On the Job: Working at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office

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Daniella Haviv

CAS senior Daniella Haviv, works at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Lily Li, Staff Writer

As kids, most of us were repeatedly asked the same question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” For CAS senior Daniella Haviv, her childhood answer hasn’t wavered in the slightest.

“When I was in kindergarten and people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would always say a lawyer,” Haviv said. “I knew it from the beginning.”

Haviv, who majors in Social and Cultural Analysis, credits her interest in law to a family change.

“I have a desire to do family law because my parents got divorced when I was young,” Haviv said. “My mom represented herself and I saw what it was like to be a lawyer.”

Haviv took her passion and turned it into a reality when she started interning for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office this fall and finally got to see what being a lawyer meant for herself.

Haviv’s job as an intern is mainly clerical work, including making copies and doing research for the attorneys. Sometimes, she gets to sit in on case hearings, interview witnesses and prepare cases. Haviv said that oddly enough, one of her favorite things to do is to bring files to attorneys and judges in the courtroom.

“I get to walk in there during a trial and be like ‘Hi, this is delivered for you,’” she said.

Haviv works twice a week, one day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and another from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Because of the long days, she scheduled her classes around the internship.

“Balancing school and work is difficult, but not impossible,” Haviv said. For her, it is all about prioritizing. Haviv transferred to NYU from Penn State for her sophomore year, she remembers joining many clubs to try and find something that would stick.

“It’s cool when you are just starting and want to try everything, but when you get older, especially toward the end of the year, you need to focus on what’s more important, and prioritize that,” Haviv said. “I stopped doing stuff that I know I won’t care about in a few years.”

Before this job, Haviv had worked as a web designer for “Safe Net Project” under the Urban

Justice Center, which was co-founded by one of her NYU professors. This job involved helping poor families find benefits to which they are entitled.

“That was my first work in public sector,” Haviv said. “Then, I realized I want to do more things like that. Interning for the Manhattan DA’s office combined my passion for social work with my passion for law.”

In her free time, Haviv, on brand, loves to watch law TV shows. Right now, her favorite is White Collar. As for whether or not these shows compare favorably to what she sees every day firsthand: “Yes, and no.”

“In the TV show, there is drama happening all the time — somebody is always doing something, and in the end, everything everybody did comes together and solves the case,” Haviv said. “But in real life, you can just do the same thing all day and nobody comes in with a big plot twist.”

But for Haviv, even if the job is not as dramatic and fast-paced as the shows, she still appreciates it.

“There is an endgame or a solution, and I feel like that happens in real life too,” Haviv said. “All these cases come to a resolution and in the end, hopefully you have helped somebody. You see that the work you do matters.”

Email Lily Li at [email protected].