2010 grad/US Court of Appeals clerk taking Q's Forum

[Adjudicator]

Do firms ever use their connections to help someone get a clerkship? If you have a good relationship with a firm from a summer job, and there is a former partner on the circuit court of appeals, would they ever put in a good word for you with that judge?

[Anonymous User]

what is considered very strong grades from YLS?

[ClerkGuy2010]

Sure, that happens -- but I doubt it is ever enough to put someone over the top that wouldn't otherwise get the job. In other words, such a call can be a nice tiebreaker between two qualified candidates, but it would almost never put someone in play who wouldn't be otherwise.

I don't know if you're only speaking about your judge, in which case I'll obviously defer to you, but I'll disagree here if you're speaking more generally. I've seen/heard about folks both in my chambers past years and other judges on the circuit (and across the country) hiring people somewhat below their usual threshold because of a call from someone--especially a former clerk who works at the applicant's firm. For example, a judge in my building hired a guy this year whose school is in the 45-55 range, even though the judge normally hires from HYSCCN, because a former clerk was the applicant's writing professor and put in a call for him. And the school is not regionally connected to the court at all.