court of federal claims? Forum

[Anonymous User]

just offered an internship with a judge on the court of federal claims. any ideas as to what kinds of issues/culture i should expect to deal with over the summer?

for the record, i'm pretty excited about this - there just doesn't seem to be a lot of info available about this particular court.

[Renzo]

Lots and lots of contract claims against the government.

[Anonymous User]

just offered an internship with a judge on the court of federal claims. any ideas as to what kinds of issues/culture i should expect to deal with over the summer?

for the record, i'm pretty excited about this - there just doesn't seem to be a lot of info available about this particular court.

Interned there last summer as a 0L. Lots of lost bid contract cases between defense contractors against the government. Some tax refund cases (rare). We also saw a few vaccine-damages cases being reviewed from the special masters courts, which were really interesting. A few tribal cases here and there. As an intern, I generally handled pro se cases (which ultimately were dismissed for lack of SMJ or frivolous claims). Unfortunately, the court tends to get a ton of insane pro se claims because the disgruntled litigants figure it's the most appropriate venue for making any civil (or criminal, for that matter) claim against a government official. Otherwise, I prepared a few memos for the clerks regarding bid cases. Depending on your judge, you'll probably sit on a few telephonic hearings (for summary judgment, discovery disputes, etc.) and oral arguments. If you get a chance, sit in on one of the special masters hearings involving vaccine claims or oral argument from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

And god help you if you got Hewitt, all of her interns last year were constantly bitching about her treatment.