Criminal Attorney

Career Pathways Guide - Criminal Law

1. What is Criminal Law?

     Criminal law is any sort of legal practice that has to do with the criminal justice system.  Generally speaking, this includes prosecuting and defending individuals accused on crimes.  Although the roles of criminal lawyers vary in different countries, in the United States the most common jobs for attorneys interested in criminal law are jobs as prosecutors or defense attorneys.  Prosecutors file and prosecute criminal charges based upon the jurisdictions laws and practices.  Defense attorneys aggressively defend their clients’ rights and innocence to ensure that the criminal justice system and all processes involved with prosecution are fair and just.  Criminal law attorneys often conduct trials right from the beginning of their careers, and some criminal law attorneys will go on to file and argue appeals as they become more experienced.

2. Where is Criminal Law practiced?

Prosecutors

·         Attorney General’s Office (federal): Attorneys who work for the Attorney General’s Office prosecute federal crimes and crimes committed on federal property.  http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/

·         Attorney General’s Office (state): The California Attorney General represents the state of California in civil and criminal matters before trial, appellate and the supreme courts of California and the United States.  http://ag.ca.gov/

·         County Attorney’s Office: Most county attorney’s offices prosecute felonies and misdemeanors that are committed within the county’s borders.

·         City Attorney’s Office: Some counties only prosecute felonies, leaving the misdemeanor offenses to the city attorney’s office to prosecute.  City attorneys general prosecute minor code enforcement cases as well.

Defense Attorneys

·         Federal Public Defenders: Federal public defenders defend individuals accused of federal offenses who are being prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.  http://www.ndcalfpd.org/

·         State Public Defenders: The Office of the State Public Defender works solely on death penalty appeals, representing indigent capital defendants in the California Supreme Court and the United State Supreme Court.  http://www.ospd.ca.gov/

·         County Public Defenders: Some counties, including Santa Clara County, have governmental offices for public defenders, who defend indigent criminal defendants in charges brought by the County Attorney’s Office.

·         Private Practice: Many criminal defense attorneys work in private practice, either in a small firm or solo practitioner’s office.  Private criminal defense attorneys can either be retained by individual defendants or appointed by a judge to represent a particular defendant.

·         Contract work: Some smaller counties and cities do not have an official Public Defender’s Office.  Instead, they often contract with individuals or individual firms to represent indigent criminal defendants within the city or county.

3. What Courses and Academic Experiences (Clinics, Internships, Externships) at SCU Law would be helpful?

 (Please note that the following is not an exhaustive list)

1. Criminal Law / Advanced Criminal Law
2. Criminal Procedure / Advanced Criminal Procedure
3. Trial Techniques / Advanced Trial Techniques
4. Evidence
5. Jury Law & Strategies
6. Advocacy / Honors Moot Court
7. California Post Conviction Procedures
8. Criminal Justice Internship & Seminar
9. Northern California Innocence Project
10. Death Penalty Clinic
11. Domestic Violence Seminar
12. Drug Abuse Law Seminar
13. Judicial Externship
14. Juvenile Court Law Seminar
15. Juvenile Justice Topics

4. What timeline should I be following?

There is no set timeline for entering the criminal law field, but there are a few things to consider.  Most criminal law attorneys want to see dedication to and a demonstrated interest in prosecution or defense work.  That does not mean that you should not seek out non-criminal opportunities, but if you are applying for a summer or post-graduate position and you do not have experience with criminal law, your application will likely not be as strong as many of your peers.  Criminal law jobs are very competitive.  Santa Clara County Office of the District Attorney, for example, recently hired three new positions in the fall of 2006 after a several-year hiring freeze, and the County interviewed more than 100 applicants for those three positions.

Anything you can do to make yourself stand out in the application process is good, especially experience working within a prosecution or defense office.  A volunteer internship during the summer following your first year may give you the leg up you need to land a paid position the following summer.  If you do not work in criminal law over your first summer, definitely try to arrange a semester internship during your second year to build your resume and demonstrate your commitment to criminal law.  Offices also like to see courtroom experience (take trial techniques and moot court, and consider going out for the trial team), strong research and writing skills (moot court, law review or another journal, and publications) and excellent public speaking skills (moot court, FLY, leadership experiences, previous debate or public speaking experience).

A few typical interview questions include:

·         Why you are interested in criminal defense or prosecution?

·         What experience do you have with public speaking?

·         Hypothetical questions, such as “How would you feel defending someone of a rape you know they committed?” or “When you are prosecuting someone for a crime and you have are not sure whether you have the correct defendant, what do you do?”

·         What other experiences in your life have been influential and/or would help you connect with a jury?

·         How can you contribute to our office?

·         Why our office instead of [another county, state, federal, city, private practice, etc.]?

In addition, DA and PD offices will often ask you to prepare an opening statement or closing statement to present to them as part of your interview process.  One of the main purposes behind the hypothetical questions and the opening and closing statements is to see how well you can think on your feet and under pressure.

Department of Justice internship applications are due the September prior to the summer during which the internship would take place.  Applications for summer positions in some counties, such as Santa Clara, are often due several months in advance.  A few counties have paid summer internships (between 2L and 3L year), for which they hire students during the on campus interview process in the fall.  If you are willing to travel to a less populated county for the summer, if may be easier to get at least a volunteer position at the last minute.  Semester internships are normally less competitive and can be done for credit at many local county offices.

If you are interested in federal prosecution, the way almost all new U.S. Attorneys are hired is through the Attorney General’s Honors Program.  For those who may be seeking a position after graduation, it is helpful to note that most DA/PD offices and other government offices require that you must be a member of the Bar (i.e., have passed the Bar) in order to apply and be considered for a permanent position.  Additionally, be prepared for a more bureaucratic hiring process than you might find in private practice.  Very few city, county or state governmental agencies will extend job offers before bar results are received, so if waiting up to more than a year after many of your peers working for firms have received their job offers to find out about employment is not your cup of tea, you might want to try something else.  Most hire using civil service guidelines as well, so connections and good internships do not automatically translate into a job offer.  Nevertheless, networking is always useful.

5. What Professional Organizations and Associations can I join to meet people and find out more?

1. SCU Criminal Law Society http://www.scu.edu/law/cls/index.html
2. California State Bar Criminal Law Section http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_generic.jsp?cid=10702&id=3200
3. American Bar Association Criminal Law Section http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/
4. Northern California Innocence Project http://www.ncip.scu.edu/
5. California Attorneys for Criminal Justice http://www.cacjweb.org/public/

6. What job search reference resources should I check out for further information?

Look at the websites for any county (or city or state or local federal office) in which you may be interested in working.  Some post internship application instructions and, once your have your license, the jobs you will be eligible for are normally posted on the human resources page.

a.       Santa Clara County Office of the Public Defender: http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/opd/

b.      Santa Clara County Office of the District Attorney: http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/da/

c.       Federal Public Defender – San Jose: http://www.ndcalfpd.org/Directions%20SJ.htm

d.      Northern California U.S. Attorney’s Office: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/

e.       DOJ Summer Law Intern Program: http://justice.gov/oarm/arm/sp/sp.htm

f.       Attorney General’s Honors Program: http://justice.gov/oarm/arm/hp/hp.htm

Also, be sure to check out SCU Law Jobs for criminal law job postings!