Judicial Internship Interviews/Turning Down a Judge
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:35 pm
I sent out packets to all federal district judges and bankruptcy judges in the local division and COA judges with local chambers this past Tuesday. I mailed them from within town, so they were received early Wednesday. I heard back around noon that day from a district judge, we'll call her Judge A, who I'd really like to work for. Her judicial career is quite impressive and prior to her appointment she was a partner at a firm I'm very interested and have another contact with for a 2L SA. The clerk who contacted me said the earliest she could interview me was next Thursday, because they had a trial starting, so Ischeduled the interview for then. On Thursday, I was contacted by another district judge -- Judge B -- and then another Thursday -- Judge C. Today, I got a call from a Bankrupty Court Judge -- Judge D. I scheduled the interview with Judge C for 2 weeks from now...the earliest possible because he was going out of state for a trial. I have yet to contact the other district court judge, Judge B, or the bankruptcy judge, D, who just called earlier this morning.
I have very good grades but am at a lower T1 regional school. The local big firms hire a lot of my school but pretty much no 1Ls aside from diversity candidates, so my goal is to set myself up for next summer. I am also considering transferring to a T14 and have the grades so far. My preference with the judges is Judge A >>> Judge C > Judge B >> Judge D. One other factor, I'm getting married Aug 3rd and Judge B's email said that they only had the second half available. I could make it work if that was my only offer but I'm wondering if that can play in getting the order of the offers to go my way.
So my question is how I should handle scheduling the interviews with the other judges to try to end up with the Judge I really want but not end the process without a job? I'm going to contact Judge B after lunch and potentially D as well. Judge B's clerk said the wanted to schedule it for early next week, which would probably put it before Judge A. Do I just need to schedule the interviews at their convenience and then roll the dice? Would it be terrible to not be "available" until the end of next week after the early judge? How often do judges actually give you an offer on a spot? Am I foolish to take a chance with the opportunities? Is it really true that you can't turn down a judge?
Also, do you have any thoughts on a bankruptcy versus district judge for the resume looking ahead at big law SA next summer?
Edit: Thanks for any advice and I apologize for the borderline logic game question.
I have very good grades but am at a lower T1 regional school. The local big firms hire a lot of my school but pretty much no 1Ls aside from diversity candidates, so my goal is to set myself up for next summer. I am also considering transferring to a T14 and have the grades so far. My preference with the judges is Judge A >>> Judge C > Judge B >> Judge D. One other factor, I'm getting married Aug 3rd and Judge B's email said that they only had the second half available. I could make it work if that was my only offer but I'm wondering if that can play in getting the order of the offers to go my way.
So my question is how I should handle scheduling the interviews with the other judges to try to end up with the Judge I really want but not end the process without a job? I'm going to contact Judge B after lunch and potentially D as well. Judge B's clerk said the wanted to schedule it for early next week, which would probably put it before Judge A. Do I just need to schedule the interviews at their convenience and then roll the dice? Would it be terrible to not be "available" until the end of next week after the early judge? How often do judges actually give you an offer on a spot? Am I foolish to take a chance with the opportunities? Is it really true that you can't turn down a judge?
Also, do you have any thoughts on a bankruptcy versus district judge for the resume looking ahead at big law SA next summer?
Edit: Thanks for any advice and I apologize for the borderline logic game question.