2012 Clerkship Application Thread Forum

[Tangerine Gleam]

Received exploding offer from district court judge and accepted. I'm excited and happy with this, but it means I had to cancel three interviews with COA judges. I'd prefer to do a COA clerkship immediately following my dist. When should I start reapplying for 2014? Will I offend my dist judge? I know that some of the more competitive COA judges have already hired some clerks for 2014 and I don't want to miss out.

I don't see how your district court judge would be offended. I think a lot of judges like having their clerks go on to other clerkships, so as long as it wouldn't interfere with the commitment you already have, I think they would be happy about it.

As for when to apply, I'd say that depends on the judge. You're right that some are looking now, but some other competitive judges are probably waiting until February or March. So I guess it just depends on what your priorities are.

[Anonymous User]

Received exploding offer from district court judge and accepted. I'm excited and happy with this, but it means I had to cancel three interviews with COA judges. I'd prefer to do a COA clerkship immediately following my dist. When should I start reapplying for 2014? Will I offend my dist judge? I know that some of the more competitive COA judges have already hired some clerks for 2014 and I don't want to miss out.

Congrats on the clerkship! You will not offend your district judge at all. It's very common for people to be interested in doing both. In most cases, district court judges are happy to support your application (if you've worked for them long enough to serve as a reference) or at least to facilitate your interviewing for circuit positions during your clerkship if necessary. Most seem to be quite proud to send clerks on to the circuit. In September of my district clerkship year, I told my district judge that I really wanted to do a Ninth Circuit clerkship. He was very excited and immediately volunteered to make calls on my behalf if I wanted to apply that year, as he had been very pleased with my first several weeks of work. Most other DCt --> COA people I know very much had the blessing of their judges to pursue a COA clerkship during their clerkship year. And it sounds like you are planning to get a lot of your COA application process out of the way even before starting your DCt clerkship.

As for when to apply for 2014: I applied to COAs as an alum in May, i.e., 16 months out from my target clerkship start date. If I had to do it again, I would have applied in very late March or during April, as a few chambers were full by May, but May was soon enough to keep most options on the table.* Before the LCHP call date, I received six calls for interviews, all on the Ninth Circuit.

ClerkAnon

*This advice is a couple of years dated. Anyone, please feel free to correct me if March/April is now too late.

[Anonymous User]

Clerkanon

Well done on offering to lend your experience and wisdom. Any idea how a Top 25 school student in Top15% fairs for Fed Clerkships. Seems like Im getting dinged this round.

with a state clerkship under my belt, would I have a better shot next go around? would a magistrate position give me any post clerkship employment boost or experience boost?

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know about the following judges? Thank you!

C.D. Cal.
Gee

D. Conn.
Chatigny
Covello

N.D. Ill.
Brown
Bucklo
Darrah
Kennelly
Lee
Holderman
St. Eve

E.D. Ky.
Reeves

D.M.D.
Day
Gallagher
Gauvey
Gesner
Quarles
Russell

E.D. Mich.
Roberts
Zatkoff

D. Minn.
Noel
Tunheim

D.N.J.
Cooper

S.D.N.Y.
Smith

N.D. OH
Burke
McHargh
Vecchiarelli

E.D. Pa.
Diamond
O'Neill
Strawbridge

3d Cir.
Chagares
Rendell

6th Cir.
Cole

8th Cir.
Riley

Fed. Cir.
Bryson

[Anonymous User]

Received exploding offer from district court judge and accepted. I'm excited and happy with this, but it means I had to cancel three interviews with COA judges. I'd prefer to do a COA clerkship immediately following my dist. When should I start reapplying for 2014? Will I offend my dist judge? I know that some of the more competitive COA judges have already hired some clerks for 2014 and I don't want to miss out.

Congrats on the clerkship! You will not offend your district judge at all. It's very common for people to be interested in doing both. In most cases, district court judges are happy to support your application (if you've worked for them long enough to serve as a reference) or at least to facilitate your interviewing for circuit positions during your clerkship if necessary. Most seem to be quite proud to send clerks on to the circuit. In September of my district clerkship year, I told my district judge that I really wanted to do a Ninth Circuit clerkship. He was very excited and immediately volunteered to make calls on my behalf if I wanted to apply that year, as he had been very pleased with my first several weeks of work. Most other DCt --> COA people I know very much had the blessing of their judges to pursue a COA clerkship during their clerkship year. And it sounds like you are planning to get a lot of your COA application process out of the way even before starting your DCt clerkship.

As for when to apply for 2014: I applied to COAs as an alum in May, i.e., 16 months out from my target clerkship start date. If I had to do it again, I would have applied in very late March or during April, as a few chambers were full by May, but May was soon enough to keep most options on the table.* Before the LCHP call date, I received six calls for interviews, all on the Ninth Circuit.

ClerkAnon

*This advice is a couple of years dated. Anyone, please feel free to correct me if March/April is now too late.

Thanks, ClerkAnon! Very helpful.

[Anonymous User]

ClerkAnon,

I got an invitation to interview via email from the judge's assistant. Should I send the thank you letter to her and ask her if she could kindly pass it to the judge?

Thanks,

Nonclerk anon

[ClerkAnon]

All: I decided to create the handle "ClerkAnon" rather than continuing to post anonymously while signing an alias to my posts. This will also be useful if anyone needs to PM me. Last answer for now, before I turn back to work:

Any idea how a Top 25 school student in Top15% fairs for Fed Clerkships. Seems like Im getting dinged this round.

with a state clerkship under my belt, would I have a better shot next go around? would a magistrate position give me any post clerkship employment boost or experience boost?

Sorry to hear that things aren't going well this time around, although it really isn't over yet. District court calls in particular will still trickle out for the next couple of months. Hang in there.

Re: federal magistrate positions, I do think these clerkships are interesting and give you an experience boost. The work that you do will depend on the district. E.g., some districts will farm out lots of discovery disputes to the magistrates, which is useful experience for a future trial litigator to have. In some districts, parties seem more interested in agreeing to trying their case in front of a magistrate to move it along than others. If you work for a magistrate who has lots of full cases, then the experience you get will be closer to a district court clerkship, and you can use that fact to sell yourself to district court judges and employers. When interviewing for magistrate clerkships, try to get a good sense from the current clerk about his or her cross-section of work - types of cases, types of motions, how often parties in the district consent to a magistrate trying the case, what types of work the district judges tend to farm out to the magistrates.

A magistrate clerkship can be a great stepping stone to a district court clerkship in the same courthouse, if you are willing to spend two years clerking. As you can imagine, if the district court judge has a high regard for the magistrate's work, having the magistrate's recommendation is golden. One of my co-clerks got her clerkship this way. In one of the two courthouses in which I worked, this "cross-pollination" was very common. In the other it was less so. To the extent you can feel out whether the magistrate you are considering is a district court "feeder," do so.

I'm honestly not sure of the answer to your state clerkships question. I have seen people go from state supreme court clerkships to federal district or circuit clerkships, and I think the hiring federal judges viewed the state supreme clerkships as assets. I have not personally encountered a state trial or appellate clerk who was being considered for a federal district or circuit clerkship, so I really don't know how it would be viewed. I suspect that some federal judges who previously served as state lower court judges would give significant weight to their former colleagues' recommendations. I'm sorry not to be able to give you a more informed answer.

[Anonymous User]

Fortunate enough to have landed a district court clerkship. Also interested in trying for a circuit court in 2014. A few questions for ClerkAnon and others:

- Does experience as a clerk in dist. ct. make you a more attractive candidate? Marginally or by a lot?

- There are multiple circuit court judges I applied to this go-around in the same courthouse in which I'll be clerking for my dist. judge. Are my odds better with those judges?

- Any advice for things I can do/classes I can take (besides fed courts) that will make my life easier when I start clerking?

Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous User]

Interviewed today, will know tomorrow. Not super hopeful. I was the last interview of the day, and I got the sense he had already picked a couple he liked.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know about the following judges? Thank you!

C.D. Cal.
Gee

D. Conn.
Chatigny
Covello

N.D. Ill.
Brown
Bucklo
Darrah
Kennelly
Lee
Holderman
St. Eve

E.D. Ky.
Reeves

D.M.D.
Day
Gallagher
Gauvey
Gesner
Quarles
Russell

E.D. Mich.
Roberts
Zatkoff

D. Minn.
Noel
Tunheim

D.N.J.
Cooper

S.D.N.Y.
Smith

N.D. OH
Burke
McHargh
Vecchiarelli

E.D. Pa.
Diamond
O'Neill
Strawbridge

3d Cir.
Chagares
Rendell

6th Cir.
Cole

8th Cir.
Riley

Fed. Cir.
Bryson

Cooper (DNJ) and Strawbridge (EDPa) made calls.

[Anonymous User]

So, it looks like I may have struck out on federal clerkships. I didn't apply to many because I am geographically limited, and unfortunately I am geographically limited to a competitive district. I am absolutely willing to clerk a year out, and would like to signal this somehow to the judges I applied with. So far none of the positions are listed as filled, but I'm just assuming I didn't get the slots. Should I call chambers and tell them that I understand they may have selected candidates to interview for this year already, but I would like them to also consider my application for 2014? Should I wait until they post something on Oscar and then just re-apply? Or, is it too early in the process yet to rule out my chances, some judges may not even have made calls yet and I should wait longer? I don't know the best way to approach this since judges hire on such different and difficult to predict timelines.

[Anonymous User]

Received exploding offer from district court judge and accepted. I'm excited and happy with this, but it means I had to cancel three interviews with COA judges. I'd prefer to do a COA clerkship immediately following my dist. When should I start reapplying for 2014? Will I offend my dist judge? I know that some of the more competitive COA judges have already hired some clerks for 2014 and I don't want to miss out.

Congrats on the clerkship! You will not offend your district judge at all. It's very common for people to be interested in doing both. In most cases, district court judges are happy to support your application (if you've worked for them long enough to serve as a reference) or at least to facilitate your interviewing for circuit positions during your clerkship if necessary. Most seem to be quite proud to send clerks on to the circuit. In September of my district clerkship year, I told my district judge that I really wanted to do a Ninth Circuit clerkship. He was very excited and immediately volunteered to make calls on my behalf if I wanted to apply that year, as he had been very pleased with my first several weeks of work. Most other DCt --> COA people I know very much had the blessing of their judges to pursue a COA clerkship during their clerkship year. And it sounds like you are planning to get a lot of your COA application process out of the way even before starting your DCt clerkship.

As for when to apply for 2014: I applied to COAs as an alum in May, i.e., 16 months out from my target clerkship start date. If I had to do it again, I would have applied in very late March or during April, as a few chambers were full by May, but May was soon enough to keep most options on the table.* Before the LCHP call date, I received six calls for interviews, all on the Ninth Circuit.

ClerkAnon

*This advice is a couple of years dated. Anyone, please feel free to correct me if March/April is now too late.

I'd echo what ClerkAnon says. I just started my first clerkship last month (competitive district) and I'll be doing a COA next year. I think the best time for sending out apps is mid to late March. There were probably 2-3 judges I missed out on by waiting to apply, but the earliest interviews I had were towards the end of April or early May. I ended up accepting in offer in late June/early July. I will say that as a 3L/alum/dct clerk I had a lot more success given my school and rank than my classmates had the prior summer.

Now, as for you current soon-to-be judge, you should talk to him/her about your desire to do a second clerkship. Even though they will probably not be able to speak to your abilities before you start, they can certainly help guide you in the application process - judges who have hired their clerks before or with whom they have existing relationships.

-DoubleClerk

[Anonymous User]

So, it looks like I may have struck out on federal clerkships. I didn't apply to many because I am geographically limited, and unfortunately I am geographically limited to a competitive district. I am absolutely willing to clerk a year out, and would like to signal this somehow to the judges I applied with. So far none of the positions are listed as filled, but I'm just assuming I didn't get the slots. Should I call chambers and tell them that I understand they may have selected candidates to interview for this year already, but I would like them to also consider my application for 2014? Should I wait until they post something on Oscar and then just re-apply? Or, is it too early in the process yet to rule out my chances, some judges may not even have made calls yet and I should wait longer? I don't know the best way to approach this since judges hire on such different and difficult to predict timelines.

If you haven't applied to a judge, you can go ahead and apply now. Otherwise, the best thing to do is apply as an alum (i.e., Spring of 3L year). In March of your 3L year, you should send out application packets to all the judges you are interested in (CL, resume, transcript, writing sample, and the recommendation letters - your school should put these together for you and mail them for you). Even if you already applied this year, you should resend the applications in the Spring.

-DoubleClerk

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know about the following judges? Thank you!

3d Cir.
Chagares
Rendell

6th Cir.
Cole

8th Cir.
Riley

Fed. Cir.
Bryson

Judge Chagares hired alumni in the Spring.

-DoubleClerk

[Anonymous User]

Is hiring for staff attorney positions (especially thinking about the 3d Cir. one that sounds more like a clerkship) similar to the hiring process for clerkships? Do any of the current or former clerks know how the hiring process is for those?

[ClerkAnon]

ClerkAnon,

I got an invitation to interview via email from the judge's assistant. Should I send the thank you letter to her and ask her if she could kindly pass it to the judge?

Thanks,

Nonclerk anon

I think this would be perfectly appropriate. In the body of your email to which the judge's thank you letter is attached, remember to express your appreciation to the judge's assistant for facilitating your interview/visit to chambers and state that you enjoyed meeting her. If you also interviewed with the clerks, it might be worth thinking about whether you want to send along a thank you for them, too (although I don't have a strong view on this.)

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know about the following judges? Thank you!

C.D. Cal.
Gee

D. Conn.
Chatigny
Covello

N.D. Ill.
Brown
Bucklo
Darrah
Kennelly
Lee
Holderman
St. Eve

E.D. Ky.
Reeves

D.M.D.
Day
Gallagher
Gauvey
Gesner
Quarles
Russell

E.D. Mich.
Roberts
Zatkoff

D. Minn.
Noel
Tunheim

D.N.J.
Cooper

S.D.N.Y.
Smith

N.D. OH
Burke
McHargh
Vecchiarelli

E.D. Pa.
Diamond
O'Neill
Strawbridge

3d Cir.
Chagares
Rendell

6th Cir.
Cole

8th Cir.
Riley

Fed. Cir.
Bryson

Cooper (DNJ) and Strawbridge (EDPa) made calls.

Kennelly (ND Ill) is now full.

[Anonymous User]

Benton's full, via email.

[Anonymous User]

Any word from Federal District Court judges Saylor, Ponsor, or Hillman?

[SMU2013]

Got Fed. Dist. interview. How should I approach this interview as opposed to how I approached OCI interviews for BigLaw? The same? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Happy to Just Get an Interview

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know about the following judges? Thank you!

C.D. Cal.
Gee

D. Conn.
Chatigny
Covello

N.D. Ill.
Brown
Bucklo
Darrah
Kennelly
Lee
Holderman
St. Eve

E.D. Ky.
Reeves

D.M.D.
Day
Gallagher
Gauvey
Gesner
Quarles
Russell

E.D. Mich.
Roberts
Zatkoff

D. Minn.
Noel
Tunheim

D.N.J.
Cooper

S.D.N.Y.
Smith

N.D. OH
Burke
McHargh
Vecchiarelli

E.D. Pa.
Diamond
O'Neill
Strawbridge

3d Cir.
Chagares
Rendell

6th Cir.
Cole

8th Cir.
Riley

Fed. Cir.
Bryson

Can confirm that Kennelly (N.D.Ill) is full.

Covello (D.Conn) has had screeners.

[Anonymous User]

Any word from Federal District Court judges Saylor, Ponsor, or Hillman?

Saylor made calls last week.

[Anonymous User]

Cecchi is filled.

[Anonymous User]

Chief Judge Jones (D. Nev.) and Judge Kinkeade (N.D. Tex.) filled per OSCAR.

[Anonymous User]

Any other offers to report?

I had 3 interviews yesterday and was feeling pretty good but so far crickets. One judge said he would not make any offers until he was done interviewing on Monday, but I am still getting nervous.