PD’s and DA’s that I know volunteered at their agencies before being hired, it is definitely not a criteria. I know that if it’s what you really want to do and it shows, it doesn’t matter that you have a civil background with no criminal experience. It’s important that you want to have clients and are truly willing to do what’s best for your clients. Interviews with PD offices are not fun, but if you definitely want to be a PD, it will show. Be prepared to be in court every day, learn to think on your feet, and encounter unexpected problems every day. But that’s the fun of it!

I've probably heard all of that before but it's great to see it all put together like that. In my recent interview one of the questions was: “Why did you spend a whole year working for this civil law thing? And don't they sue attorneys?” I couldn't figure out whether that seemed of interest to them b/c they thought it showed I'm not committed to criminal defense, or if they were concerned about it b/c they thought maybe I don't like lawyers and have some agenda to get them in trouble for malpractice. Now I realize it was probably both and if it comes up again I'll try to be more clear about addressing those potential concerns. (The real reason I did the civil law job was that it was interesting, it paid, and I wanted to learn at least about about the civil side of things while I had the chance.)

Many of the comments on this OrinKerr.com thread are from people doing criminal defense in private practice (like this one) and it's encouraging to hear that so many find that so rewarding since I might end up having to go that route if the public defender options don't come through.

The thread also offers a brief outline of how to start your own criminal defense practice, and this from a public defender that encapsulates why I prefer to find a job in a smaller jurisdiction:

PD’s offices in less urban areas are lovely to work in, you don’t have to worry about working your way up to felony cases and such, and there’s always a demand.

Amen! I could quote just about every one of the comments here b/c they are all so helpful (this one even gives ), but better still, just read the rest of the thread on OrinKerr.com. If you're pursuing a career in criminal law, you'll find this 10 very well-spent minutes.

Posted 03:04 PM | TrackBack | 3L advice crimlaw

Law Schools for the Public Interest Student

Professor Appleman has a great post on Prawfsblawg about how law schools might better help law students find public interest jobs. She concludes with the following great suggestions:

1) create a really strong public interest alumni network, with mentoring and interning options; 2) designate one OCI counselor to spend at least half of her time devoted solely to public interest; 3) have workshops explaining to students how it's possible to earn a public interest salary and still pay your rent, loans, and eat; 4) visits and meetings from local public interest attorneys; 5) continued assistance *after* graduation, since often it takes a little longer to find p.i. jobs; and 6) at least some form of loan-repayment schemes for eligible grads.

The public interest students at GW have had some of the same thoughts Prof. Appleman expresses and we recently lobbied to get a full-time career person dedicated to public interest law. We were half successful; the dean has authorized a part time position and said that whoever takes the job can work as much as he/she needs to in order to get the job done. Apparently the dean does not believe there is enough demand for a full-time person, but we hope to prove him wrong. What we've found is that the demand might be appear strong if you survey incoming 1Ls about their career aspirations, but that demand drops precipitously as loan debt skyrockets, making students feel they are not able to consider a public interest career by the time they reach their 2nd and 3rd years. As I and others have said before, “I can't afford to take a public interest job” is often a fairly hollow excuse, but the fact remains that it's an excuse that almost certainly decreases the demand many law schools feel for public interest career services.

Posted 02:55 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | 3L advice

No more classes no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks!

I have attended my last law school class ever. That is extremely satisfying. Someday I suspect I'll look back on law school w/more fondness. That day may even be quite soon—as soon as my first loan payment is due, for example. But for now, no more class is a very good thing.

I still have a final clinic meeting tonight, a sentencing for a clinic client, and even a trial scheduled, but none of that is class (and it's hardly law school). I also have some short (5-page) papers to write and one final. So the fat lady has not sung, but she's definitely done with the voice lessons and just about ready to take the stage.

Posted 12:15 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack | 3L

Employment law question: Are you scary?

Is it legal for an employer, during a phone interview, to ask an applicant: “We work with the public. Is there anything about your physical appearance that might make people uncomfortable?”

I have never been asked this in an interview, but people I know have. I vaguely recall something from my employment law class about employers having the right to set reasonable rules for the appearance of employees who work w/the public, but this seems pretty close to the line. Any thoughts?

Posted 12:43 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack | law general

Lawyers: Moonlighting as pizza delivery boy = bad idea.

A few weeks ago Arbitrary and Capricious reported on a Missouri public defender who wasn't making enough money to pay his loans as a PD so he took a second job delivering pizzas and ran into a really awkward situation:

One night, he tucked a hot pizza under his arm, drove to a customer's home and rang the bell. When the door opened, there stood one of the defendants he'd been assigned to represent in court.

“The guy's mother called us and was very upset,” said Cathy R. Kelly, director of training and communications for the Missouri Public Defender's Training Division. “She said she wanted her son to have a real lawyer, not a pizza guy.”

Although that's a bit funny, it's also sad. The rest of the article details some of the other problems with MO's system of indigent defense. Like too many states, MO appears to be at risk of failing in its Constitutional duty to provide quality defense to the indigent accused. According to this story, the “cumulative turnover rate” for public defenders in Missouri since October 2005 is 100%. Yikes.

I'm posting this now b/c I had written it weeks ago and just never hit “publish,” but I was reminded of it b/c a Deputy Public Defender from Missouri emailed me recently to ask me to correct an error in this post about the contract public defender who was threatened w/having his contract cancelled if he took a certain case that one of his county employers didn't like. I said that this was happening in Missouri; it was actually in Mississippi. I have corrected the error and I apologize for it. I hope the Missouri legislature will wake up soon and give its hardworking public defenders the resources they need to do their jobs.

Posted 12:40 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | crimlaw

“It's injustice I hate, not the Normans.”

Congratulations to the GW Equal Justice Foundation and particularly this year's Auction Board for making the 2006 Public Interest Auction a huge success! The auction was held last Thursday and good times were had by all. In addition, the event once again raised over $30k (still waiting for a final total) for summer grants that will go to GW students who work for no pay this summer providing legal services to people in underserved communities. This was the third auction for me; in each one I played a progressively smaller role and each one seemed to go better than the last. I'll try not to read too much into that. ;-)

Friday I flew to Chicago for an interview. It went fine, but I was exhausted after Thursday's auction. Considering this was my first interview for a “real,” career-track legal job, you might think I would be more excited about it. It was exciting, I was happy to have the interview, I think it went well and I have high hopes that I'll get a second interview. That's all for now. Perhaps I'll have more to say on it soon.

Meanwhile, congratulations to Energy Spatula on the interview she landed for tomorrow. I hope it turns out to be everything she hopes!

Posted 07:46 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack | 3L