Through the efforts of the National College of District Attorneys, American College of Trial Lawyers and American Bar Association, the National College of District Attorneys was created in 1970 to provide continuing legal education and training for prosecuting attorneys through programs specifically tailored to meet their needs. At that time, there was no institution devoted exclusively to providing continuing education to the nation's prosecutors. The College filled that gap and, in fact, remains today the only institution devoted exclusively to training prosecutors.

For the first 29 years of its existence, the College was housed on the University of Houston School of Law. In 1999, the College relocated its headquarters to the University of South Carolina School of Law.

On November 5, 2005, the members of the National District Attorneys Association and its Board of Directors approved the merger of NDAA and the National College of District Attorneys. This merger offers many advantages, the greatest of which is the educational benefit to prosecutors.

The goal of the NDAA's National College of District Attorneys' training is to help prosecutors fulfill their responsibilities efficiently, effectively and ethically. The College accomplishes this goal through the national, state, local and contract courses it offers or coordinates. Through these programs, the National College introduces prosecutors to innovations and developments in the classroom so that they are not confronted with them for the first time in the courtroom.

The College conducts approximately 20-25 national courses a year; these are courses offered at various locations around the United States. These four- and five-day courses provide prosecutors, their investigators and administrative personnel with specialized training. They cover a variety of topics such as trial advocacy, civil law and management, forensic evidence, rules of evidence, white collar crime, and issues related to or arising in the prosecution of drug, homicide, white collar crime, sexual assault and other violent crimes.

Among the national courses offered each year by the College are three special courses.

1. The Career Prosecutor Course, designed for prosecutors who have at least one year of felony trial experience, is an in-depth study of the critical role of the prosecutor within the criminal justice system. The course leads participants through an examination of the prosecutor's many roles and functions. Active participation is the hallmark of the College's education approach: group discussions, workshops and performance exercises complement the lectures and demonstrations on nearly every subject.
   
   
2. The Executive Program, open only to elected or appointed prosecuting attorneys and first assistants, provides a forum in which senior policy-making prosecutors share ideas and learn techniques to improve the administration of their offices. Study focuses on the prosecutor's discretion, policy setting, office management, relations within the criminal justice system and with the public and developments in constitutional law.
   
   
3. The Annual National Conference on Domestic Violence is a multi-disciplinary conference geared to increase participants' effectiveness in investigating, prosecuting and handling post-sentence management of domestic violence cases and offenders. The conference is also designed to increase awareness and the quality of treatment of victims of domestic violence, their family members, and our communities that are plagued by the devastating impact of these acts of violence. Participants include judges, law enforcement officers, mental health professionals, parole & probation officers, physicians, prosecutors, psychologists, shelter workers, social workers, victim advocates, clergy and many other professionals dealing with victims of domestic violence.

In addition to these national programs, the College contracts with state associations and state and local prosecutors' offices to present training programs tailored to meet the specific needs of prosecutors in those jurisdictions. For these programs, the College works with the state and local training officials to plan the curriculum, provides speakers from its nationally-acclaimed faculty, and supports the program with professionally prepared course materials and an experienced on-site manager. In addition to programs with a specific agenda, the College also develops programs to meet specialized needs and designs courses to be used under the direction of an in-house supervisor.