The United States Attorney's Office Rotation offers students an intensive experience, with twenty (20) hours each week dedicated to concentrated learning in a real-world practice setting. The rotation is designed to expose students in a highly structured way to a variety of practice skills and ethical issues, while giving them the opportunity to reflect on the lawyer's role both as an advisor and officer of the court. The emphasis is on problem solving, by placing students in situations where they are required to exercise professional judgment.

Rotation students are assigned to either the civil or criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, based at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, Long Island, the newest and the second largest in the country. The rotation affords students the chance not only to work with highly skilled federal prosecutors and civil attorneys, but also to work in the most modern federal courthouse in the nation.

Students' work may involve highly publicized trials or confidential investigations, but all activities are supervised and evaluated by Assistant United States Attorneys. Assignments may include drafting court documents and presenting arguments to the court; preparing and evaluating pre-trial discovery; and conducting legal research or factual investigations. Because the rotation requires a sustained and engrossing effort, it simulates law practice more closely and permits a student to undertake more responsibility.

A weekly two-hour seminar brings the students together with a faculty member to examine the problems and issues confronted in the rotation. The discussions emphasize federal law and practice, as well as the special ethical concerns that arise in representing the public.

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