Choosing a law school based on SCOTUS placement Forum

[michigan_man]

Have you ever met anyone who was a SCOTUS clerk? I mean, these people are intellectually awe inspiring. You can tell before you go to law school if you have a chance to get a SCOTUS clerkship. Just ask yourself the following:

"Have I ever met anyone in my entire life who I thought could have been as smart as me? Anyone who ever made a better substantive point in an argument? Did I get a perfect/near perfect LSAT score (180-177)? Perfect/near perfect SAT sore? In high school/college, I was smarter than all my friends, but was I smarter than all my friends' friends' friends?"

If the answer is no to any of these questions, you aren't getting a SCOTUS clerkship out of HYS. Same at the rest of the T-14. Your only chance at getting a clerkship is to become really conservative and attend a conservative T-1 law school and hope that either Alito or Thomas picks you. Good luck getting laid at BYU.

[D. H2Oman]

Have you ever met anyone who was a SCOTUS clerk? I mean, these people are intellectually awe inspiring. You can tell before you go to law school if you have a chance to get a SCOTUS clerkship. Just ask yourself the following:

"Have I ever met anyone in my entire life who I thought could have been as smart as me? Anyone who ever made a better substantive point in an argument? Did I get a perfect/near perfect LSAT score (180-177)? Perfect/near perfect SAT sore? In high school/college, I was smarter than all my friends, but was I smarter than all my friends' friends' friends?"

If the answer is no to any of these questions, you aren't getting a SCOTUS clerkship out of HYS. Same at the rest of the T-14. Your only chance at getting a clerkship is to become really conservative and attend a conservative T-1 law school and hope that either Alito or Thomas picks you. Good luck getting laid at BYU.

wtf dude, no. Delete this and try again.

[You Gotta Have Faith]

Perfect/near perfect SAT sore?

This post was snooty enough that I just had to.

[michigan_man]

I just wanted to throw this up there for all those people who think going to Harvard over a full-ride at a T-10 because of the SCOTUS placement alone is worth it.

[You Gotta Have Faith]

I just wanted to throw this up there for all those people who think going to Harvard over a full-ride at a T-10 because of the SCOTUS placement alone is worth it.

In that case, I still don't agree with your initial post. But I can agree that choosing Harvard solely for that reason is absurd. I have had multiple professors who clerked for the SCOTUS (oddly enough, all 4 of them went somewhere other than Harvard; and none of them went to Yale or Stanford, either). I mean, sure, they are smart people. But they are not so far above the rest of us, as your post seems to suggest, that they are incapable of being outdone in a substantive philosophical, intellectual or legal argument. In fact, they tend to be the type of people that actively acknowledge and pursue points which can trump their argument and make it better.

As far as the YHS part goes, it's obvious that going to Yale in particular (but also Harvard and Stanford) is beneficial to your candidacy for a SCOTUS clerkship, but other schools get their foot in the door too. This is a bit dated, but take a look at:

http://www.leiterrankings.com/jobs/2000 ... erks.shtml

You will notice that, as a percentage, U of Chicago is actually on par with and even above Harvard most of the time with the number of SCOTUS clerks that they produce.

Anyhow, back to your initial point... who on here actually thinks that? I haven't run across anyone on these boards who would opt for Harvard over a full-ride at a T-10 law school solely for the negligibly higher chance that they might become a SCOTUS clerk. I mean, sure, there are some who might opt for Harvard in the given scenario, but I can near guarantee that other factors go into that reasoning. And if SCOTUS placement really is your reason (and you didn't get into Yale), then why not opt for Chicago?

[Bildungsroman]

This thread has promise.

[dissonance1848]

For SCOTUS you need one thing: Fucking Grades! Fuckin hell man, yes, HYSC give people a several fold better shot at SCOTUS than the rest of the T-14, but unless you are already in the top 5% of your class (speculating, no idea what rank cutoffs are), then you are shit out of luck, even at Yale (competition moves to scholarship, since no grades).

[Bildungsroman]

For SCOTUS you need one thing: Fucking Grades!

You need so much more than this.

[dissonance1848]

Also, you're aware that UGPA and LSAT are shit correlates with 1L grades, which is what SCOTUS clerkships are based off, right?


I'll readily concede that point, just meant the school/placement thing was bullshit, but right, rank is necessary not sufficient.

[Veyron]

WTF no. The SCOTUS clerks that I met fulfilled none of these requirements. They were terribly smart but not invincible. Also surprisingly down to earth.

Edit: Actually one of the clerks went to HYS. Another went to a "lower' T-1 (non-Thomas), how is that for styling on your ass?

[Patriot1208]

For SCOTUS you need one thing: Fucking Grades!

You need so much more than this.

A big dick?

[Patriot1208]

[bender18]

Also, you're aware that UGPA and LSAT are shit correlates with 1L grades, which is what SCOTUS clerkships are based off, right?


I'll readily concede that point, just meant the school/placement thing was bullshit, but right, rank is necessary not sufficient.

Good point. I believe LSAT and GPA each only have a .35 correlation with 1L grades.

[CanadianWolf]

When combined LSAT & GPA have a .50 correlation to first year law school performance according to a Virginia law prof who served as head of LSAC during 2002-2003.

[You Gotta Have Faith]

When combined LSAT & GPA have a .50 correlation to first year law school performance according to a Virginia law prof who served as head of LSAC during 2002-2003.

I have heard something along these lines before. Granted, it's not 100% or anything. But it makes me wonder what the curve and competition is like in schools like Cornell and USC, where the LSAT scores and GPAs are mostly pretty close to each other with very few outliers.

[CanadianWolf]

Does anyone have a list of SCOTUS clerk placement over the last decade or so. I've read that the Univ. of Georgia School of Law outplaced most Top 14 law schools. Is this correct ?

[You Gotta Have Faith]

Does anyone have a list of SCOTUS clerk placement over the last decade or so. I've read that the Univ. of Georgia School of Law outplaced most Top 14 law schools. Is this correct ?

I pasted this earlier, but:

http://www.leiterrankings.com/jobs/2000 ... erks.shtml

Looks like they had 3 over a 9 year span, which is not bad for a school like that. (Note: I don't have the numbers on hand for 2009-2010.)

[ndirish2010]

--LinkRemoved--

[twistedwrister]

Here are the updated numbers (through 2010) from Leiter.

http://www.leiterrankings.com/new/2010_ ... ment.shtml

[YourCaptain]

Many of my professors were SCOTUS clerks - they're highly intelligent, down to earth people.

I have no flipping clue what you're talking about.