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New Member
I grew up wanting to be a criminal attorney. I changed my mind after my first DUI case. I went to a small unaccredited law school. This meant I could take the bar exam but I would not have the job offers graduates from ABA accredited schools would get. But that was all right. I figured I would break into criminal law somehow.
But going to a small unaccredited law school also meant the government would not be quick to offer me a position either. But I only wanted to graduate so I could take the bar exam. I figures I could think later about finding a lawyer job.
Government work is the best place to get criminal law experience. Really, it is the only place. Most if not all criminal law lawyers in private practice worked for the district attorney office or the public defender to begin. But most if not all of those jobs go to graduates or ABA schools. But I was able to get an interview with the county I lived in. There was a state wide hiring freeze because of budget shortages. But it was lifted for one position in the county public defenders office. I got 88 out of 100 in the interview. I knew this was not high enough with all the competition for one job opening.
Two days late I received a notice in the mail that the hiring freeze was back in effect. The county had not even filled the one position before the freeze was back in place. I decided to take a course in drunk driving defense. What I learned seemed easy enough to put into practice.
I ran a small ad in my local shopper after I finished the course. It cost me twenty five dollars a week. My phone started ringing off the hook. I never realized how many people get arrested for drunk driving. I went to court with my first client in the municipal court of the city I grew up in. Across the street was the college I graduated in. I had never been in their courtrooms.
There was really no defense for my client. His alcohol blood level was above the legal limit. The cop stopped him as he was driving out of the driveway of the bar he had been drinking in all night. But as my instructor said some people like a lawyer to hold their hand as they are going through the process. That was my role that morning, hand holder.
I went over to the deputy district attorney to discuss the charge and the penalty she would agree to as I learned in class. She was chatting with the female bailiff. I patiently waited for her to finish. The bailiff looked me up and down, turned her nose up and walked away. When I asked the deputy district attorney about the charge and penalty she curtly said I would find out from the judge. She said this without looking up from her files.
The female judge treated me with respect and even smiled when she talked to me. I assumed she came up the ranks of the public defenders office. The bailiff and the deputy district attorney made me feel like I was on trial however. Since it was my client's first offense he was given the minimum penalty. He had his license suspended for one year. But I was able to have him able to drive legally if he was going to and from work and while at work since his job required that he drive. But that was my first and last criminal court case. I realized as criminal attorney I had to expect to be treated like the one who was on trial. And that is not what I expected and not what I want in my career.
Source: http://buithixuan.info/posts/legal/i-don-t-want-to-be-a-criminal-attorney-afterall.html
But going to a small unaccredited law school also meant the government would not be quick to offer me a position either. But I only wanted to graduate so I could take the bar exam. I figures I could think later about finding a lawyer job.
Government work is the best place to get criminal law experience. Really, it is the only place. Most if not all criminal law lawyers in private practice worked for the district attorney office or the public defender to begin. But most if not all of those jobs go to graduates or ABA schools. But I was able to get an interview with the county I lived in. There was a state wide hiring freeze because of budget shortages. But it was lifted for one position in the county public defenders office. I got 88 out of 100 in the interview. I knew this was not high enough with all the competition for one job opening.
Two days late I received a notice in the mail that the hiring freeze was back in effect. The county had not even filled the one position before the freeze was back in place. I decided to take a course in drunk driving defense. What I learned seemed easy enough to put into practice.
I ran a small ad in my local shopper after I finished the course. It cost me twenty five dollars a week. My phone started ringing off the hook. I never realized how many people get arrested for drunk driving. I went to court with my first client in the municipal court of the city I grew up in. Across the street was the college I graduated in. I had never been in their courtrooms.
There was really no defense for my client. His alcohol blood level was above the legal limit. The cop stopped him as he was driving out of the driveway of the bar he had been drinking in all night. But as my instructor said some people like a lawyer to hold their hand as they are going through the process. That was my role that morning, hand holder.
I went over to the deputy district attorney to discuss the charge and the penalty she would agree to as I learned in class. She was chatting with the female bailiff. I patiently waited for her to finish. The bailiff looked me up and down, turned her nose up and walked away. When I asked the deputy district attorney about the charge and penalty she curtly said I would find out from the judge. She said this without looking up from her files.
The female judge treated me with respect and even smiled when she talked to me. I assumed she came up the ranks of the public defenders office. The bailiff and the deputy district attorney made me feel like I was on trial however. Since it was my client's first offense he was given the minimum penalty. He had his license suspended for one year. But I was able to have him able to drive legally if he was going to and from work and while at work since his job required that he drive. But that was my first and last criminal court case. I realized as criminal attorney I had to expect to be treated like the one who was on trial. And that is not what I expected and not what I want in my career.
Source: http://buithixuan.info/posts/legal/i-don-t-want-to-be-a-criminal-attorney-afterall.html