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I'm curious as to what people know about the policies of US District Judges taking 1L Interns (including Magistrate Judges).

edit: never mind

thesealocust wrote:Most do, many have already hired.

Magistrate as well?

Yea. If your stuff isn't in already it might be too late.

I called about 20 Judge's chambers in the 6th circuit today and several were no longer accepting applications, and the rest who were said they were almost done.

If you're interested GET THE BALL ROLLING! Good luck.

betasteve wrote:How soon after sending do you usually hear? I've been holding off in hopes of something paid.

I sent 3/20 apps by e-mail today at the request of the clerks I spoke to on the phone. I received an interview request from one judge within an hour. As I understand it, these clerkships/ externships will be filled by mid-february. That's how my 2L buddies explained it. Maybe it's different here, but I have no reason to believe otherwise.

I'm in the same boat as you beta. I have a couple OCI interviews coming up for paid gigs, and a few independent apps out to random firms I'm sort of holding my breath on. I keep hearing from 2Ls that especially this year paid gigs are going to be RARE. I don't really know what to expect, but I understand how you feel.

I applied to many federal judges (district, magistrate, and bankruptcy) early in the month. I only got 2 or three who were willing to look at grades and didn't start hiring yet. The rest never replied at all. The state judges are easier to get hired by - I got 3 interview offers without submitting grades. The state judges were also better at sending notices that they were full or not hiring.

Out of my current applications, 2 judges have already hired interns (one U.S. District Court and one Court of Federal Claims), and 2 judges are just not hiring at all (one U.S. Court of Appeals, one tax). One judge isn't starting the hiring process until March, and a bunch are just gearing up their intern searches now.

betasteve wrote:How soon after sending do you usually hear? I've been holding off in hopes of something paid.

In my experience, same day

Edit: same day if by e-mail, same day they get the letter if by snail-mail

The best bet is to call around to the chambers. Most judges will provide a number to call on their court website to inquire about clerkships/internships. I too was worried that I was too late to apply for a judicial externship with a federal judge. But I called around to all the chambers in my area and 3 said they were still hiring. I went to the courthouse and dropped off my application packet in person, this was 2 days ago. Literally, yesterday, the day after I dropped off my packet, I got a call from one of the judges who wanted to interview me today. I went to the chambers and after a very informal interview they hired me on the spot.

Granted I am probably the exception to the rule because I have 2+ years of work experience and a 3.98 first semester GPA, however the point is that some federal judges are still hiring, you just have to do the leg work to figure out which ones.