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anyone have any insight on these? any current clerks in d. ct's with patent law focus? fed cir?
I'm a 2L right now at Boalt, EE background, with a pretty high interest in getting a clerkship, I'd like to get more information on this topic.

i thought i'd start a little thread here for people interested in this. It would be nice to know if someone below the top of the class (i.e. not top 10%, say if someone's top 25%) ever lands clerkships because of their tech background.

I'll throw in my data point, I know a 3L from Boalt, top 10%+tech background, no-go at the appellate level, he'll clerk at a district court next yr. He told me that its pretty hard to stand out because a lot of competition from practicing attorneys.

I have a sense if you go to a place like HYS or Chicago, you'd be looking pretty good for clerkships from top 10%, but it gets unpredictable outside those schools.

I attended a local patent bar meeting this semester where some federal judges spoke. I am not sure if you are familiar with this, but there is a patent pilot program that was recently signed into legislation. The judges present at the meeting indicated they were very interested in bringing on clerks with IP experience if their district court is selected to participate in the pilot program since many of the clerks they traditionally hire do not have such a background. You may want to check courts in regions you have ties with to see if they have applied to participate.

http://www.uscourts.gov/News/TheThirdBr ... Cases.aspx

District Courts with higher patent case filings seem like ideal candidates for folks with tech backgrounds that want to clerk. Here is a list of courts with the most patent cases were filed in 2009:

http://271patent.blogspot.com/2010/01/r ... atent.html

You'll want to look at percentages, not raw numbers. C.D. Cal. cases are spread out over a lot more judges than some other districts. Last I looked, I think E.D. Tex. was the highest, D. Del. was second, and N.D. Cal or C.D. Cal was a distant third from a percentage point of view.