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Asking Questions to Prosecutors. Please answer all of them, thank you.
Prosecutors:
Hello! My name is Jaydon and I am a
current high school student. I'm
conducting an interview with any
professional in the Medical and Legal field for a
Foundations in Health Science Class
project about careers! I have created
a total of 13 questions. Comment on
this post, answering all 13 questions
to be a part of my assignment.
This set is to be designed for Prosecutors to answer.
1. Why was this the profession you choose?
2. How many years of college did you need to go through?
3. What jobs did you work before you landed your present professional job?
4. How can I decide if I should earn a PhD in this field?
5. Were you in a college program? If so what kinds?
7. Did you shadow another professional in the field?
8. Did you join any school clubs related to your current profession?
9. Was there a particular subject you struggled with during your school years?
10. What skill sets did you learn or gain while pursuing your career?
11. Can you outright refuse to be the Prosecutor for a court case if you have a reason as to why?
12. Does your job end up interrupting your vacation times and weekends?
13. Is the job dangerous or able to get you hurt?
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1 answer
Matthew L. Tuck, J.D., M.B.A.
CEO/Managing Attorney, Greater Detroit Area
64
Answers
Updated
Matthew L.’s Answer
Hi Jaydon. That's a lot of questions. But they are very good, thoughtful ones.
I am a lawyer and have been practicing for 30 years. I have been both a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney and now I own my own law firm.
Generally speaking, a "Prosecutor" is an attorney who works for a city, county, state or the federal government. His or her primary job is to prosecute people for committing crimes within the jurisdiction he is responsible for. These crimes include everything from speeding tickets, to theft, to assault, drug crimes, and worse things. Depending on what the jurisdiction is they work in, prosecutors are also called city attorney, U.S. Attorney, district attorney (DA), state's attorney, attorney general, and by other titles, but they all perform similar roles. In many places, the actual "Prosecutor" or "DA" is an elected position. The elected prosecutor for the county or state then hires assistant prosecutors to do the day to day work of prosecuting people charged with crimes. Prosecutors work closely with the police. Police investigate crimes and then generally present their findings to the prosecutor. The prosecutor then makes the decision whether to bring charges or not. That decision is based on a number of factors. The prosecutor represents "the people" of the city, county or state against the person(s) charged with the crime. That is why when you see a case against an accused criminal the case name is usually "People of the State of California vs. John Doe" or whatever the name is.
1. Why was this the profession you choose?
- Part of the reason I chose to be a prosecutor was because prosecutors usually get to go to court A LOT, and I wanted to be in the court room doing trials and motions. I also initially chose that work because criminal law interests me a lot.
2. How many years of college did you need to go through?
-You generally must have a 4-year college degree and complete 3 years of law school before you can become a prosecutor. Prosecutors must be licensed attorneys. You must also pass the bar exam in the state where you want to be licensed as an attorney. So in all it takes 7 years including college and law school.
3. What jobs did you work before you landed your present professional job?
-Before I became a lawyer I worked many jobs. I worked in factories, as a security guard, bartended, waited tables, managed a restaurant, painted houses, stocked shelves, worked as a cashier, and built pig feeders one summer. I have worked as a lawyer ever since I graduated from law school.
4. How can I decide if I should earn a PhD in this field?
- You will need to earn the equivalent of a PhD because when you graduate from law school, the degree you are awarded is called a "Juris Doctorate" or JD degree. Some lawyers also hold advanced degrees called an LL.M. which an abbreviation for a "Masters of Law" degree (though this is not necessary for a prosecutor). This is usually a specialty degree beyond the normal JD and is usually in a legal specialty like tax law, real estate, international law, or some other highly specific area of law, usually on the civil side and not relevant for criminal attorneys of prosecutors. LL.M.'s are specialists and can usually charge more for their services than a regular JD.
5. Were you in a college program? If so what kinds?
- I was in a pre-law program in college. I majored in history and political science and minored in English. This was great training for law school because I learned to read complicated materials and wrote a TON of papers. You must be able to read and write well to succeed in law school. The people in my classes who did not have a liberal arts background struggled in law school. We had many doctors, nurses, accountants and engineers in my class and they had a very hard time the first year because they had to effectively re-learn how to read a lot, digest and understand what they read, and write about it later.
7. Did you shadow another professional in the field?
- You could say that. I was lucky in that I had a number of lawyers and a judge in my family so I was always around attorneys a lot. I also worked at my father's law office in college as a gopher, (bad) secretary and intern. Law firms are always looking for help, so it's very easy to get an internship at a law firm while you are in college. It's great experience. Shadowing professionals is always a great idea and there are many opportunities to do so in college and law school, and even in high school. Courts are also open to the public. So if you want to see what prosecutors do, just go to court, sit there and watch. In most courts, at least 50% or more of the cases are criminal cases. You will see exactly how the court room part works. You should call the local court clerk and explain that you would like to observe the prosecutor(s) at work and ask them what would be the best day to come and observe. They can tell you if they have any trials or interesting hearings coming up that would be good to watch. I suspect you could also get a chance to speak with the judge about what he or she does. They often like to speak with young people about the law.
8. Did you join any school clubs related to your current profession?
- I took debate and forensics when I was in high school. I also joined the school newspaper which was great to help me learn to write well. Many schools now have mock trial teams that are a great way to get actual practice trying pretend cases. If your school does not have debate or a mock trial team, any kind of class that teaches you how to speak in public or write are excellent preparation for college and law school. In law school I did EVERTHING. I was on the student government, in a bunch of clubs, was part of the moot court board, wrote for the school newspaper, worked in the "Urban Law Clinic" (a class where as students we got to represent indigent defendants in court as real criminal defense attorneys) and did lots of moot court competitions. It all helped and was a great way to get noticed when I was interviewing for prosecutor jobs.
9. Was there a particular subject you struggled with during your school years?
- Math. One of the jokes among lawyers is that they wound up in law school because they can't do math.
10. What skill sets did you learn or gain while pursuing your career?
- In the law, you need many different skills. I have become a much better public speaker and writer. I'm also much better at being organized and managing large projects. In some of my big cases, we had hundreds of witnesses, millions of pages of evidence, and small armies of paralegals and junior attorneys that I had to manage. It was great practice for running my own firm.
11. Can you outright refuse to be the Prosecutor for a court case if you have a reason as to why?
- That is a hard one to answer. I did not see a lot of this when I was prosecuting. I suspect if you have a religious or moral objection to prosecuting a particular case, your boss (the elected prosecutor) might give the case to someone else who doesn't care, but it rarely came up. In my time as a prosecutor, the most unpopular duties involved children. Prosecutors have to prosecute children sometimes. The process is different (it's much more lenient and held in a special court) but it was really hard. So many kids were from broken homes and were just very confused and angry broken, which sometimes resulted in them committing crimes and being arrested. So many times it just felt wrong to prosecute them for what they did. So many times they were just asking for help. If the judge is good and the prosecutor actually cares, it is sometimes possible to help them. Everyone had to rotate in and out of the juvenile unit and I could not wait to get out. Those cases were very sad and no one liked doing them. But some people love that stuff. My uncle the judge was the juvenile court judge and he did love it. He was really good at trying to find the best solution for the kids. Luckily, 99% of your cases as a junior prosecutor are traffic tickets, simple assault cases, shoplifting, and other minor offenses. If one of your family members or friends commits a crime, you have to recuse yourself so you'll never be put in that kind of position.
12. Does your job end up interrupting your vacation times and weekends?
- One of the nice things about being a prosecutor (and I also married a prosecutor) was that it tends to be a very 9-5 job. Your schedule revolves around the court's schedule to a large extent. Courts are not open on weekends or holidays, which is nice. After you get the hang of it, the work is also very similar from case to case. Once you have handled a few speeding tickets, you can do them all. Most criminal cases you handle will "plead out" which means the defendant will not take his case to trial. They will enter a guilty plea to a lesser offense or for a lesser fine or less or no jail time. A prosecutor can carry files for 30 cases in a single brief case. There are generally no depositions, no briefs, nor legal research, no complicated analysis. Many prosecutors will pick up their load of files for the day in the morning and won't even look at them until they get to court that day. If you have to do a jury trial or evidentiary hearing, you may need to take that case home at night or over the weekend but that is rare. Some more senior prosecutors who handle special types of cases that are more complex may take work home. Prosecutors don't make a ton of money, so the hours are less than for an attorney who works at large firm on civil cases. At private firms, attorneys generally work much harder. They often work 60+ hours a week at the office (or longer) and more at home, but they are typically paid better, too. Prosecutors work a normal 40-hour week, generally speaking. Assistant prosecuting attorneys make between about $60,000 and $80,000 per year, depending on the state and how big the city or county is where you work. In San Jose it's more like between about $70,000 and $95,000. You can look up this information on sites like Glassdoor and Salary.com. The federal government also keeps these stats.
13. Is the job dangerous or able to get you hurt?
- Being a prosecutor is not very dangerous, particularly when you are in court. Everyone is searched on the way into court and has to go through a metal detector. So there are no weapons allowed in court. There are also usually many police around as they wait to testify in cases. They will jump on anyone who starts to get aggressive. The court also employs bailiffs who are often armed and will control unruly people in court. Outside of court, sometimes prosecutors are targeted by defendants they have convicted, but it is very rare. Prosecutors typically have unlisted phone numbers and keep a low profile on social media so they cannot be easily found or harassed. And because the police and prosecutors work very closely together, the police take extra good care of the prosecutors (my wife the city attorney knew all the police and used to have the officers in our town follow my daughter around when she was out with friends at the movies or at a restaurant so she would not get into trouble. The kid hated it at the time, but nothing ever happened). We would also see a lot of people she had prosecuted when we were out for dinner or at a movie. But we never had an incident. We even saw a defendant in the Dominican Republic when we were on vacation once. He saw us and waved. No big deal, but she always treated defendants with respect and dignity, so that helped.
Great questions! Good luck.
1. To be ready for college and law school, take a lot of writing and public speaking classes in high school. Learn to read and write very well.
2. See if your school has a debate, forensics or mock trial team. Join it.
3. Go to court and watch what prosecutors do. In most courts, 50% of the cases are criminal matters. Watch how it's done and sit in on some trials.
4. Get great grades in high school so you can get into a good college. Get great grades in college so you can get into a great law school. Do great in law school and you can have any law job you want.
5. During college and law school, get an internship with a prosecutor's office. In most states you can actually try real cases while you're still in law school (I did).
I am a lawyer and have been practicing for 30 years. I have been both a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney and now I own my own law firm.
Generally speaking, a "Prosecutor" is an attorney who works for a city, county, state or the federal government. His or her primary job is to prosecute people for committing crimes within the jurisdiction he is responsible for. These crimes include everything from speeding tickets, to theft, to assault, drug crimes, and worse things. Depending on what the jurisdiction is they work in, prosecutors are also called city attorney, U.S. Attorney, district attorney (DA), state's attorney, attorney general, and by other titles, but they all perform similar roles. In many places, the actual "Prosecutor" or "DA" is an elected position. The elected prosecutor for the county or state then hires assistant prosecutors to do the day to day work of prosecuting people charged with crimes. Prosecutors work closely with the police. Police investigate crimes and then generally present their findings to the prosecutor. The prosecutor then makes the decision whether to bring charges or not. That decision is based on a number of factors. The prosecutor represents "the people" of the city, county or state against the person(s) charged with the crime. That is why when you see a case against an accused criminal the case name is usually "People of the State of California vs. John Doe" or whatever the name is.
1. Why was this the profession you choose?
- Part of the reason I chose to be a prosecutor was because prosecutors usually get to go to court A LOT, and I wanted to be in the court room doing trials and motions. I also initially chose that work because criminal law interests me a lot.
2. How many years of college did you need to go through?
-You generally must have a 4-year college degree and complete 3 years of law school before you can become a prosecutor. Prosecutors must be licensed attorneys. You must also pass the bar exam in the state where you want to be licensed as an attorney. So in all it takes 7 years including college and law school.
3. What jobs did you work before you landed your present professional job?
-Before I became a lawyer I worked many jobs. I worked in factories, as a security guard, bartended, waited tables, managed a restaurant, painted houses, stocked shelves, worked as a cashier, and built pig feeders one summer. I have worked as a lawyer ever since I graduated from law school.
4. How can I decide if I should earn a PhD in this field?
- You will need to earn the equivalent of a PhD because when you graduate from law school, the degree you are awarded is called a "Juris Doctorate" or JD degree. Some lawyers also hold advanced degrees called an LL.M. which an abbreviation for a "Masters of Law" degree (though this is not necessary for a prosecutor). This is usually a specialty degree beyond the normal JD and is usually in a legal specialty like tax law, real estate, international law, or some other highly specific area of law, usually on the civil side and not relevant for criminal attorneys of prosecutors. LL.M.'s are specialists and can usually charge more for their services than a regular JD.
5. Were you in a college program? If so what kinds?
- I was in a pre-law program in college. I majored in history and political science and minored in English. This was great training for law school because I learned to read complicated materials and wrote a TON of papers. You must be able to read and write well to succeed in law school. The people in my classes who did not have a liberal arts background struggled in law school. We had many doctors, nurses, accountants and engineers in my class and they had a very hard time the first year because they had to effectively re-learn how to read a lot, digest and understand what they read, and write about it later.
7. Did you shadow another professional in the field?
- You could say that. I was lucky in that I had a number of lawyers and a judge in my family so I was always around attorneys a lot. I also worked at my father's law office in college as a gopher, (bad) secretary and intern. Law firms are always looking for help, so it's very easy to get an internship at a law firm while you are in college. It's great experience. Shadowing professionals is always a great idea and there are many opportunities to do so in college and law school, and even in high school. Courts are also open to the public. So if you want to see what prosecutors do, just go to court, sit there and watch. In most courts, at least 50% or more of the cases are criminal cases. You will see exactly how the court room part works. You should call the local court clerk and explain that you would like to observe the prosecutor(s) at work and ask them what would be the best day to come and observe. They can tell you if they have any trials or interesting hearings coming up that would be good to watch. I suspect you could also get a chance to speak with the judge about what he or she does. They often like to speak with young people about the law.
8. Did you join any school clubs related to your current profession?
- I took debate and forensics when I was in high school. I also joined the school newspaper which was great to help me learn to write well. Many schools now have mock trial teams that are a great way to get actual practice trying pretend cases. If your school does not have debate or a mock trial team, any kind of class that teaches you how to speak in public or write are excellent preparation for college and law school. In law school I did EVERTHING. I was on the student government, in a bunch of clubs, was part of the moot court board, wrote for the school newspaper, worked in the "Urban Law Clinic" (a class where as students we got to represent indigent defendants in court as real criminal defense attorneys) and did lots of moot court competitions. It all helped and was a great way to get noticed when I was interviewing for prosecutor jobs.
9. Was there a particular subject you struggled with during your school years?
- Math. One of the jokes among lawyers is that they wound up in law school because they can't do math.
10. What skill sets did you learn or gain while pursuing your career?
- In the law, you need many different skills. I have become a much better public speaker and writer. I'm also much better at being organized and managing large projects. In some of my big cases, we had hundreds of witnesses, millions of pages of evidence, and small armies of paralegals and junior attorneys that I had to manage. It was great practice for running my own firm.
11. Can you outright refuse to be the Prosecutor for a court case if you have a reason as to why?
- That is a hard one to answer. I did not see a lot of this when I was prosecuting. I suspect if you have a religious or moral objection to prosecuting a particular case, your boss (the elected prosecutor) might give the case to someone else who doesn't care, but it rarely came up. In my time as a prosecutor, the most unpopular duties involved children. Prosecutors have to prosecute children sometimes. The process is different (it's much more lenient and held in a special court) but it was really hard. So many kids were from broken homes and were just very confused and angry broken, which sometimes resulted in them committing crimes and being arrested. So many times it just felt wrong to prosecute them for what they did. So many times they were just asking for help. If the judge is good and the prosecutor actually cares, it is sometimes possible to help them. Everyone had to rotate in and out of the juvenile unit and I could not wait to get out. Those cases were very sad and no one liked doing them. But some people love that stuff. My uncle the judge was the juvenile court judge and he did love it. He was really good at trying to find the best solution for the kids. Luckily, 99% of your cases as a junior prosecutor are traffic tickets, simple assault cases, shoplifting, and other minor offenses. If one of your family members or friends commits a crime, you have to recuse yourself so you'll never be put in that kind of position.
12. Does your job end up interrupting your vacation times and weekends?
- One of the nice things about being a prosecutor (and I also married a prosecutor) was that it tends to be a very 9-5 job. Your schedule revolves around the court's schedule to a large extent. Courts are not open on weekends or holidays, which is nice. After you get the hang of it, the work is also very similar from case to case. Once you have handled a few speeding tickets, you can do them all. Most criminal cases you handle will "plead out" which means the defendant will not take his case to trial. They will enter a guilty plea to a lesser offense or for a lesser fine or less or no jail time. A prosecutor can carry files for 30 cases in a single brief case. There are generally no depositions, no briefs, nor legal research, no complicated analysis. Many prosecutors will pick up their load of files for the day in the morning and won't even look at them until they get to court that day. If you have to do a jury trial or evidentiary hearing, you may need to take that case home at night or over the weekend but that is rare. Some more senior prosecutors who handle special types of cases that are more complex may take work home. Prosecutors don't make a ton of money, so the hours are less than for an attorney who works at large firm on civil cases. At private firms, attorneys generally work much harder. They often work 60+ hours a week at the office (or longer) and more at home, but they are typically paid better, too. Prosecutors work a normal 40-hour week, generally speaking. Assistant prosecuting attorneys make between about $60,000 and $80,000 per year, depending on the state and how big the city or county is where you work. In San Jose it's more like between about $70,000 and $95,000. You can look up this information on sites like Glassdoor and Salary.com. The federal government also keeps these stats.
13. Is the job dangerous or able to get you hurt?
- Being a prosecutor is not very dangerous, particularly when you are in court. Everyone is searched on the way into court and has to go through a metal detector. So there are no weapons allowed in court. There are also usually many police around as they wait to testify in cases. They will jump on anyone who starts to get aggressive. The court also employs bailiffs who are often armed and will control unruly people in court. Outside of court, sometimes prosecutors are targeted by defendants they have convicted, but it is very rare. Prosecutors typically have unlisted phone numbers and keep a low profile on social media so they cannot be easily found or harassed. And because the police and prosecutors work very closely together, the police take extra good care of the prosecutors (my wife the city attorney knew all the police and used to have the officers in our town follow my daughter around when she was out with friends at the movies or at a restaurant so she would not get into trouble. The kid hated it at the time, but nothing ever happened). We would also see a lot of people she had prosecuted when we were out for dinner or at a movie. But we never had an incident. We even saw a defendant in the Dominican Republic when we were on vacation once. He saw us and waved. No big deal, but she always treated defendants with respect and dignity, so that helped.
Great questions! Good luck.
Matthew L. recommends the following next steps:
Thanks for your encouragement!
Jaydon
Glad you found it encouraging. Getting a law degree takes a lot of school, but you can do a lot with it. Not just practice law, but business, education, finance. Good luck!
Matthew L. Tuck, J.D., M.B.A.