Life as a Rural Crown Prosecutor

[Puddnhead]

I will be articling at a Crown office in small town Alberta next year, which is really a dream come true for me. Having already come across some very helpful posts from a few of the Crowns on this site, I am hoping to learn more about what a career in a rural area can look like. I would really like to hear it all: what is the work like? Does the nature of the job make it difficult to have a social life (given relative lack of anonymity) or otherwise fit in to the community? What do you wish someone would have told you as you were just getting into things? I have spent nearly my entire life in rural AB but do not yet know any Crowns well enough to be able to ask these questions.

[BHC1]

I was a Crown prosecutor in a rural community with less than 10,000 residents. I'll try to answer some of your questions, though your mileage will vary:

• What is the work like? Compared to being a Crown in a larger urban center, I found that I had a lot more discretion to work the cases as I saw fit. While I was still rightly constrained by Crown policy, I felt I could make decisions about staying cases for a lack of public interest or RPC with a lot less bureaucratic scrutiny. I also found I was able to work on a larger variety of cases than when I was working in a city, though they were much smaller in scale.  I also liked how I was able to build a relationship with judges, clerks, police officers, other Crowns, and defence lawyers in a way I wasn't able to do when I worked in a city. The bar is small. Your reputation for being fair, hardworking, or incompetent and lazy will be known quickly and it can help when trying to move matters forward. There was definitely a lot less administrative support. More often than not, I had to print and bind my own court materials and files - this can be pretty time consuming. It was not something I had to do nearly as often when I worked in a larger office. 
• Does the nature of the job make it difficult to have a social life (given relative lack of anonymity) or otherwise fit in to the community?  Although people are going to recognize you - particularly the longer you do the job - people in the community tended to respect the fact that it was just a job. Being a prosecutor generally did not make my social life or otherwise fitting into the community more difficult. However, I did find it did make working cases a lot more intimate. For example, it wasn't uncommon that I would see someone I was prosecuting at the grocery store or at the post office. You'll also work with a lot of repeat offenders and complainants, so you'll end up knowing someone's entire life story and how they connect to other people in the community. Personally, it made me a lot more sympathetic to accused persons than when I was an urban Crown. You see a lot more sides of a person when you see them giving away free fish to elderly people on Facebook just after you finished prosecuting them for a sexaul assault. For some people I can imagine this would be a lot. 
• What do you wish someone would have told you as you were just getting into things? While it might seem trivial, make sure you know what you can expense. I spent a lot of money on water that I really didn't need to. I also learned a little too late I was entitled to certain expenses related to court clothing. 

Best of luck - I'm sure it's going to be a great experience. 

[Puddnhead]

Thank you very much! I appreciate your insight!

[Puddleglum]

Good luck with articles! Smaller towns and communities can allow you to really get familiar with the local bar and judges. I am not in AB but expect there is some overlap in my experience. One thing to remember is that with the provincial crown you can often get advice and support from beyond your small office. If someone in your office doesn't know the answer a Crown elsewhere in the province will and is usually happy to chat.

[Puddnhead]

Hey thanks so much! I’m sure excited to hear that. Very much looking forward to getting to know some lawyers and learning as much as I can.