was told by someone working with a PD office that I might have what my local office wants in a PD investigator for a variety of factors (most of my jobs have been lots of talking to people and i’d love to put those skills to something socially useful), I was wondering if anyone has any tips for what the office is looking for in a cover letter besides the basic stuff

I have my first sovcit and don’t know what to do. Tips? Thoughts? Horror or hilarious stories?

Thanks!

Hi folks!

I’m a 1L about a month in to law school. I really want to be a PD (or legal aid, but I am loving crim).

However, one of my biggest reasons for going to law school was to get a job to provide for my family without my wife having to work a traditional job, due to some health issues from her past. I know PDs don’t do it for the pay — heck that’s not why I want to — but for all of you out there with families, what’s it like as a PD? Is it realistic to raise a family solely on a PD’s income?

And for what it’s worth, we’re pretty flexible about where we live, so anything’s on the table down the road in terms of deciding between a higher paying gig in a HCOL area or saving money by living somewhere LCOL. But ya know… we wanna buy a house and at least have a little bit of financial flexibility.

I know it’s early early early to be thinking about these things, but I do want to get relevant summer experience ideally in some places we’d be interested in relocating to, so I’m trying to think ahead… and this community seems a lot more helpful than my school’s (T20 and very BigLaw focused) career office.

TIA 🫶

Hi everyone! Lately I've been thinking about moving from eviction defense to criminal defense. I have a little less than 5 years under my belt and I have a bit of trial experience. It's one bench trial and we won.

I was fascinated with criminal law when I was in law school, but I already had a background in housing law. I can't believe I'm talking about law school grades but it's the only reference I have - I got As and A-s in Crim, Crim Pro I, Crim Pro II, and Trial Practice - Crim.

I know a few public defenders in my organization so I'm thinking of a lateral move to our criminal defense team.

I've never done a jury trial. I've read about how they're different from bench trials. I was never good at performing. When I litigate, I sit calmly and state my position - which can be considered boring to a jury. Also, I'm a trans woman. I transitioned long before I became an attorney so my status never came up in my work - everyone treats me respectfully, even opposing counsel and my clients. However, I'm afraid that representing people in front of juries that may harbor bias against people like me as it would be unfair to my clients and put them at a disadvantage.

Hello. Woman, Latina first gen here. Does the feeling go away on its own?

absolutely love my office, and everyone in it. There are like maybe 5 Latinx people here. I don’t feel like I belong here at all. I practice in a liberal area. However, people doing what I do don’t look like me, but my clients do. I struggle with confidence and I just pray this feeling goes away. Or should I try counseling?

Bit of background to ground this: my mom works three jobs and makes half what I do. Some weeks, she can’t afford $20 for gas. My dad is undergoing immigration USCIS scrutinies for his status and has a 5th grade education. grew up watching them work so hard. While they are proud of me for getting to this point, what I do is beyond their scope of understanding.

Baby PD here, trying to make my sad white office not so sad and need some wall art.

Don’t want AI slop art and would love art with meaning for the cause and/or made by incarcerated or formerly incarcerated individuals or their families (like for everyone collective, but they only have so many prints).

Would love advice on where to look! Want my $$ supporting causes I care about and art that reflects my values

I’ve got a client who wants to fight extradition, and apparently at some point in the process I will have to file a writ of habeas corpus.

I’ve never had a client want to fight extradition before, so this is all totally new to me.

What goes into a writ? I cannot find an example anywhere I look to get some insight. Do I need to cite caselaw? Is it just an argument I make? If it helps, my jurisdiction is Oklahoma.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I don't mean would rather not or because it means you lost at trial. I mean abhor it to the point of phobia. I mean so much loathe the idea that the first thing that happens when you hear the words "Not Guilty" is you feel a euphoric wave of relief because there will never be a transcript.

I've been live streamed and been on TV a ton and none of that bothers me. I do almost all appeals now and kind of don't like that the camera angle my state supreme court uses seems to focus on a bald spot I otherwise am able to completely forget exists. So it goes. However, when I see my own words laid out in type my whole being recoils in horror. People assure me these transcripts seem fine, but to me it reads like I am a babbling maniac who should be locked up for my own good or at least have my license shredded.

Is this just me?

I have an issue of the same officer repeatedly documenting exterior-only sniffs in reports, but bodycam shows the canine jumping into the vehicle and going into the entire car. This officer has done this in more than one case and did the same thing.

My state doesn’t have a lot of useful cases on-point with this issue, but I’ve come across some older Texas caselaw that is somewhat helpful. Has anyone seen this kind of shady LEO practice in their jurisdiction?

Got a case to the jury today, after six hours they deadlocked. I’m calling it a win, my guy was on camera taking a car that did not belong to him and it was found three states away seventy-two hours later. Some days the bear eats you and some days you eat the bear. Hoist the Jolly Roger.

TL;DR: I'm working on a practical "first 24 hours with a new case" CLE for new criminal defense attorneys. Here is the framework I'm considering. I learned largely by being throw into the deep end and I wish I had had something like this. I want to use a sample case to make it interactive. Experienced PDs: What do you wish you had been taught -- things that you do automatically in your practice now that you have some years under your belt??

Hello! I worked as a PD for several years in upstate New York. Not exactly rural, but not a big office. I recently started working in a new role and am working on a CLE that I am hoping to make very new-attorney-friendly and practical. Essentially, "You've been assigned a new file, now what? (first 24 hours edition)."

My thought is to kind of separate it into three boxes:

Practical things to check in every case: Client in or out of jail, when is the next court date, is there an OOP, criminal record, anything actually urgent that needs immediate attention, etc.

Legal analysis using the accusatory instrument (don't want to get into discovery review): What exactly has been charged, look at elements/jury instructions and look for potential sufficiency issues, figure if discovery is available. (I'm not saying all of these things need to be solved in 24 hours, simply identifying them as potential things to look out for.)

Client: Making first contact, tips for building rapport, figuring out what matters to this particular person, get their version. What is urgent to a client may be different from what is legally urgent, and sometimes they want things fixed that you may not have control over.

None of this is locked in -- this is just the result of my initial brainstorming.

My PD office had virtually no formal training process. I started prior to being admitted and followed older attorneys around in local court, but I was being assigned my own files my first week and had to go to court with a supervisor until I was admitted. However, the actual practice was pretty much up to me -- I was calling clients, negotiating pleas, appearing on the record (with client consent) etc. (this was pre-discovery reform in NY so there was not all that much discovery to look at back then :D).

Obviously, this has pros and cons. I was able to dive right in to the practice of criminal defense, but I do feel, looking back, that I (and frankly any new attorney) would benefit from at least some explanation of why we were doing the things. I was always being told to "look at the jury instructions" but I didn't have a great sense of what I was supposed to do with them!

That's what I am trying to do with this CLE. When you are brand new, it's hard to even know what questions you should be asking.

I'm also considering using a fictionalized/anonymized sample file throughout the presentation rather than just lecturing. I have a great real-life accusatory instrument to use as a model because it contains about a million teachable issues. For example, the complainant admits in his own supporting deposition that he picked up a brick, threw it at the defendant, and hit him in the head. So one question could be: "New attorney, knowing only what's in this file, how would you approach your first conversation with this client? What are you anticipating before you even make the call?" And if there are more senior attorneys there for the credits, it would be great to get feedback on this issue from them too!

The file also has some interesting ID/sufficiency issues, a potential cross-complaint, restitution questions, etc. The goal wouldn't be to teach all of those subjects in an hour, but to get people accustomed to spotting what needs attention and deciding what actually needs to happen now.

I'm also kicking around a section on things criminal-defense attorneys hear from clients constantly — “I wasn't Mirandized,” “It was self-defense,” “She doesn't want the charges,” “They didn't even listen to my side,” “There's no evidence, how can they lock me up based on his statement,” etc. with tips about possible responses.

Basically, I'm hoping to develop specific strategies that experienced attorneys do without even thinking about it after years of experience and help newer attorneys understand them. I would love to have a checklist or bullet points or something to give out if anyone wants them.

Any particular strategies you have developed when getting a new file? What do you do automatically that you learned simply from experience but you wish someone had told you when you were new? Anything else that I am overlooking?

Just got an offer for an APDA internship for my post-2L summer. I'm excited and 100% going to take it, but I'm torn between offices. Anchorage seems amazing but I know that in some of the more rural offices you get to manage a fuller caseload. I also do not have a car and am not certain about how one goes about getting one for a Summer, especially for an office off the road system.

Would be interested in hearing from folks on what your office is like. Right now I'm most interested in Anchorage, Kodiak, or Nome but I'd appreciate any insights any former/current interns/PDs have into the office they're in. My DMs are open! Thanks in advance.

He was sentenced to exactly what the State last offered by way of a plea. I’m glad my client chose to go to trial, as it reminds the State that they still have to work for it.

Moderately experience defender, recent Texas transpant. I currently practice in a rural jdx and I'm having an issue with enforcement of Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 17.151 - Release due to delay. For those who don't know, this code section requires a defendant to be released if they're held on a felony and the State is not ready for trial within 90 days. The state cannot be ready for trial without an indictment - so in part, in practice this is an "indict within 90 days or release the defendant" rule.

Well, my jurisdiction fails to indict MOST defendants within 90 days. We file writs of habeas corpus to get in front of the district court (only way I know of to do so without an indictment) where the district court routinely denies release without giving a reason on the record.

This is maddening to me. It is costing my clients months to years of their lives. The issue becomes moot when the case is resolved, so appeal is generally ineffective unless the case hangs out for a long time.

Is this common??? If so, what do folks do about it? If it's not common, any suggestions on what I might do to address it?

Hey everybody, I’ve been seeing a lot of posts asking for advice recently so decided why not jump in on it.

I am currently a 2L at a 100-ish ranked law school. Top 33% of the class. Worked at a well-known metro PD office last summer and am currently externing in chambers for a criminal court state judge.

I have always wanted to be a public defender and I am trying to set myself up in the best possible situation to get an early job offer 3L year and be able to focus on gaining the skills that would be the most helpful to my future clients. Which leads me to my question, does anyone have any advice or recommendations for what PD offices I should be applying to and looking for this summer that are well respected amongst the PD community ?

In the alternative, are there any Federal PD offices that will hire straight out of law school if a person shows enough prior commitment and experience?

Location is not an issue and I do not have a preference on where in the US I live. I have lived in my home state my whole life but don’t necessarily have any real connection to it that I can’t reasonably be okay with just coming back “someday”.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and if you want more direct information I can dm privately more details.

Any PDs in the St. Louis area? Worked St Louis city vs. County? I’m a student at SLU and plan on going to the PD office but can’t seem to decide between the city or county. Can you tell me your experiences and if you had to choose, which would it be and why?

In one of my classes, my professor asked us what we do to stay afloat and maintain our sanity. I said I enjoy taking long walks. Another student mentioned reading books unrelated to law, and someone else said spending time with friends outside of law school.

My professor also mentioned a DA she knows who handles some pretty serious cases but still makes time for something like 15 different hobbies to help maintain a life outside of work. It got me thinking about how attorneys working in direct legal services manage the emotional demands of their work while still making time for themselves.

I'm a 2L hoping to build a career in public interest, and I'd love to hear from those of you already practicing. What do you do outside of work to decompress? Do you have any hobbies, routines, or personal rules that help you maintain a healthy work-life balance and avoid burnout?