. Forum

[Cavalier]

Ninth CircuiTTT

[Veyron]

I thought D.C. had always been considered the best? Had no idea some people were putting it on par with 9 and 2. Also, isn't it more about the judge than the circuit at that level?

Not that this is a situation I'm to likely to have to worry about.

[OldManHunger]

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[OldManHunger]

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[Anonymous User]

...over-inclusive in that it includes lots of clerkships that, while still great learning experiences, are not in areas lots of people tend to seek out.

Do you think that any federal appellate clerkship would not be a great learning experience? Although it's probably true that the DC circuit does more administrative law, the 2d circuit sets more financial law, and the 9th circuit more IP law, none of them are exclusive. I suspect the difference in experience between circuits is so small compared to the other factors--primarily location and judge feeder status, and then a lot of noise due to the erratic hiring process--that it's almost not worth thinking about. There's an argument that a senior judge might be a different or lesser experience than a non-senior judge, but, even there, the quality of experience will be idiosyncratic to the particular judge. Maybe I'm too cynical. It's not clear to me (1) to what extent even an elite student can control the outcome of a clerkship search or (2) to what extent it matters which judge you clerk for, in terms of experience or effect on career, not including SCOTUS feeders.

It's my impression that given the degree of competition and the fact that exceptionally well qualified people (like top 10 people at T14 schools) who were somewhat geographically selective struck out, seems to indicate that this is correct. I think if you really want to clerk you, you can't be too choosy.

[XxSpyKEx]

Why is 7 left out of the mix? I'd say 2/7/9 are all about the same in terms of prestige, and the DC circuit is the best (although 2 is pretty competitive in terms of selectivity)

[Anonymous User]

Why is 7 left out of the mix? I'd say 2/7/9 are all about the same in terms of prestige, and the DC circuit is the best (although 2 is pretty competitive in terms of selectivity)

The Seventh Circuit absolutely belongs in the mix, as do several of the others. I haven't run the numbers, but I imagine that if I did, several courts not included in the "2/9/DC" trio would compare quite favorably. The point of my post wasn't really meant to address that, however. Instead, my main point was that the assumed equivalence between 2, 9, and DC is probably not borne out in fact, at least in one particular respect.

I thought everyone already knew the DC circuit is more prestigious than 2/7/9... At least the GPA trends in terms of selectivity at my school certainly seem to suggest that (DC circuit has a GPA median of around top 1%, while 2/7/9 are around top 10%). Also, the DC circuit is the only court, except SCOTUS, that has managed to have 100% of all clerks hired in the past 8 years having been on law review here.

[2LLLL]

These calculations use the number of judges who have placed SCOTUS clerks between OT06 and OT11 as the numerator and the number of judges on each court right now as the denominator. If I have missed anything, please let me know and I will make the appropriate change(s).

I really hate to quibble over methodology after you've gone to the trouble of doing this service, but shouldn't the denominator more properly be all judges on the respective circuit between OT06 and OT11 instead of all judges currently on the circuit?

[dood]

yo GTL - what's the process like if you manage to secure a circuit clerkship with a feeder judge and do a good job? do u still have to "apply" to SCOTUS or is it like a phone call thing? and, is there a way to find out which circuit judges feed to which justices? btw, ty very much for this poast.

[Anonymous User]

yo GTL - what's the process like if you manage to secure a circuit clerkship with a feeder judge and do a good job? do u still have to "apply" to SCOTUS or is it like a phone call thing? and, is there a way to find out which circuit judges feed to which justices? btw, ty very much for this poast.

But it's often not a matter of "doing a good job" for your feeder judge since you will generally be applying to SCOTUS before you even begin your feeder clerkship.

[phillyphan]

I think many people use 2/9/DC not necessarily as equivalent, but as an easy way of maintaining a semblance of anonymity so they don't get questions about specific judges/their court.