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versus working for a district judge or a state judge

Depends on the judge/court.

Some do mostly social security cases (although I don't really know what that entails) and prisoner litigation (habeas, section 1983, pre-trial and post-trial criminal matters). Some do pretrial civil stuff as well--some handle dispositive matters (motions to dismiss, transfer, summary judgment) and others handle discovery disputes (motions to compel, etc.). Some hold full trials if the parties agree. It really just depends.

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Federal magistrate judges also hear preliminary motions in criminal matters such as motions to suppress evidence. Although, I guess, that this could vary by district.
Magisterial duties & jurisdiction varies greatly state-by-state at the state level.
It is important to note that in several states elected judges are not required to have a law degree.
Sorry about the anonymous heading; I hit it by accident; this is CanadianWolf.

Speaking of Magistrate judges, I was wondering if anyone had any clue as to what type of GPA you'd need coming from a school like Vandy, UCLA or UT to land a clerkship. I'm sure this differs from judge to judge and district to district, but any information (even anecdotal) would be appreciated.

ggocat wrote:Depends on the judge/court.

Some do mostly social security cases (although I don't really know what that entails) and prisoner litigation (habeas, section 1983, pre-trial and post-trial criminal matters). Some do pretrial civil stuff as well--some handle dispositive matters (motions to dismiss, transfer, summary judgment) and others handle discovery disputes (motions to compel, etc.). Some hold full trials if the parties agree. It really just depends.

Exactly

Interested Observer wrote:Speaking of Magistrate judges, I was wondering if anyone had any clue as to what type of GPA you'd need coming from a school like Vandy, UCLA or UT to land a clerkship. I'm sure this differs from judge to judge and district to district, but any information (even anecdotal) would be appreciated.

The fed magistrate judge I'll be working with in the fall has two career clerks. My understanding is that this is very common and that traditional clerkships with these judges are less common.

Interested Observer wrote:Speaking of Magistrate judges, I was wondering if anyone had any clue as to what type of GPA you'd need coming from a school like Vandy, UCLA or UT to land a clerkship. I'm sure this differs from judge to judge and district to district, but any information (even anecdotal) would be appreciated.

At one of these these 3 the median and average GPA for the past 2-3 years was around 3.3

Edit: Reading comprehension fail.

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Oh, crap. I'm an idiot.