<p>I'm an undergrad right now trying to think of stuff to do in the summer, and I was wondering if public defenders' and/or prosecutors' offices typically have undergrads volunteer/intern with them. </p>
<p>I'm not a pre-law type right now (officially I'm studying physics but I'm not deadset on this); I'd just like to see what it's like to work as a lawyer.</p>
<p>i worked at the d.c. public defender service last summer. i cannot tell you how much i recommend it. let me know if you'd like to know more about my experience, but i'd suggest going to <a href="http://www.pdsdc.org/Internships/index.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.pdsdc.org/Internships/index.asp</a></p>
<p>do you recommend the public defender or the DA's office if we had a choice? ... I HOPE to go to law school ...</p>
<p>If you have a choice, take the DA's office. In any event, either is a good internship for a college student if you can get it.</p>
<p>Why choose the DA over the PD? The only rationale basis for doing so is that you would prefer to see how one side, versus the other, operates. Both offices will give you a very real glimpse of what hardworking, under-paid, and dedicated lawyers every day.</p>
<p>The DA is invariably more prestigious. Public defenders pretty much take whoever they can get.</p>
<p>i would respectfully disagree with the previous statement. although many public defenders have difficulty hiring and maintaining high quality lawyers, the dc public defenders service regularly draws graduates from elite law schools looking to improve their trial experience. moreover, the competition to gain an internship at dcpds is intense, with roughly 700 applicants chasing only 200 positions. this is just one of the many reasons why the criminal law internship at dcpds was described by the washington post as one of the finest pre-law experiences available, and the princeton review has consistently ranked the program in the top 10 nationally, stating that the program is a "criminal law internship at its in-your-face best". check it out: <a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/cte/profiles/internshipGenInfo.asp?internshipID=664%5B/url%5D">http://www.princetonreview.com/cte/profiles/internshipGenInfo.asp?internshipID=664</a></p>