3L SPA Fall Intern (District Attorney’s Office)

Douglas County, CO•Castle Rock, CO

15d•Onsite

About The Position

This internship position is for current 3L law student applicants who have completed at least two full years of law school prior to their internship start date for the Fall/Spring. During the fall semester, Interns generally work 8 hours a day, 2-3 days a week to work around their law school schedule. Accommodations to this schedule can be made. Please list and discuss any accommodations required during your interview. The 23rd is the newest DA’s Office in the state, representing three counties and almost 400,000 Coloradoans. Our jurisdiction spans urban, suburban, and rural areas, offering a variety of communities to fit your individual or family needs. If you’re looking for an intern experience stuck behind a desk all day, our program is not for you. You WILL be in the courtroom. You WILL argue motions, sentences, and cases to a judge. You WILL conduct jury trials. Voir dire, opening, closing, direct and cross examinations, you will do it all. You WILL negotiate plea dispositions with defense counsel and pro se individuals. In addition to being in the courtroom, you will review real criminal cases, consult with real victims, and negotiate plea offers with defendants. This is real criminal legal experience, not just drafting briefs and memos. Joining our SPA internship program is the first step towards a career as a prosecutor with our office. We pride ourselves in our dedication to training and preparing SPA interns to excel as trial attorneys, courtroom advocates, and most importantly, “ministers of justice.” Earn pay, law school credit, or both. We pay SPA interns an hourly wage of $21. But our office is more than just a place to work: it’s a place you want to work. Just some of our office events are a yearly chili cook-off challenge, a cornhole tournament, and wildlife photo contest. We have an office softball and golf team. We hold an annual winter holiday party, trick-or-treat street, and frequent summer BBQs on our office grill. To be the best, you should learn from the best. Our office is staffed with experienced prosecutors who have tried some of the highest profile and most complex cases in Colorado history. You’ll find our prosecutors teaching at both statewide and national conferences, law schools, and authoring statewide manuals on prosecution. Our office strives to be at the forefront of prosecution. From leading the state in giving the public an unprecedented level of insight into our office with our data dashboards, solving decades old cold case murders through DNA analysis from our dedicated forensic crime lab, to solving crimes through digital data analysis of cellphones and geo-location analysis. We designed our SPA internship program to equip our interns with the skills and knowledge to seamlessly step into a full criminal caseload and try jury trials solo the day they pass the bar. In addition to the extensive experience each SPA intern acquires handling real criminal cases, we provide weekly trainings, daily guidance and supervision from deputy district attorneys in the courtroom, and one-to-one mentorship from the County Court Chief Deputy District Attorney and Senior Deputy District Attorney. Our leaders are seasoned trial attorneys, experienced in handling some of the highest profile cases in the state, and versed in cutting edge trial presentation and technology. Our SPA interns are not an afterthought, using shared computers, and excluded from opportunities afforded deputy district attorneys. Our SPA interns are an integral part our team and we treat them as such. They join in with county court deputy district attorneys for meetings, trainings, and gatherings. During the semester, Student Practice Act Interns work 8 hours a day, 5 days week. Accommodations to this schedule can be made. Please list and discuss any accommodations required during your interview. This Student Practice Act Internship Program is for the Douglas County Office, located at 4000 Justice Way, Castle Rock, CO Applications for this position will be reviewed on a rolling basis. The position may be filled prior to the listed closing date. Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible to ensure consideration. In the event of an emergency/disaster in or near the County, all County employees are expected to make every effort to be available to assist the County Manager, Elected/Appointed Officials and Department Directors to ensure the continued operation of any and all necessary County functions. This may mean being available to perform additional duties and hours beyond what is normally required. In the event that an exempt employee does work more than 40 hours a week in support of County operations during an emergency, such employee may receive overtime or other appropriate wage compensation in accordance with existing County policies or at the discretion of the County.

Requirements

Current 3L law student applicants.
Must have completed at least two full years of law school prior to the internship start date.
Must be qualified to practice under the Student Practice Act prior to starting the Student Practice Act Internship (See C.R.C.P. Rule 205.7).