DA Hoovler Welcomes New Staff

October 27, 2024

District Attorney Hoovler Congratulates New Staff Members 

Who Passed the New York State Bar Examination

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler congratulated Assistants District Attorney Brianna Bloomer, Adrian Broe, Gabrielle Lucas and Justin Ramos, all of whomwere recently notified that they passed their New York State Bar examinations and are awaiting admission as attorneys to the New York State Bar. Under a New York State “Practice Order,” law school graduates who have not yet received their bar results can act as Assistant District Attorneys in local courts which handle misdemeanor prosecutions, although they may not appear in County Court on felonies or be present during grand jury proceedings. If an Assistant District Attorney who is not admitted to the bar learns that they have failed the examination, they are no longer eligible to work as a prosecutor under the Practice Order.  

District Attorney Hoovler also congratulated Assistant District Attorney Sarah Sheeler Erickson, who is awaiting admission to the New York State Bar, by “waiving in” from another jurisdiction. ADA Erickson served as an Assistant County Attorney in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire prosecuting misdemeanor and felony cases. 

Assistants District Attorneys Bloomer, Broe, Lucas, Ramos and Erickson are all currently assigned to the District Attorney Office’s Early Case Assessment Bureau [“ECAB”]. In 2020, District Attorney Hoovler instituted ECAB as a way to get timely information from police agencies and comply with new criminal discovery statutes. Until ECAB, the more than 35 police agencies in Orange County, as in most counties outside of New York City, had historically drafted their own accusatory instruments, which are the legal documents that commence a criminal prosecution. Under the ECAB system, police officers speak to a prosecutor over the phone while the prosecutor accesses information about the case through computer links between the District Attorney’s office and the police departments so that the prosecutor has access to police reports and often digital evidence at the time the prosecutor drafts necessary legal documents. The Orange County system allows for lawyers instead of police officers to draft the legal documents which commence a case while at the same time ensuring that defendants obtain the materials they are entitled to, and sensitive victim and witness information which may need to be protected by applications to the court can be identified.Orange County’s ECAB system has been a model for other District Attorney Offices throughout the state. 

“I am proud of the important work done every day by these new Assistant District Attorneys and all of my staff,” said District Attorney David. M. Hoovler. “Being a prosecutor in New York State has never been more challenging, I am grateful that we can continue to attract talented lawyers who work for just outcomes for the residents of Orange County. I congratulate each of these ADAs on their pending admission to the New York State Bar.”