ADA Melinda Seiden ’10, helping Alexander Scher ’14 before the judge enters
ALBANY COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE: An Incubator for Litigators B Y PAU L G RO N D A H L
T Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares ’99
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MAGAZINE Summer 2014
he distance from Albany Law School to the Albany County District Attorney’s Office is 2.1 miles, but it has seemed much closer as a result of a robust internship and placement program that was established nearly 30 years ago. In fact, the DA’s office in downtown Albany often functions as a kind of annex to the law school, given its long-standing role as a pipeline for Albany Law students to gain crucial real-life courtroom experience through internships, as well as employment after graduation. In fact, 26 of the 40 Assistant District Attorneys on staff today are Albany Law alumni. It’s no wonder, then, that there is a black-and-white photograph of the law school on a wall in a main hallway, among other historic photos of Albany landmarks. Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares ’99 is bullish on the program because he is a product of it. “I interned with the DA’s office for two years as a law student and I got real courtroom experience working on several trials in the town of Colonie. That was invaluable,” said Soares, who was elected DA in 2004, re-elected to a second term in 2008, and is now serving in his third term since 2012. “I was going to venture into a different area of law, but I caught the bug as an intern and I stayed. When I became DA, I made a much stronger commitment to the internship program with Albany Law.”