Curveball Judicial Internship Interview Questions Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have an upcoming interview for a 1L position with a Federal Judge in my home state. I've heard some horror stories from friends who had similar interviews and were asked detailed questions regarding criminal procedure, obscure rules, and awkward personal questions. This interview is kind of my last great hope for landing a respectable position this summer and I don't want to blow it. So please, share any weird questions you wish you could have prepared for.

[npe]

This is something that's hard to predict, given (1) we don't know what district you're interning for, (2) we don't know what judge you're interning for, and (3) we don't know if you're interning with a clerk or with the judge. (For instance, I interned with D.D.C. last year, which at the time had nine judges doing the work of fifteen slots, so the judge of course farmed out the internship program to his clerks.)

That said, in my limited experience, I can share what I had. Most of the questions were very straightforward, but a few can catch you off guard if you're nervous and haven't thought about them. For example, I got "What was your favorite class and why?" (not too crazy), followed by "What was your favorite case and why?" I ended up saying Youngstown, because I thought it showed one of the cool features of a common law system in that a concurrence can become part of the prevailing law (the same could be said for Katz if you have a judge with a criminal docket), but I was lucky to have that spring to mind as I hadn't thought about Con Law in some time. Another tough question I've had (not in a judicial internship, but good to be prepared for) is: "Tell me about a difficult or frustrating time you had in your courses/work experience/group work at school, and how you overcame it." Again, not a tough question if you prepared for it, but difficult to think of an answer to on the spot.

Hope these limited anecdotes help. Best of luck.

[Cupidity]

Asked what I would do at an arraignment hearing. I guess it sounds easy, and I answered it with some law and order style knowledge I had. But wtf do I know about Crim Pro?

[Anonymous Loser]

No one expects a 1L barely into the spring semester to know any substantive law.

[Anonymous User]

No one expects a 1L barely into the spring semester to know any substantive law.

Understood. However, I now have a prepared answer for "what is your favorite case." God Chung v. Nana is sexy.

[npe]

No one expects a 1L barely into the spring semester to know any substantive law.

Understood. However, I now have a prepared answer for "what is your favorite case." God Chung v. Nana is sexy.

[fatduck]

No one expects a 1L barely into the spring semester to know any substantive law.

Understood. However, I now have a prepared answer for "what is your favorite case." God Chung v. Nana is sexy.

NANA Development Corp. is an Alaska corporation, with its principal place of business in Anchorage. It is engaged in selling frozen reindeer antlers, which after processing are sent to the Orient for medicinal purposes.

rofl

[Cupidity]

No one expects a 1L barely into the spring semester to know any substantive law.

Understood. However, I now have a prepared answer for "what is your favorite case." God Chung v. Nana is sexy.

NANA Development Corp. is an Alaska corporation, with its principal place of business in Anchorage. It is engaged in selling frozen reindeer antlers, which after processing are sent to the Orient for medicinal purposes.

rofl

OMFG I love that case. Moral of the story: Refrigerate your antlers because you can't litigate in virginia.

[fatduck]

Understood. However, I now have a prepared answer for "what is your favorite case." God Chung v. Nana is sexy.

NANA Development Corp. is an Alaska corporation, with its principal place of business in Anchorage. It is engaged in selling frozen reindeer antlers, which after processing are sent to the Orient for medicinal purposes.

rofl

OMFG I love that case. Moral of the story: Refrigerate your antlers because you can't litigate in virginia.

Today I learned that thawing antlers spew forth filthy reindeer blood.

[deathviaboredom]

No one expects a 1L barely into the spring semester to know any substantive law.

Understood. However, I now have a prepared answer for "what is your favorite case." God Chung v. Nana is sexy.

[Anonymous User]

Slightly off topic, but how quickly after you applied did you hear back from the judges regarding an interview or that they were not interested?

I recently sent off some applications to federal judges in the mid-Atlantic region, although I was inquiring about internships during the Fall 2011 semester.

[BarbellDreams]

I only received one response from a federal judge saying she isn't taking more interns, the rest never replied back. I applied late (Early February) though so they may have been full by then.