Is D/COA clerkship hiring regional? Forum

[Mozart Lacrimosa]

Will grades, prof. recs overcome any distance? For example what's it like coming from a midwestern t20 applying for a coastal clerkship?

[A. Nony Mouse]

It will depend on the judge. (This seems to be the answer for all clerkship questions.) There are some judges who care very much about ties, often because they want to hire someone who's going to practice in their district. There are plenty of judges who don't care, and I've seen people clerk all over the place compared to where their school/ties are because they had other qualities (grades or connections or whatever) that caught a judge's eye.

I tend to think that if you're not at a T14/national school, you may have better luck with judges in your law school's circuit/where you have ties can help, because of the judges who do want to see ties. But everyone should apply really widely anyway. And if you have connections via a prof/employer, that can totally trump any regional advantage/disadvantage.

[Anonymous User]

I've found that the highly selective and more prestigious districts (SDNY/CDCA, etc.) tend to just hire the best students from the best schools. CDCA isn't really going to care if you went to a school in CA, for example.

However, from my experience, other districts will care more about ties. If you're applying to D. Neb., you should have some ties. If you didn't go to law school there, you should have family or have gone to HS there.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I've found that the highly selective and more prestigious districts (SDNY/CDCA, etc.) tend to just hire the best students from the best schools. CDCA isn't really going to care if you went to a school in CA, for example.

However, from my experience, other districts will care more about ties. If you're applying to D. Neb., you should have some ties. If you didn't go to law school there, you should have family or have gone to HS there.

Yeah, this is my impression as well. There will probably be some judges in the non-coastal districts who'll hire for pedigree/from anywhere, but the judges who care about ties are more likely to be in non-coastal/less prestigious parts of the country.