JD Degree or LEO?

[Bub1]

My goal is to become an 1811 with DEA,USMS,FBI or ICE and I am interested in many other agencies. What would a Federal Agency prefer actual law enforcement experience or would a JD with experience working for a DA office be better?

I rearranged that a bit, but his goals are federal employment, so please relax as I meant no offense to non-feds. The original poster is also quite aware that there are other 1811's other than the FBI, but I was giving a specific bit of news I'd heard. Yikes man...

[Kimble]

I rearranged that a bit, but his goals are federal employment, so please relax as I meant no offense to non-feds. The original poster is also quite aware that there are other 1811's other than the FBI, but I was giving a specific bit of news I'd heard. Yikes man...

Thin-skinned, huh? You'll fit right in with the bureau. :rolleyes:

[Bub1]

classy.

[glockpacker]

It takes a very special 18 year old to make it through the hiring process and if they did they would have to put in 25 years of service before they would be eligible to retire. So they would be eligble at 43:

43 still sounds pretty good to me There are so many lawyers in private practice that I see every day who are so old they dont know whats going on anymore, but they just didn't save back enough money during their prime working years to be able to retire. One is 80+ years old and he is so lost he will never be found again.

[CityOfChicago]

I worked as a prosecutor for three years.

Funnny.....I worked as a ninja for three years. What a co-winky-dink.

I'm a midnight beat cop. I wanted to learn how to write search warrants. So when the opportunity arose, I grabbed my Sgt, he called a Lt. he was friends with who was good at warrants, he walked me through one. Now I try to write them as much as possible, and I maybe have to make one small change in wording before approval.

Group's right about writing legal-ese, but you can learn that on the job if you care to try, too.

Neither is better than the other. One gives you a law degree, one adds to street experience. The question is: Which one do you want to do?

[FlyMIA]

Thanks for the replies and advice everyone.

This summer I will prepare a bit for the LSAT as to what I am going to do I am not sure yet. I still have over a year to decide though thankfully. I like the idea of the FBI because they deal with a very wide variety of crimes and also I like that they deal with terrorism. But I also like the idea of knocking down doors with the USMS and doing “real” police work or working with the DEA. I also think I would enjoy some time as a local officer but I would also like to have a law degree since law is a great career in case law enforcement does not work out. There are only three jobs I could ever imagine myself doing in life, Law Enforcement, Airline Pilot or Criminal Law. I guess with law school I have the chance to do both. It will be a long decision process

Again thanks for the advice.

[Group9]

Funnny.....I worked as a ninja for three years. What a co-winky-dink.

I'm a midnight beat cop. I wanted to learn how to write search warrants. So when the opportunity arose, I grabbed my Sgt, he called a Lt. he was friends with who was good at warrants, he walked me through one. Now I try to write them as much as possible, and I maybe have to make one small change in wording before approval.

Group's right about writing legal-ese, but you can learn that on the job if you care to try, too.

Neither is better than the other. One gives you a law degree, one adds to street experience. The question is: Which one do you want to do?

And, not just search warrants, but Title 3 affidavits, and other court orders for things like GPS tracking or cell phone tracking, or other unusual situations, where a hundred go-by's may not be lying around. And, the research is good experience for writing linkage reports and other analysis that has to be documented with cites, to get major funding for a case (a lot of local guys just know the feds have tons of money for cases without ever wondering or knowing how they got that money approved).

Not that anyone can't learn to do stuff like that, but it's nice to be able to hit the ground running on that stuff when you're job is supposed to be high level and complex conspiracy investigations.

[Bub1]

Thanks for the replies and advice everyone.

This summer I will prepare a bit for the LSAT as to what I am going to do I am not sure yet. I still have over a year to decide though thankfully. I like the idea of the FBI because they deal with a very wide variety of crimes and also I like that they deal with terrorism. But I also like the idea of knocking down doors with the USMS and doing “real” police work or working with the DEA. I also think I would enjoy some time as a local officer but I would also like to have a law degree since law is a great career in case law enforcement does not work out. There are only three jobs I could ever imagine myself doing in life, Law Enforcement, Airline Pilot or Criminal Law. I guess with law school I have the chance to do both. It will be a long decision process

Again thanks for the advice.

Good luck man, I think you are making the smart choice by keeping your options for law school open. Just don't put off making the actual choice till it's too late, since the earlier you make a decision the more focused you can become which will help a lot in whichever path you choose in the end.

LSAT studying is a real pain, took me about a month of solid studying (up to two practice tests/day) to be able to kick it's butt. Personally, studying on my own yielded higher results than the Kaplan course (did it still...) and I highly recommend doing as many practice tests as you can. I think I did almost all the ones publicly available. When you do study, study hard, b/c you really only want to go through the process once!

[glockpacker]

Thanks for the replies and advice everyone.

One more bit of advice I wish someone had told me. Start applying for criminal investigator jobs at least 18 months before you graduate from law school. I always put it off while I was in school becuase I was afraid I would get hired and not be able to finish. 1) Getting hired too fast is not a problem anyone on here is having - and if you have 2 years of the program completed you should still qualify for the GL-09 pay grade (and save yourself $30,000 worth of tuition); and 2) If you are close to graduation when an offer comes the agency will sometimes (not always) give you time to finish your degree program.

[CityOfChicago]

And, not just search warrants, but Title 3 affidavits, and other court orders for things like GPS tracking or cell phone tracking, or other unusual situations, where a hundred go-by's may not be lying around. And, the research is good experience for writing linkage reports and other analysis that has to be documented with cites, to get major funding for a case (a lot of local guys just know the feds have tons of money for cases without ever wondering or knowing how they got that money approved).

Not that anyone can't learn to do stuff like that, but it's nice to be able to hit the ground running on that stuff when you're job is supposed to be high level and complex conspiracy investigations.

Real investigations stuff. I just drive the car like a comet and punch people. I'm envious. Really I'm just Rowdy Roddy Piper with a badge.

[Group9]

Real investigations stuff. I just drive the car like a comet and punch people. I'm envious. Really I'm just Rowdy Roddy Piper with a badge.

You're there to kick *** and chew bubble gum, and you're all out of bubble gum? :D

[CityOfChicago]

Piper - awesome

John Carpenter - godlike

"They Live" - how freakn funny is that last scene where they're having sex and the chick screams and they show him and he says "What's wrong, baby?"

[BP348]

You're there to kick *** and chew bubble gum, and you're all out of bubble gum? :D

lol :D