Great news, congrats.

So I haven't opened this thread in a while, and I can't sleep so here are a few random thoughts from being a prosecutor in NY for ~3 months and basically not knowing anything going in:

-People be crazy. It might not be as glamorous as the guy two doors down who has the subway pusher guy, or the guy across the hall who has the dude who slit open his wife's wrists in front of their kid in Central Park at noon, but misdemeanor land really exposes you to some weird ass junk. Here are some rando cases I have written/been assigned:
*Guy solicits oral sex from a minor - in courthouse bathroom - while guy is there for another sex related criminal court date
*Dude sees his friend getting beat up on a train, and picks up his friend's iPhone and doesn't say anything. Charged with theft when police search everyone involved.
*Guy flips his car in the middle of 2nd ave after hitting two parked cars. Walks away and turns himself in 2 YEARS LATER after having been abroad the whole time
*Super Mario groping ladies in Times Square
*Foreign ambassador beats up high priced call girl, waiting to see how diplomatic immunity claim shakes out.

-People are liars. This job is definitely going to make me way more cynical. I feel like I was a pretty trusting guy coming in, but people just straight up lie to your face on the reg. First victim case, the guy tells me this whole story about getting jumped by some crew and I'm all on board. Then I get the video and it's the exact opposite of what he's saying. I bring him in again to watch the tape, and he swears up and down that he's telling the truth, and then right when I press play, he just says "I'm sorry" and literally runs out of the office.

-No one cares about misdemeanors: I feel like I've screwed up so much in such a short time, and the ultimate response is always like "don't worry, its just some crack". But at the same time it's like a huge deal to the people who are actually involved, kinda weird dynamic going on where you personally are a bit desensitized to the whole process because you see it so much, but at the same time it can be incredibly impactful for those you're working with.

-Night shifts suck - Stupid NY and its stupid psuedo common law speedy trial rules, let me go home before 2am please. Also, a big FU to any cop who thinks it's cool to dump a packet of six "informed arrests" on me at 11:45 and then gets pissed when I hassle them about a fax.

-I have no idea what I'm doing, but it ain't law school - Worked at a firm for a bit and it was at least somewhat like classes. Look some stuff up, write some briefs. Criminal stuff, at least misdemeanors has like 0 to do with any of that. It's all just basically legwork and judgment as to figuring out what happened, and sticking to your guns once you make a decision. There are rare occasions where actual knowledge of the law/statute pays off bigtime though, and you just feel like such a boss haha.

-Lawyers are alcoholics. No surprise I guess, but people here love to drink. See Legal aid folks at the bar across the street during dinner break for night arraignments. See co-workers puking their guts out at 8 pm on Fridays. The Surrogate's Court Party - oh my....

Anywho, probably uninteresting to everyone, but felt like venting, carry on, Merry Xmas

My experience in a different NYC DA's office has been eerily similar.

How much does that pay? Curious about the overnight/weekly schedule, can you elaborate?

haha are you kidding it sounds awesome/hilarious. do you still prefer it to firm work?

solid brag

NYC DA's offices run from about $50,000 (Kings) to $60,000 (DANY) for first year ADAs. I know you were asking GTO, but in my office our normal schedule is 9-5, however, most first and second year ADAs work 7-6. On a typical week I put in about 50-60 hours. If you're on nights, you're working intake (aka complaint room) or arraignments from 5pm - 1am. We typically work a week of nights and a weekend shift (which can be day or night) every 3 months or so.

A few other things to add on to GTO's post:

1. There is way, way more paperwork involved than I thought there would be. When I get assigned new cases I have to fill out a number of different forms depending on the type of case. Defense attorneys are constantly filing motions, which we have to respond to right away. Most of these motions are boilerplate, but some of them aren't even applicable to the case which is really frustrating because you still have to spend the time answering it.

2. Time goes by very quickly. I have found that my days fly by, to the point where I want them to slow down so that I can get more work done. Being in court, or in arraignments is really fun and fast paced, just like I had imagined it would be.

3. The schedule, the caseload, and the conditions that we work in all create an amazing sense of comradery in my office. People are always willing to help out if you have a question, either by sending sample documents if you're working on something you've never done before, or by walking you through how to do something. ADAs who have been in my bureau for over a year currently have between 175 and 200 cases. ADAs from my class, which started this fall, generally have around 70 cases at the moment. There's a general sense around the office that we're all in it together, and whatever anyone can do to help, they usually will.

If you guys have any other questions just ask. I may or may not know the answer considering I've only been working a few months and barely know where the bathroom is.

Great post, GTO

Starting is 60K. I get 60,500 because I am admitted already. There is no fixed schedule for raises, they just happen when the budget allows for them. I am told they haven't had a raise in three years, but that one should be coming next year. Was also told that the 90s were the salad days and they got a nice bump every year and people were pulling 100 or so after 10 years.

Night/weekend scheduling, I am not 100% clear on, but I can try to explain it as thus:
-As a misdemeanor assistant you have to cover certain "institutional assignments", meaning places you basically have to be. These are the different calender court parts (A-E, VTL, BTP-1), the arraignment parts (AR1 - AR6), and ECAB which is the complaint writing room. The two assignments that have night shifts are ECAB and the arraignment parts

Night ECAB runs from 5pm to whenever you get out of there. Generally the cutoff for accepting new arrests from the cops is 11pm, although it is flexible depending on the volume. So after that cutoff, you have to finish everything in that pile before you go home. By finish, I mean call the cop, talk to him about what happened, write the complaint/dismiss it, fax it to them and get them to sign it and fax it back. This can be like 5 min for some subway jump to like hrs for some kind of weirdo domestic violence thing. Because of the stay until you are done nature of this, there is an unwritten rule that no one leaves night ECAB for any sort of break, and everyone stays until the last person is done. This rule is enforced through some serious passive aggressive bs.

Like half the cops in the city have sun/mon off, so Sunday night is the best and you usually get out like midnight. A Friday or Saturday, you're looking at 1:30 or so at the earliest.

Arraignments at night run from 5pm to 1am at the latest + you get a dinner break. So that's not so bad, except I find it to be way more stressful because you are in there alone and everybody hates you, and you can actually screw some stuff up (hint: do NOT give the marijuana violation offer to a guy who has a sale conviction already-_-).

So the office is divided up into numbered bureaus and the responsibility for staffing these night assignments, as well as all other assignments, rotates amongst them. Generally there need to be three regular misdemeanor assistants + two DV people there in ECAB and two people for arraignments every night Sun-Sat.

Different bureaus do it differently, but the one I'm in staffs these assignments almost exclusively with first years. So December was a month where we had to cover the night ECAB part, meaning one person from my five person class in there every night + random shifts that depend on the felony intake schedule which I have no idea about.

You get an extra 60 bucks, pretax, for every night shift, which I basically blow on a cab back home 90% of the time. Weekend days you get 20 bucks. I think I had 8 nights this month, and 3 weekend days, but volunteered to take Xmas eve and Xmas day night so I got Thanksgiving off. Generally on the day when I've had a night shift, I come in at like the normal time b/c you're unassigned for the day and its a good time to get work on your caseload done. Then the day after I'll roll in like noonish.

I was only making 70K at the firm, although I would probably have been bumped to "market rates" if I stayed for two years. Actually I've stayed in touch with my old co-workers and a bunch of people actually left, so they bumped the remaining people up after like a year haha. With loan repayment program through school, it's a small raise from last year actually.

Total hours are comparable between the two, but at least I "know" generally when the late nights are going to be. Like, I knew I'd have these Xmas shifts as opposed to "hey it's Memorial Day, lets just spend it writing two ultimately useless discovery dispute briefs ok? Good"

Definitely prefer it to the firm so far, just because it is very interesting, I feel like I'm learning a ton, and I think I have a pretty solid amount of responsibility for stuff. Even had a (bench) trial already, that took like 1.5 hrs total and I didn't do jack but whatevers, still a trial. I can see it getting to a burnout stage when my caseload is like 10x what it is now and it's all the same junk, but not there yet!

**Edit, I am off today, and trying to figure out how to get a new phone, so ask away haha**

Question:

Does anyone here know how expungement works for felony possession of marijuana? Apparently the felony has been expunged from state records, but is still a matter of federal record. Diversion program was completed and the felony is about 5 years old.

TYIA

Looks like we got up about the same time haha.

To clarify a bit, the night staffing at my office rotates amongst bureaus, who then themselves decide how to do it. So far, we have had no more than three nights in a row, although I know that some do it like Durs describes and have you go a week straight. Dunno which I would prefer, I think I'd be pretty loopy after a week of that crap.

+1 to the boilerplate paperwork overload. Half of what I spend my time on could easily be shunted to a paralegal (or a monkey even). Motions are 100% boilerplate, click the box affairs, EXCEPT for facial insufficiency/motion to dismiss type stuff where you actually spend a little time and write some original material. But even like 90% of those are BS. I think I've seen one this entire time that was actually a good argument. I responded by just dismissing the charge altogether and adding something else.

The fun part is investigating cases, calling people, hearing stories, making the rare meaningful on the record argument.

++1 to time flying by in court parts. It's super hectic, you gotta keep track of like 150 cases each session. I have no idea how people did this before email became available because I am constantly asking the assigned assistants what to do.

+++1 to everyone (well almost) everyone being super friendly and helpful. People are way gung ho about this. I feel sort of weird sometimes because I wasn't entirely like "THIS IS MY DREAM JOB, I HAVE WANTED TO DO THIS SINCE BIRTH" coming in and 95% of the rest of my starting class is.

Don't know off the top of my head, but can ask.

It was a state crime where PTD program has already been completed correct?

I googled federal expungement recently and what I saw said no expungements ever.

Yes

Ok, thanks.

I know there is some confusion between state and federal enforcement, but I wasn't aware that federal crimes "stuck." A friend went through the diversion program, got the state felony expunged, but an employer saw the felony on a federal database and started asking questions. He thought the whole felony was expunged, b/c the state one had been.

going to a couple of sponsored firm visits next week. mix of big, mid sized and boutique firms. advice? (1L fwiw) pretty sure i'm aiming to just be affable and somewhat interesting so they'll remember me. currently have nothing lined up for this summer.