2012 Clerkship Application Thread Forum

[Anonymous User]

I thought I would get this thread started since OSCAR opens up on September 4. Post about anything related to your applications this year (whether to federal court or state court), interviews, offers, etc. I'll start:

School Range: T3 in CA
GPA/Rank: 3.85/Top 10% officially, top 5% estimate (top 10% cutoff is 3.5)
LR/Journal: LR Board
Applying to: All federal district courts, circuit courts, BK courts, magistrate judges, and state courts on the West Coast

Good luck everyone!

[Anonymous User]

Applied as an alum (Class of 2012 for 2013-14 clerkships)
School Range: HYS
GPA/Rank: Graduated cum laude (top 40%), but I think I was around top 30% when I applied.
Journal: Board of secondary
Applied to: District court judges in most major cities on the east and west coasts
Results: District court clerkship 2013-14 in SDNY/EDNY/DDC

[Anonymous User]

School: H
GPA/Rank: 3.63 (1 DS, 9 H, 7 P)
Journal: Board of secondary
Applying To: 9th Cir., every District Court in a major metro area in the 9th Cir, some other District Courts. Total of 150ish judges.

[Anonymous User]

School: CCN
GPA/Rank: top 33%
Journal: board of secondary
Applying to: district & CoA judges in regions w/ home or undergrad ties

Results: four invitations to interview - 1 COA, 3 DCT

[Anonymous User]

Applying as an alum (class of 2012, currently clerking for district judge within 9th circuit)
School: T75
Rank: top 5%
Applying to some 9th circuit COA (late in the game)

[Anonymous User]

Applying as a 3L
School: BU/BC
Rank: Top 10-15%
Journal: Law Review, no board
Applying to: Literally every open federal district court position on OSCAR, plus the Mass State SC

Just finalized all of my OSCAR apps last night and had to drink half a bottle of wine to gather the courage. Good luck everyone!

[Anonymous User]

Applying as a 3L
School: T2
Rank: Top 2% (#4)
Journal: Law Review - Ed. Board, published
Applying to: CoA (9th, 7th, 4th, 8th), Midwest district courts

[Anonymous User]

Applying at a 3L
School: HYS
Rank: Top 40% (12 Hs, 10 Ps)
Journal: Secondary E-Board
Applying to: Several state supremes, west coast districts, and a couple of CoA.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard back from the Minnesota SSC or COA yet? The application deadline was August 01.

[Anonymous User]

So what should we expect next Friday if one is only applying to District Courts? Will almost all judges contact interviewees on Friday morning or could the process extend a bit? Is it 10am or doom, or is that just for the CoA?


Applying as a 3L
School: Top 25
Rank: Top 15%
Journal: Board of a Secondary
Applying to: District Courts in some cities, but mainly in small towns that I'm familiar with...

[Anonymous User]

Applying as a 3L
School: Mid-Atlantic Tier 1 (W&L/W&M/GMU/American/UNC/WF)
Rank: Top 5%
Journal: Law Review, Editorial Board (not EIC/ME)
Applying to: DCts all over the US, a few COA positions

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L
School: H/S
Rank: Median (even split H's, P's)
Journal: Board of secondary
Applied: COA's in Northeast, D. Ct.'s in home state, NY, DC

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L
School: H/S
Rank: Median (even split H's, P's)
Journal: Board of secondary
Applied: COA's in Northeast, D. Ct.'s in home state, NY, DC

No way this is median at either school.

[Anonymous User]

Applying as 3L
School: Top 25
Rank: 15%
No Journal
Previous work experience
Transfer student
Applied: District Courts in 3 cities - mostly mid west/southwest. TX S.C.

In response to a post above - our clerkship faculty advisor stated the calls for interviews start 9/7 and then drop off significantly each day. So, if you are not called by that Monday afternoon (9/10) there is little chance of getting an interview. At least according to our professor.

Good Luck everyone!

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L
School: H/S
Rank: Median (even split H's, P's)
Journal: Board of secondary
Applied: COA's in Northeast, D. Ct.'s in home state, NY, DC

No way this is median at either school.

OP here. Conventional info. passed around is that even H/P split puts you within middle range of our school's clerkship applicants. Maybe that's different than the class at large? In your view where would the even split place (genuinely curious...)?

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L
School: around 50.
Rank: top 1%
Journal: Non EiC Board of Law Review
Applied: CoA/District Courts nationwide

Off-Plan: 1 Circuit interview, 2 Circuit phone screeners (one of which was recent and pending)
Results: 2 rejections, 1 TBA

On-Plan: 6 District interviews in Illinois, NY, NJ, Ohio, Michigan, Hawaii. 3 Magistrate interviews in NJ and 2x SDNY.
Results: 1 District offer for 2014, 2 District rejections, 2 Magistrate rejections, 4 TBA.

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L
School: H/S
Rank: Median (even split H's, P's)
Journal: Board of secondary
Applied: COA's in Northeast, D. Ct.'s in home state, NY, DC

No way this is median at either school.

OP here. Conventional info. passed around is that even H/P split puts you within middle range of our school's clerkship applicants. Maybe that's different than the class at large? In your view where would the even split place (genuinely curious...)?

Oh, then I don't think we disagree - I imagine your grades are probably very close to the median of clerkship applicants, but anywhere from top 30-40% (depending on if you're at H or S, number of book prizes/Dean's Scholar's, etc.) of the class as a whole. Not everyone applies for clerkships, and those who do tend to (but don't universally) have better grades than the class as a whole.

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L
School: Lower T-14
Rank: Slightly above median
Journal: None
Applied: Federal district and state appellate courts in southeastern market

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L
School: Between 18-22
Rank: top 5%
Journal: LR (no board)
Applied: All Districts/COA in 9th Circuit, all COAs on Oscar, couple of state supreme courts
Interviews: one state SC, one COA

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L
School: H
Rank: 12H/5P (top 20%ish maybe?)
Journal: Secondary and other non-LR application org
Applied: Districts up and down eastern seaboard, some CoA scattered.

Never have I felt more strongly that I will fail 100 times out of 100.

[Anonymous User]

Interviews: one circuit, one COA

What's the difference?

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L
School: CCN
Top 5% & LR (no board position)
Applied to one COA judge early, got offer.

[Citizen Genet]

Running of the bulls (on the judge side) starts tomorrow. Anyone else putting in?

[Anonymous User]

(Applied as an Alum for a 2d clerkship)
School: lower T14
GPA/Rank: Top 2%
Journal: Law Review + Exec board
1st Clerkship: fed district court judge in major district ('12-'13)
Applied to: COA judges in major cities/markets (~40 judges)
Results: Received 12 interviews, received and accepted an offer about halfway through the scheduled interviews.

Good luck to everyone applying on plan. There's still plenty of great judges out there.

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L
School: mid-T1 on West Coast
GPA/Rank: Top 8%
LR: flagship LR, but not exec board
Applying to ~140 district and circuit court judges across country.

Note: Interviewed off-plan with a 9th Cir. judge and a flyover DJ. Have on-plan interviews with 3 flyover DJs, one of which was a parlay, and a CD Cal.

Results: 2013-14 clerkship in district court.