What to ask a Judge during the interview Forum

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 9:05 pm

What are some good questions to ask a Judge during the interview?
Having trouble thinking of some.

3L_At_Law · Post by **3L_At_Law** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 11:27 pm

"What differentiates a good lawyer from a great lawyer?" --- I've enjoyed the responses that I have received and it tends to get them talking for a while.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 11:56 pm

"What are you looking for in a clerk?/What makes a clerk successful?"

First judge I clerked for told me this was his favorite question from applicants and also always led to a good dialogue. I asked it during my 2nd clerkship interview and was told by the career clerk after getting hired that she really liked hearing that question.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:18 am

If you're interviewing with a judge who went from the District Court (or some other court) to the COA, you can ask whether he/she misses working on the former court. For recent appointees, "do you miss private practice/wherever they came from" is always a good question to ask.

catinthewall · Post by **catinthewall** » Fri Dec 12, 2014 11:58 am

(1) When I interviewed for my clerkship, I asked my fed. dist. ct. judge, who is relatively new to the bench (read: <10 years), if there were any other judges he admired or considered mentors and why.

He liked that question, and it told me a lot about his philosophy on the bench.

(2) I also spent the few days before my interview reading his recent decisions, so we could discuss some of the substantive law that was fresh on his mind from those cases, especially if he made a tough call.

He told me he liked those questions too because it showed him that I had already invested time in his chambers.

I hope this is helpful!

cold_logic · Post by **cold_logic** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 12:58 pm

Bumping this thread because I think there are more questions to discover.

In particular, I'm looking for a question that gets the judge talking about his or her judicial philosophy, but that's not as blunt as "Tell me about your judicial philosophy."

rpupkin · Post by **rpupkin** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 7:19 pm

cold_logic wrote:Bumping this thread because I think there are more questions to discover.

In particular, I'm looking for a question that gets the judge talking about his or her judicial philosophy, but that's not as blunt as "Tell me about your judicial philosophy."

Catinthewall's first question (in the post above yours) seems like a good way to get at this.

justonemoregame · Post by **justonemoregame** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 7:23 pm

What kind of liquor do you keep in the desk drawer?

071816 · Post by **071816** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 7:24 pm

"do you party?"

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 1:41 am

If you want to get to judicial philosophy, maybe you can ask something like, "what case/s has given you the hardest calls to make? Why was it hard?"

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