1L Judicial Internship Timeline Forum

[NOLA Proud]

Assuming you sent in resume/CL around December 1, how long does it usually take most Fed District Court Judges to get back to you about a potential interview?

Obviously it is going to be different for each individual judge and probably even by region, but is there a general timeframe you should expect to hear back?

[Anonymous User]

Most of my calls came in around February and early March, though a select few were very speedy and called before I even finish 1st semester exams. But the vast majority of calls came much later once they had grades to consider.

[Anonymous User]

Some have responded back and already set up interviews. Others do not start to think about the process until February or later. I think some districts are later than others. I haven't heard anything from Houston other than one judge saying he doesn't make decisions until February for instance while I have a few interviews set up in Maryland. A lot of judges probably want to wait until after winter break so they get all the applications they are going to get.

[Anonymous User]

Assuming you sent in resume/CL around December 1, how long does it usually take most Fed District Court Judges to get back to you about a potential interview?

Obviously it is going to be different for each individual judge and probably even by region, but is there a general timeframe you should expect to hear back?

I had an offer by around this time last year. Then I continued to get several calls every month between now and May. Some of the calls were awkward, generally when the judge called, but generally they were all understanding. Out of the roughly 30 applications I sent 20 or so judges called, 5 sent various rejections (weird ones), and the rest I never heard from.

[Anonymous User]

I sent all of mine on December 3rd and got a call saying I got the position on December 9th but career services has told me that its not the usual.. but trust me i have nothing exceptional on my resume so Im not sure what set me apart. however, if anyone has any idea on what people do during a judicial internship that would be nice.. I applied thinking it would be cool but never really looked into what it entailed

[imchuckbass58]

I think it may depend partially on market. In NY, responses started coming in around December 15th, with the bulk in January and tapering off into February.

[NotMyRealName09]

CALL. Send your resume and then CALL. The nice person on the phone can tell you when, and your call may very well prompt them to set up your interview right then for showing such initiative.

[BEAST_mode]

Reassuring to know that many heard responses throughout the Spring. I sent ~60 Fed. District Apps on 12/1 and have only heard back from one judge thus far.

[sundance95]

CALL. Send your resume and then CALL. The nice person on the phone can tell you when, and your call may very well prompt them to set up your interview right then for showing such initiative.

Is this advice on experience, second hand anecdote, speculation...?

[Anonymous User]

Some have responded back and already set up interviews. Others do not start to think about the process until February or later. I think some districts are later than others. I haven't heard anything from Houston other than one judge saying he doesn't make decisions until February for instance while I have a few interviews set up in Maryland. A lot of judges probably want to wait until after winter break so they get all the applications they are going to get.

i applied to the court of appeals in Houston, but I have a question about the judge who you applied to. Did you apply to individual judges or follow the instructions on the website that said to send the app to the office instead of applying to each judge separately?

[NotMyRealName09]

CALL. Send your resume and then CALL. The nice person on the phone can tell you when, and your call may very well prompt them to set up your interview right then for showing such initiative.

Is this advice on experience, second hand anecdote, speculation...?

Its how I landed mine. Also, one of the first things I learned as a newly minted litigator was if you had a question about court procedure, or how things are actually done (theory doesn't always tell you how to do things in practice), just call the judge's chambers and ask. Its amazing. You could spend an hour doing legal research and still be scratching your head, or pick up the phone and the nice lady in the judge's chambers will tell you exactly what they need. Each judge has staff who are tuned in to how that judge does business, and federal judges usually have a secretary and a case manager. Secretary is probably best for this sort of call. Their phone numbers are published and public for a reason - so you can inquire. And, depending on the judge, many like giving young law students the opportunity to view the process from behind the bench.

Just call and say "Hello, I'm a law student at X, and I'm calling to inquire about interning for judge Y. What can I do to apply?" Have your resume ready. Or, if you've already submitted yours, just ask, "Can you tell me the timeline for a decision?" And, if it feels right, say "I'm available for an interview at your office's convienience." And at least in my experience, and contrary to intuition, grades and resume didn't really matter - its not like you'll be doing anything highly important or significant without someone in the know looking it over first, you're a 1L with one semester of legal education - and some judges just like to provide opportunities to law students. (This may vary depending on location for all I know, but that is my experience.)

If 90% of life is showing up, it never hurts to show up FIRST.

The above applies to federal district court. I also interned for a federal circuit court judge at the begining of my 2L year, and that was entirely merit based and done through my school's career services jobs website. But for district court, students have only had one semester under their belt, so you can't really distinguish one law student from another based on a single semester's grades. And honestly, whats the worst that could happen? The person says no, you move on...

[Anonymous User]

1L. East Coast T-10. Grades will not be out until late Jan.

Mailed out 73 resumes the day before Christmas. 65 for Judicial Internship and 8 Big Law. I now have three Judicial Internship (district court) interviews scheduled between Weds-Thurs this week. Also, I have been contacted by two other judges (or at least their staff) asking me to phone them this week. I wasn’t expecting such a quick response, or so many. I am grateful but I am also concerned that if a Big Law opportunity comes along I will lose out on few thousand dollars a week. As an FYI, no way am I accepting a position and then reneging (even if it means missing out on Big Law).

Is anyone else here experiencing (or has experienced) the same thing? If so, care to share thoughts? Thanks.

[Anonymous User]

What market r u in?

[Anonymous User]

0L here, but I have one question from reading the 1L summer employment threads that hopefully someone can clarify for me. For the vast majority of the intern positions with judges, do you send your resume/CL directly to the separate judges or are there formal applications? If you do send a resume/CL, is this via email or regular mail? Thanks.

[Anonymous User]

1L at a lower T1 in a Midwest secondary market. Sent 14 letters/resumes (no formal application, regular US mail, to answer the anonymous poster above). 7 were to state supreme court, 4 to US district court and 3 to federal bankruptcy court.

I heard from 5 judges/justices within the first week. The state supreme court chief justice's assistant responded immediately to say to apply through my school's externship program (which has a spring application and is a little different than what I was looking for). I got a call for an interview with a district court judge the day after I put the letter in the mail. The next day I got a writing sample request from a bankruptcy judge and a call from another bankruptcy judge asking me to apply through my school's program. The 3rd day I received a call from a district court judge expressing interest but also to let me know they might not have physical space.

I ended up getting offers from the first district court judge at the interview and from the bankruptcy judge without an interview.

I haven't heard from any of the others.

[jess]

.

[n_gal]

how long does it usually take for a judge to make an offer after an interview?

I interviewed about a week ago with a fed. district court judge, it seemed to be going well, but at the end of the interview he said he would let me know in a few weeks. Is it normal that it would take so long for an offer or was this a soft rejection?