working at the DPP (1 Viewer)

[MichaelJackson2]

Hello all,

Has anyone here worked at the DPP? I'd be grateful to hear from someone who has worked at the DPP about the pros/cons. I do hear that criminal law is a pretty interesting field. I also hear that the female-to-male ratio is pretty good too.

 

[jackmurray1989]

I also hear that the female-to-male ratio is pretty good too.

Good to see I'm not the only person who chooses their career path based on this fact.

 

[liljd001]

I have done work experience in every part of the legal industry possible, solicitors office, police prosecutors, barristers and, my favourite, the DPP.

By far, I enjoyed the DPP more than any of the others. I was given a real case to work on and went to district court every day, which was an incredible experience. I came out of the week knowing this was exactly where I wanted to be.

The staff were great and in my opinion the work is so much more interesting than the type of work done in private chambers, for example wills, power of attorney etc. I love criminal law and the DPP was excellent.

The pay would not be as good as what top notch barristers would be reaping, but I think those looking into the legal field need to understand that it's not all drama and big bucks like on television.

I would recommend you undertake some research and work experience in the DPP and come to your own conclusion =)

 

[hfis]

To be fair, a HSC student's impression of 'being given a real case to work on' probably differs markedly from that of a law student. A friend of mine who worked at the DPP told me that it was often frustrating in that he was never given substantive legal work to do, which is what most law students look for - which is fair enough, as it's a government department and those solicitors have a responsibility towards it to uphold.

I think it would be interesting working there, but not great for work experience. Either way I'm sure the number of unopposed bail applications and plea bargains you have to witness would grow to be frustrating.

 

[MichaelJackson2]

hmm well i start work exp at the DPP pretty soon. all these boston legal episodes are getting me excited .

 

[RogueAcademic]

I would pay to work at Crane Poole & Schmidt.

 

[MichaelJackson2]

I would pay to work at Crane Poole & Schmidt.

even if that means risk being shot by Denny Crane?

 

[jackmurray1989]

hmm well i start work exp at the DPP pretty soon. all these boston legal episodes are getting me excited .

Can you let us know how it goes please?


Also, does anyone know how many people they recruit a year? Do they have yearly graduate recruitment like the big law firms or do they just advertise when positions open up?

 

[MichaelJackson2]

the work is actually quite good, there's a lot of other students doing work experience who have done clerkships at big 6 firms who say they'd much prefer working at the dpp. i get to 'instruct' crown prosecutors which means sitting alongside the prosecutor during proceedings taking notes, helping them find documents they want to tender, and just generally looking good at the bar table with my awesome hairdo. back at the office, it's drafting correspondence and sending out evidence to defence, calling up lazy police officers who have not sent us vital exhibits for proceedings and preparing briefs to counsel for trials and sentences. it's good work experience, you get to work alongside graduates and do the same work they do. going to court is the fun part though, and although we were told to never talk to the media, you do feel tempted to go up to the media outside the court complex, walk up to the cameras and say "DENNY CRANE". all in all it's a great place to work, though you won't earn as much as you would in a commercial law firm but i suppose it's the place to be if you've always wanted to be batman rather than denny crane.

 

[RogueAcademic]

Which DPP were you at?

 

[MichaelJackson2]

Which DPP were you at?

batman never gives information which could reveal his identity.

 

[RogueAcademic]

batman never gives information which could reveal his identity.

*shakes fist*

 

[jackmurray1989]

I would have figured there'd be legal/privacy issues involved and that for work experience you'd mainly be doing clerical stuff and getting coffees but it sound like you're doing real stuff.

Do they have any kind of program in place for people doing work exp or do you just tag along with a prosecutor doing their job?

 

[MichaelJackson2]

they don't have a programme per se that's tailored to work exp students, you just work as a clerk and do things which the prosecutors can't afford to waste their time on, such as calling up police officers and making sure that they've contacted witnesses for trials, doing up subpoenas and sending them out (and calling up the officers to confirm that they've actually been served), editing audio cassette tapes that will be played to the jury (eg deleting sections which defence lawyers have indicated will be prejudicial to their client), stepping outside the courtroom to tell a witness to get their asses in there when they're called to the witness box and just general liaising with defence lawyers letting them know, for instance, whether particular charges are going to be dropped as well as sending them evidence we receive from police (not to mention chasing police officers every now and them asking why we have received poor quality video footage and audio tapes which the jury will probably not be able to clearly see/hear and therefore piss off the judge).

and jackmurray, of course there are legal/privacy issues but that doesn't mean we're not allowed to see certain things (indeed we are allowed to view all exhibit material for a particular trial, which may include post-mortem photos for a murder trial though i hope i never have to see that!), it just means that if we leak anything out then we will truly be up shit's creek and have our heads cutt off in a medieval fashion.

 

[RogueAcademic]

just general liaising with defence lawyers letting them know, for instance, whether particular charges are going to be dropped as well as sending them evidence we receive from police

I'm kinda picturing the prosecutor and the defence counsel sitting at each end of the Bar table in court, and they're using you to liaise with each other.

PROSECUTOR: MichaelJackson2 can you let that cheap excuse of a barrister sitting over there that we're dropping Count 3.

DEFENCE COUNSEL: (yelling from the other end of the Bar table) YOU TELL HIM HE CAN KISS MY CHEAP BARRISTER ASS.

MICHAELJACKSON2: FFS, if it's ok with you two, I'm just going to sit with the accused in the dock until lunch adjournment.​

of course there are legal/privacy issues but that doesn't mean we're not allowed to see certain things (indeed we are allowed to view all exhibit material for a particular trial, which may include post-mortem photos for a murder trial though i hope i never have to see that!).

Most trials are open for public viewing anyway so anyone, including the media, are allowed to sit in the public viewing area and watch the whole trial unfold if they wish.* It's predominantly the child sex abuse cases where they have private special hearings and/or other exceptionally sensitive cases where the judge will call for a closed court hearing. If there is a witness whose identity is to be protected, they'll do it 'in camera' from a remote location.

* "Justice must not only be done, it must also be seen to be done." (Literally 'seen', the public must have confidence in their justice system and therefore they should be allowed to see that Justice is being done in the courts).

 

[jackmurray1989]

I'm kinda picturing the prosecutor and the defence counsel sitting at each end of the Bar table in court, and they're using you to liaise with each other.

PROSECUTOR: MichaelJackson2 can you let that cheap excuse of a barrister sitting over there that we're dropping Count 3.

DEFENCE COUNSEL: (yelling from the other end of the Bar table) YOU TELL HIM HE CAN KISS MY CHEAP BARRISTER ASS.

MICHAELJACKSON2: FFS, if it's ok with you two, I'm just going to sit with the accused in the dock until lunch adjournment.​

lol
​

Most trials are open for public viewing anyway so anyone, including the media, are allowed to sit in the public viewing area and watch the whole trial unfold if they wish.* It's predominantly the child sex abuse cases where they have private special hearings and/or other exceptionally sensitive cases where the judge will call for a closed court hearing. If there is a witness whose identity is to be protected, they'll do it 'in camera' from a remote location.

* "Justice must not only be done, it must also be seen to be done." (Literally 'seen', the public must have confidence in their justice system and therefore they should be allowed to see that Justice is being done in the courts).

Yeah, but he'd also be going through all the inadmissible evidence (such as editing the cassette tapes). I suppose it's not a big deal, I just figured it may give him an inside scoop that only registered lawyers/prosecutors get.

Sounds fun. I'll probably give it a shot when I do my 4 week work exp in third year.

 

[RogueAcademic]

Yeah, but he'd also be going through all the inadmissible evidence (such as editing the cassette tapes). I suppose it's not a big deal, I just figured it may give him an inside scoop that only registered lawyers/prosecutors get.

Well, even inadmissible evidence is often discussed in open court as well, it's just that the jury is sent to the jury room during these discussions. The jury are really the only group of people who need to be protected from things such as inadmissible evidence so that the verdict they later produce can be said to be fair and impartial.

The kinds of things which really need to be protected from the public as I said are child victims, or perhaps certain aspects of high profile cases etc, or something which the judge/barristers deem is good public policy not to reveal in open court like certain informants or witnesses whose identities need to be protected or if certain aspects of the case are particularly gruesome etc.