How To Become A Criminal District Attorney: What It Is and Career Path

What is a criminal district attorney and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Charity Rohlfs J.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a criminal district attorney. For example, did you know that they make an average of $38.81 an hour? That's $80,719 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 80,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a criminal district attorney?

Charity Rohlfs J.D.

Associate Professor of Paralegal Studies, Website

Find a mentor and be involved with your local legal associations. Porter Gale said, “your network is your net worth.” And, I couldn’t agree more! As a new paralegal, legal operations specialist, or attorney, growing your network helps in all aspects of your career. You will gain new skills, increase your business development ability, engage in meaningful volunteering opportunities, and truly find an area of law you want to specialize in.

ScoreCriminal District AttorneyUS Average

Salary

6.3

Avg. Salary $80,719

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 6.30%

Black or African American 5.47%

Hispanic or Latino 7.68%

Unknown 4.37%

White 75.88%

Gender

female 47.92%

male 52.08%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a criminal district attorney

Explore criminal district attorney education requirements

Most common criminal district attorney degrees

Doctorate

46.5 %

Bachelor's

45.7 %

Associate

3.9 %

Start to develop specific criminal district attorney skills

Skills	Percentages
Jury Trials	18.91%
Law Enforcement Agencies	17.52%
Legal Advice	10.24%
Litigation	8.12%
Bench Trials	7.18%

Complete relevant criminal district attorney training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New criminal district attorneys learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a criminal district attorney based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real criminal district attorney resumes.

Research criminal district attorney duties and responsibilities

Manage, train and mentore newly hire ADA's in courtroom management and trial advocacy.
Draft motions, subpoenas, warrants, protective orders, judgment forms, and complaints.
Investigate cases, interview witnesses, issue subpoenas and review case files.
Draft dispositive motions, discovery motions, pleadings, initial disclosures, respond to discovery requests and interrogatories.

Prepare your criminal district attorney resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your criminal district attorney resume.

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Choose from 10+ customizable criminal district attorney resume templates

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