More p.d. job advice from a man with a checkered resumé

Ambivalent Imbroglio has asked some good questions about how to spend the summer between 2L and 3L:

Should I go back to the same PD office I worked in last year, or will that look bad to future public defender employers? If you were looking at hiring a new PD, would it matter whether the candidate had spent two summers in the same PD office, or would that make no difference?

Being a slothful person, let me take the easiest question first: no, going back to the same p.d. office where you worked last summer will not look bad to future p.d. employers. As a past p.d. employer (for six years before I gold-sealed to Washington), I can tell you that working summers in a p.d. office never looks bad to an employer. It shows commitment. What looks bad is the person who's gone through law school and life with no prior demonstrated interest in public defender work, criminal defense, or working with poor people, who then writes me that "I'm very interested in a position with your office." AmbImb, you don't have that worry; actions speak louder.

Now, as to the question of whether it matters if you spend both summers with the same p.d. office. Originally, I was going to come down on the side of trying a different office this summer, preferably in a different jurisdiction. There's something to be gained by seeing varying ways of dealing with similar courtroom or client problems. After all, I spent my first summer with Idaho Legal Aid in Boise, and my second summer with Utah Legal Services in Salt Lake, and look how well I turned out!

On second thought... I spent only my first year out of school doing legal services, and the next 12 out of 17 as a public defender. I also read this post by Blonde Justice in response to AmbImb. She's quite persuasive about the advantages of working another summer in the same office. As I am after six weeks still flailing with new acronyms and personalities, I think she has the stronger argument, particularly if you'll be building on last summer's experience to do work of greater independence and responsibility this summer. Especially if you're that much closer to solo'ing in court, there's nothing like handling your own cases.

Either way, working in the same office both summers or working in two different p.d. offices will put you miles ahead of the job applicant crop. Blonde Justice is right: most PD's offices would take someone who has shown a consistent interest in the work over someone who hasn't. We look for someone who has worked with the clients in the system, and still wants to come back for more. In which office you do the work is much less important than the fact that you've done the work. Don't worry too much about which office - just do p.d. work anywhere this summer, and you'll shine.

Finally, check out this Ambivalent Imbroglio post about how much weight p.d. employers may give to the supposed prestige of the law school you attend. In this case, AmbImb is right and Orin Kerr is wrong:

Public defenders, for example, certainly care about your school and GPA, but they care just as much—or often more—about your extracurriculars, your demonstrated commitment to social justice, public service, and the kind of work they’ll ask you to do (in this case, criminal defense).

Let me go further: in six years I didn't care about your school or your GPA. I cared far more about all the other factors that AmbImb mentions. In my time, I hired excellent graduates, from all parts of the grading curve, from the following law schools:
- Boston College
- Brigham Young University
- Hamline University
- University of Cincinnati
- University of Minnesota
- University of Idaho
- University of Texas
- University of Tulsa
- University of Utah
- University of Wyoming
(okay, so we had a high turn-over problem - I hope it wasn't because of me!)