Too old to be a Appeals or Supreme Court law clerk? Forum

[justiceman]

Hello. If I get in to law school, I will be graduating at age 32. I am very interested in an appeals court clerkship, which I know is not easy to get. However, assuming all else is equal, will my age be a deterrent to becoming a law clerk? I know most are age 25. And magically, if I have the qualifications to be a Supreme Court clerk, will my age be a deterrent to that as well? I've tried finding information on law clerks, and while I assume most are age 25-26, I haven't found any good data.

[jhett]

32 is definitely not too old to be a clerk (32 is not old period). Some lawyers actually become clerks after spending several years in private/public practice. A number of Supreme Court clerks did not come straight from law school but had some legal work experience under their belt beforehand. Judges are looking for smart people, not young people.

[TTT-LS]

.

[reasonable_man]

Hello. If I get in to law school, I will be graduating at age 32. I am very interested in an appeals court clerkship, which I know is not easy to get. However, assuming all else is equal, will my age be a deterrent to becoming a law clerk? I know most are age 25. And magically, if I have the qualifications to be a Supreme Court clerk, will my age be a deterrent to that as well? I've tried finding information on law clerks, and while I assume most are age 25-26, I haven't found any good data.

I take it you are attending a T6 law school and are generally smarter than most of the people you've ever met in your entire life?

[jks289]

Hello. If I get in to law school, I will be graduating at age 32. I am very interested in an appeals court clerkship, which I know is not easy to get. However, assuming all else is equal, will my age be a deterrent to becoming a law clerk? I know most are age 25. And magically, if I have the qualifications to be a Supreme Court clerk, will my age be a deterrent to that as well? I've tried finding information on law clerks, and while I assume most are age 25-26, I haven't found any good data.

I take it you are attending a T6 law school and are generally smarter than most of the people you've ever met in your entire life?

^^ Entirely pointless comment. He acknowledged the difficulty of getting it. Condition was "all things being equal" is he too old.

[pany1985]

Isn't the median age for 1Ls generally around 24 or 25? It seems unlikely the average law clerk is 25...

[Anonymous User]

Not too old. I'll be older than 32 when I clerk at a COA.

[justiceman]

Good news. Glad i'm not too old.

I take it you are attending a T6 law school and are generally smarter than most of the people you've ever met in your entire life?

I have no idea if I will get into a T6, at least during the first year. I am generally smarter than most of the people I've met in my entire life. Either that or really stupid. However, not every Supreme Court clerk is a genius. I mean, Laura Ingraham clerked for Thomas.

[reasonable_man]

Hello. If I get in to law school, I will be graduating at age 32. I am very interested in an appeals court clerkship, which I know is not easy to get. However, assuming all else is equal, will my age be a deterrent to becoming a law clerk? I know most are age 25. And magically, if I have the qualifications to be a Supreme Court clerk, will my age be a deterrent to that as well? I've tried finding information on law clerks, and while I assume most are age 25-26, I haven't found any good data.

I take it you are attending a T6 law school and are generally smarter than most of the people you've ever met in your entire life?

^^ Entirely pointless comment. He acknowledged the difficulty of getting it. Condition was "all things being equal" is he too old.

Thanks smart ass. I read the part where he acknowledged that. However, I'm sure not every 0L realizes that your chances of obtaining a SCOTUS clerkship outside attending the T6 are pretty awful (and that such chances are still pretty low within the T6). So I figured I'd bring it up.

Thanks for taking the time to police the thread and bring to light any comment that you, in your infinite wisdom, feel is 'pointless.' Where would TLS be without people like you?

[portena]

Hello. If I get in to law school, I will be graduating at age 32. I am very interested in an appeals court clerkship, which I know is not easy to get. However, assuming all else is equal, will my age be a deterrent to becoming a law clerk? I know most are age 25. And magically, if I have the qualifications to be a Supreme Court clerk, will my age be a deterrent to that as well? I've tried finding information on law clerks, and while I assume most are age 25-26, I haven't found any good data.

I take it you are attending a T6 law school and are generally smarter than most of the people you've ever met in your entire life?

^^ Entirely pointless comment. He acknowledged the difficulty of getting it. Condition was "all things being equal" is he too old.

Thanks smart ass. I read the part where he acknowledged that. However, I'm sure not every 0L realizes that your chances of obtaining a SCOTUS clerkship outside attending the T6 are pretty awful (and that such chances are still pretty low within the T6). So I figured I'd bring it up.

Thanks for taking the time to police the thread and bring to light any comment that you, in your infinite wisdom, feel is 'pointless.' Where would TLS be without people like you?

[reasonable_man]

I've got an idea. Why don't you go fuck yourself?

[BobSacamano]

I've got an idea. Why don't you go fuck yourself?

My this thread took a turn for the nasty quickly. Take a step back, man.

[Anonymous Loser]

r_m's schtick is getting old.

Overly-optimistic prospective law students aren't going to change their views simply because some frustrated NYC mid-law litigation associate barks at them on the internet.

[Aeroplane]

I don't see that OP is particularly over-optimistic. He acknowledges that COA clerkships are hard to get and uses the word "magically" wrt SCOTUS clerkships, which I read as implying that it would be practically a miracle if he was ever qualified.

[Anonymous Loser]

I don't see that OP is particularly over-optimistic. He acknowledges that COA clerkships are hard to get and uses the word "magically" wrt SCOTUS clerkships, which I read as implying that it would be practically a miracle if he was ever qualified.

Sorry, I wasn't clear: I was just speaking generally about r_m's posts, not making any statement one way or the other about the OP.

[Aeroplane]

I don't see that OP is particularly over-optimistic. He acknowledges that COA clerkships are hard to get and uses the word "magically" wrt SCOTUS clerkships, which I read as implying that it would be practically a miracle if he was ever qualified.

Sorry, I wasn't clear: I was just speaking generally about r_m's posts, not making any statement one way or the other about the OP.

Ah, gotcha. TBH, I'm usually on board w/r_m's comments and I often think posters on here are naive about a lot of stuff. But I thought in this particular case the OP went out of his way to qualify his inquiry and point out that he was NOT optimistic about his chances and r_m's snark was misdirected.

[The Brainalist]

I am generally smarter than most of the people I've met in my entire life. Either that or really stupid.

Credited.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2 ... ger_effect

[Renzo]

Good news. Glad i'm not too old.

I take it you are attending a T6 law school and are generally smarter than most of the people you've ever met in your entire life?

I have no idea if I will get into a T6, at least during the first year. I am generally smarter than most of the people I've met in my entire life. Either that or really stupid. However, not every Supreme Court clerk is a genius. I mean, Laura Ingraham clerked for Thomas.

I was going to defend you (a little) before this post. Now I think reasonable_man was too kind to you. I read your post and assumed it was a poetic way of asking how much age would effect your career. Now I think you are a truckload of douche.

[Renzo]

Good news. Glad i'm not too old.

I take it you are attending a T6 law school and are generally smarter than most of the people you've ever met in your entire life?

I have no idea if I will get into a T6, at least during the first year. I am generally smarter than most of the people I've met in my entire life. Either that or really stupid. However, not every Supreme Court clerk is a genius. I mean, Laura Ingraham clerked for Thomas.

I was going to defend you (a little) before this post. Now I think reasonable_man was too kind to you. I read your post and assumed it was a poetic way of asking how much age would effect your career. Now I think you are a truckload of douche.

Your haughty, retroactive assignment of desert is a truckload of douche.

There are roughly 2,500 students every year just in the T6 schools, and roughly 180(ish) circuit judges. That means about 720 clerks if they each take four (they don't). Now, if no current clerks or practicing attorneys apply, and you only have to compete against your class year (impossible), assuming you are at a T6 school and only T6 grads are competing for the jobs (not true, it's many more students), you only have to beat out 1,780 of your peers to get the marginal spot.

You're right. I'm way out of line. The OP's biggest obstacle is definitely his age.

[justiceman]

Good news. Glad i'm not too old.

I take it you are attending a T6 law school and are generally smarter than most of the people you've ever met in your entire life?

I have no idea if I will get into a T6, at least during the first year. I am generally smarter than most of the people I've met in my entire life. Either that or really stupid. However, not every Supreme Court clerk is a genius. I mean, Laura Ingraham clerked for Thomas.

I was going to defend you (a little) before this post. Now I think reasonable_man was too kind to you. I read your post and assumed it was a poetic way of asking how much age would effect your career. Now I think you are a truckload of douche.

I have to say, I'm actually kind of hurt that you called me a douche. I'm sorry, I do think I am pretty smart, but I may be overestimating myself. I do have objective evidence that tells me I am smarter than most of the population. I don't look down on others because of that. Also, I haven't met very many very smart people in my entire life. Does that make me a douche? Was it the comment about Laura Ingraham? You're right, maybe that was an inappropriate remark. Although I doubt if Laura made such a comment about someone else, she would feel the need to apologize. I've listed to her show a lot. Anyways, I'm sorry if I came off as a douche. I didn't mean to.

[justiceman]

The OP's biggest obstacle is definitely his age.

I don't think that's the biggest obstacle. I know that getting an appeals court clerkship is extremely difficult, and Supreme Court clerkship is difficult. I will attempt to do both knowing that the chance it will happen is nearly zero. But if I don't try, the chance is absolutely zero. I have nothing to lose, I might as well try. All I wanted to know rare it is for older clerks to be hired, to see if that was yet another hurdle I would have to leap.

[Renzo]

Good news. Glad i'm not too old.

I take it you are attending a T6 law school and are generally smarter than most of the people you've ever met in your entire life?

I have no idea if I will get into a T6, at least during the first year. I am generally smarter than most of the people I've met in my entire life. Either that or really stupid. However, not every Supreme Court clerk is a genius. I mean, Laura Ingraham clerked for Thomas.

I was going to defend you (a little) before this post. Now I think reasonable_man was too kind to you. I read your post and assumed it was a poetic way of asking how much age would effect your career. Now I think you are a truckload of douche.

I have to say, I'm actually kind of hurt that you called me a douche. I'm sorry, I do think I am pretty smart, but I may be overestimating myself. I do have objective evidence that tells me I am smarter than most of the population. I don't look down on others because of that. Also, I haven't met very many very smart people in my entire life. Does that make me a douche? Was it the comment about Laura Ingraham? You're right, maybe that was an inappropriate remark. Although I doubt if Laura made such a comment about someone else, she would feel the need to apologize. I've listed to her show a lot. Anyways, I'm sorry if I came off as a douche. I didn't mean to.

Ugh, I'm probably falling into an elaborate troll-trap here, but damn my faith in humanity...

If we use the LSAT for a very rough proxy for intelligence, if you can get into a good school you are smarter than most people. But being smart isn't even close to enough. You might as well be asking if your height will effect your chances of being President. The odds are so astronomically small, that worrying about your age is absurd. I actually had the opportunity to lunch with a former SCOTUS clerk. She compared it to being an astronaut: first you have to be a test pilot, and everyone in the airforce wants to be a test pilot. If all you ever become is a test pilot, you are still the envy of everyone and you've had a great career. But to make the leap to astronaut you have to be extremely lucky in addition to being the very best of the best of the best.

[vanwinkle]

If anyone cares about the actual original subject instead of seeing who can be the biggest douchetruck in the thread...

I'm going to be 31 when I graduate. From what I've gathered being here so far, my age is not going to negatively impact me at all. And yes, I attend a school where I have a chance at actually getting federal clerkships.

[cylusr]

cxvfbgnhm

[vanwinkle]

I actually had the opportunity to lunch with a former SCOTUS clerk. She compared it to being an astronaut: first you have to be a test pilot, and everyone in the airforce wants to be a test pilot. If all you ever become is a test pilot, you are still the envy of everyone and you've had a great career. But to make the leap to astronaut you have to be extremely lucky in addition to being the very best of the best of the best.

Well, shit. Supreme Court clerk was my backup plan since I couldn't be an astronaut.