2014-2015 Clerkship Application Thread - OP Updated 04/19/13 Forum

[Anonymous User]

Curious if any current clerks would give a rough estimate of how many apps their chambers have received? I'm wondering how the Oscar limit is impacting things.

[ndirish2010]

So far the results for the 2014 class at NDLS- people have accepted an offer to clerk for the following judges...thought it would be interesting to see how schools are doing.

O’Scannlain (9th)
Pryor (11th)
Kelly (10th)
Niemeyer (4th)
Gibbons (6th)
Clement (5th)
Suhrheinrich (6th)
McKeague (6th)
Leon (D.D.C.)

[Arbiter213]

So far the results for the 2014 class at NDLS- people have accepted an offer to clerk for the following judges...thought it would be interesting to see how schools are doing.

O’Scannlain (9th)
Pryor (11th)
Kelly (10th)
Niemeyer (4th)
Gibbons (6th)
Clement (5th)
Suhrheinrich (6th)
McKeague (6th)
Leon (D.D.C.)

Seriously? I think Cornell only has 3 from 2014 accepted (though that could be completely wrong as people tend to be very quiet about this):

Wesley (2d) (along with a Berman SDNY beforehand)
Owen (5th)
Korman (EDNY)
Vance (E.D. La.)

[ndirish2010]

So far the results for the 2014 class at NDLS- people have accepted an offer to clerk for the following judges...thought it would be interesting to see how schools are doing.

O’Scannlain (9th)
Pryor (11th)
Kelly (10th)
Niemeyer (4th)
Gibbons (6th)
Clement (5th)
Suhrheinrich (6th)
McKeague (6th)
Leon (D.D.C.)

Seriously? I think Cornell only has 3 from 2014 accepted (though that could be completely wrong as people tend to be very quiet about this):

Wesley (2d) (along with a Berman SDNY beforehand)
Owen (5th)
Korman (EDNY)

Yeah, I think the class is doing very well. My class didn't do nearly as well, we only had Wilson (11th), Gruender (8th), Benton (8th), Moreno (S.D. Fla.), and Schroeder (M.D.N.C.), as far as I know.

[Arbiter213]

So far the results for the 2014 class at NDLS- people have accepted an offer to clerk for the following judges...thought it would be interesting to see how schools are doing.

O’Scannlain (9th)
Pryor (11th)
Kelly (10th)
Niemeyer (4th)
Gibbons (6th)
Clement (5th)
Suhrheinrich (6th)
McKeague (6th)
Leon (D.D.C.)

Seriously? I think Cornell only has 3 from 2014 accepted (though that could be completely wrong as people tend to be very quiet about this):

Wesley (2d) (along with a Berman SDNY beforehand)
Owen (5th)
Korman (EDNY)

Yeah, I think the class is doing very well. My class didn't do nearly as well, we only had Wilson (11th), Gruender (8th), Benton (8th), Moreno (S.D. Fla.), and Schroeder (M.D.N.C.), as far as I know.

That strikes me as still very impressive.

[Anonymous User]

I'm pretty sure Cornell just has terrible clerkship placement.

--Someone involved in the process

ETA: I know of one other district court clerkship a Cornell '14er has snagged that arbiter didn't mention. But that's it.

[Arbiter213]

I'm pretty sure Cornell just has terrible clerkship placement.

--Someone involved in the process

That appears to be the case.

[Flips88]

Not sure on the entire class at NU, but I know we have a Fed. Cir, 6th Cir. D.C. Cir., a couple 4th Cir. a couple district courts. We've traditionally underperformed for clerkships, but we just got a new clerkship director who is implementing a very structured system. I bet in a few years our numbers will improve a lot, but not so sure about this year.

[Anonymous User]

Chicago is doing pretty well so far. We have 13 COA clerks I know about in the class of 2014, not counting whoever Easterbrook will pick. Also, I know of a couple people with district court clerkships. And I can almost guarantee I'm missing some.

[Arbiter213]

Goddamn. I wish I had been smart enough to get in to a better school o_O

[Lincoln]

I'm pretty sure Cornell just has terrible clerkship placement.

--Someone involved in the process

That appears to be the case.

Definitely. I could rant for days.

[nevdash]

So far the results for the 2014 class at NDLS- people have accepted an offer to clerk for the following judges...thought it would be interesting to see how schools are doing.

O’Scannlain (9th)
Pryor (11th)
Kelly (10th)
Niemeyer (4th)
Gibbons (6th)
Clement (5th)
Suhrheinrich (6th)
McKeague (6th)
Leon (D.D.C.)

Jeez man, you guys are killing it. You have the same number of COA clerks as BU had Art. III clerks total for c/o 2013 (I know our clerkship placement has always been sps, but still), and our schools are generally comparable in every other way.

[ndirish2010]

So far the results for the 2014 class at NDLS- people have accepted an offer to clerk for the following judges...thought it would be interesting to see how schools are doing.

O’Scannlain (9th)
Pryor (11th)
Kelly (10th)
Niemeyer (4th)
Gibbons (6th)
Clement (5th)
Suhrheinrich (6th)
McKeague (6th)
Leon (D.D.C.)

Jeez man, you guys are killing it. You have the same number of COA clerks as BU had Art. III clerks total for c/o 2013 (I know our clerkship placement has always been sps, but still), and our schools are generally comparable in every other way.

Yeah, their class is doing really well. This may be it for them (I can't see anyone else getting CoA, maybe one other person- probably a few D. Ct.), but still, they crushed my class.

[Anonymous User]

School range: Michigan
Rank: 50% (strong upward trend)
LR?: No
Published?: No
Recs: 1 state S.Ct Justice, 1 AUSA, 2 professors
2L/3L/Alum?: Alum
Where applying?: 20ish COAs, 70ish D.Cts; mostly midwest, but some NE, SE, Pacific. Little interest in CA or NYC.
Any other factors: Current clerkship with State Supreme Court, higher-level FedSoc position, summer with a USAO.

Any thoughts? I feel like if I land anything, it'll be with someone who hires a lot of Michigan grads or knows one of my recommenders well. FWIW, when I applied as a rising 3L (with worse grades and no clerkship experience), I got interview requests in two flyover districts, but turned them down because I had the SSC offer in hand. How much will nearly two years of SSC clerkship experience do for me?

[Tyrion Lannister]

School range: Michigan
Rank: 50% (strong upward trend)
LR?: No
Published?: No
Recs: 1 state S.Ct Justice, 1 AUSA, 2 professors
2L/3L/Alum?: Alum
Where applying?: 20ish COAs, 70ish D.Cts; mostly midwest, but some NE, SE, Pacific. Little interest in CA or NYC.
Any other factors: Current clerkship with State Supreme Court, higher-level FedSoc position, summer with a USAO.

Any thoughts? I feel like if I land anything, it'll be with someone who hires a lot of Michigan grads or knows one of my recommenders well. FWIW, when I applied as a rising 3L (with worse grades and no clerkship experience), I got interview requests in two flyover districts, but turned them down because I had the SSC offer in hand. How much will nearly two years of SSC clerkship experience do for me?

Feel free to PM me. I was in a somewhat similar position.

[Flips88]

School range: Michigan
Rank: 50% (strong upward trend)
LR?: No
Published?: No
Recs: 1 state S.Ct Justice, 1 AUSA, 2 professors
2L/3L/Alum?: Alum
Where applying?: 20ish COAs, 70ish D.Cts; mostly midwest, but some NE, SE, Pacific. Little interest in CA or NYC.
Any other factors: Current clerkship with State Supreme Court, higher-level FedSoc position, summer with a USAO.

Any thoughts? I feel like if I land anything, it'll be with someone who hires a lot of Michigan grads or knows one of my recommenders well. FWIW, when I applied as a rising 3L (with worse grades and no clerkship experience), I got interview requests in two flyover districts, but turned them down because I had the SSC offer in hand. How much will nearly two years of SSC clerkship experience do for me?

Not to belittle your upward trend, but isn't grade inflation during 2L/3L a common occurrence everywhere? or just Northwestern? lol

[Arbiter213]

School range: Michigan
Rank: 50% (strong upward trend)
LR?: No
Published?: No
Recs: 1 state S.Ct Justice, 1 AUSA, 2 professors
2L/3L/Alum?: Alum
Where applying?: 20ish COAs, 70ish D.Cts; mostly midwest, but some NE, SE, Pacific. Little interest in CA or NYC.
Any other factors: Current clerkship with State Supreme Court, higher-level FedSoc position, summer with a USAO.

Any thoughts? I feel like if I land anything, it'll be with someone who hires a lot of Michigan grads or knows one of my recommenders well. FWIW, when I applied as a rising 3L (with worse grades and no clerkship experience), I got interview requests in two flyover districts, but turned them down because I had the SSC offer in hand. How much will nearly two years of SSC clerkship experience do for me?

Not to belittle your upward trend, but isn't grade inflation during 2L/3L a common occurrence everywhere? or just Northwestern? lol

Not everyone goes up- just the people that keep trying.

[bk1]

School range: Michigan
Rank: 50% (strong upward trend)
LR?: No
Published?: No
Recs: 1 state S.Ct Justice, 1 AUSA, 2 professors
2L/3L/Alum?: Alum
Where applying?: 20ish COAs, 70ish D.Cts; mostly midwest, but some NE, SE, Pacific. Little interest in CA or NYC.
Any other factors: Current clerkship with State Supreme Court, higher-level FedSoc position, summer with a USAO.

Any thoughts? I feel like if I land anything, it'll be with someone who hires a lot of Michigan grads or knows one of my recommenders well. FWIW, when I applied as a rising 3L (with worse grades and no clerkship experience), I got interview requests in two flyover districts, but turned them down because I had the SSC offer in hand. How much will nearly two years of SSC clerkship experience do for me?

Not to belittle your upward trend, but isn't grade inflation during 2L/3L a common occurrence everywhere? or just Northwestern? lol

I recently found out that pretty much every class at UVA/UChi are curved. lolololol.

But Michigan has a system similar to NU's and gives you 2 retroactive pass/fails.

[Anonymous User]

School range: Michigan
Rank: 50% (strong upward trend)
LR?: No
Published?: No
Recs: 1 state S.Ct Justice, 1 AUSA, 2 professors
2L/3L/Alum?: Alum
Where applying?: 20ish COAs, 70ish D.Cts; mostly midwest, but some NE, SE, Pacific. Little interest in CA or NYC.
Any other factors: Current clerkship with State Supreme Court, higher-level FedSoc position, summer with a USAO.

Any thoughts? I feel like if I land anything, it'll be with someone who hires a lot of Michigan grads or knows one of my recommenders well. FWIW, when I applied as a rising 3L (with worse grades and no clerkship experience), I got interview requests in two flyover districts, but turned them down because I had the SSC offer in hand. How much will nearly two years of SSC clerkship experience do for me?

Not to belittle your upward trend, but isn't grade inflation during 2L/3L a common occurrence everywhere? or just Northwestern? lol

No doubt. Mine was just more dramatic than a lot of others'. 2.55 my first semester; 3.8+ in two of my last three semesters, booking three classes. Damn contracts.

[ndirish2010]

With the new grading policy at NDLS, 2L/3L inflation is less dramatic now, though if you do enough seminars and directed readings you can make it more pronounced. There can still be a meaningful upward trend, though.

[nevdash]

Depends on whether the poster was referring to strong upward trend in straight GPA or strong upward trend in class rank. If it's the former, then grade inflation might undermine the significance. If it's the latter, it doesn't.

[ndirish2010]

Depends on whether the poster was referring to strong upward trend in straight GPA or strong upward trend in class rank. If it's the former, then grade inflation might undermine the significance. If it's the latter, it doesn't.

Yep. Either way, the poster said he went from a 2.55 to a 3.8, which significant no matter what haha.

[Myself]

.

[Anonymous User]

Updates?

[Anonymous User]

Question. Had an interview a little over three weeks ago and was told I'd hear back pretty quickly, within three weeks or so.

1) If I had a prof call on my behalf the day of the interview and chambers hasn't gotten back to them, is that the death knell?

2) Do rejections typically come by phone or snail mail? (I moved recently, so I'd miss the letter if it came.)

3) If snail mail, when would it be kosher to call chambers for a status update?

Thanks folks.