Queens District Attorney State Prosecution Field Clinic

Catalog description

The Queens District Attorney State Prosecution Field Clinic introduces students to state prosecution practice through an immersive experience that, under a Student Practice Order from the Appellate Division, Second Department, allows 2L and 3L law students to act as Student Assistant District Attorneys. Students will have the opportunity to participate in investigations, case preparation, witness interviews, and written and oral advocacy both inside and outside the courtroom. Field work and a weekly seminar will be conducted at the District Attorneys Office in Kew Gardens, Queens. As a participant in this clinic students will interact with numerous stakeholders in the New York City criminal justice system including the defense bar, the judiciary, and our law enforcement partners in the New York City Police Department. Students will work with experienced prosecutors to pursue the just resolution of cases from intake through sentencing. You will also learn how to pursue the District Attorneys innovative, problem solving approach to case resolution, including diversion from traditional prosecution and treatment based alternatives to incarceration. Critical thinking and ethical decision making will be required as student prosecutors interview police officers, witnesses and survivors, comply with discovery and disclosure obligations, and prepare for and assist in conducting hearings and trials. You will experience the prosecutors unique role as advocate and impartial public servant at the invitation of Hon. Melinda Katz, the Queens County District Attorney. Through weekly seminars we will study some of the substantive and procedural rules that control New York criminal practice. We will examine the parameters of ethical criminal practice and learn about the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Later in the semester, student prosecutors will be asked to master discreet…