A message to those law students who are graduating this year or in the next year who aspire to be public defenders, from someone who entered the market in a similar economic time - don't rule out becoming a prosecutor (hear me out!) (thread) 1/

In 2007, while I was finishing up my clerkship I was faced with a shuttered city/county/state economy where very few PD offices across the country were hiring. I started casting a wide net, including applying for a Prettyman Fellowship and 2/

at DOJ Honors (top choice Civil Rights Division). As I was waiting to hear from Prettyman (I was a finalist), I got an offer from DOJ criminal antitrust, as a prosecutor. I was torn-I spent my entire law school life planning and preparing to be a PD 3/

but now I had this offer and it needed an answer before Prettyman could decide. I went to my mentor, a death penalty litigator, who gave me the most sage advice ever, and advice I pass down repeatedly. I give it to you now - 4/

we NEED PD-minded people to also be prosecutors. NEED them. As PDs, our job is mostly to put bandaid on arterial wounds, but what if we could prevent the cuts from being made in the first place? Yes, structural change is needed, but 5/

we also need people on the ground doing this work. Being a PD prosecutor is hard, it's a lot of swimming upstream, but you CAN make a difference, a huge one. So in an economy that might not give you your first choice, consider it. 6/

Will you be able to be a PD after? Yes, I did. And you will do so having been able to see the inside of the grand jury room, observe the execution of search warrants, and get inside the head of police and investigators. Best of all? 7/

When I would go to negotiate with prosecutors, I had some sort of advantage, because they automatically saw me not as a "true believer" to rail against, but as a reasonable PD that they could work with. Is this for everyone? No. 8/

But I just suggest that you don't rule it out, at least not in this economy. We need you to remain in the sphere, and you could be such an amazing force for change. /end