What are my odds for a Clerkship Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm a 2L at Virginia with a GPA that puts me in the top 5-6% of the school. I'm not on LR but on a very good secondary journal. I'm from New England and would love to clerk on the 1st or 2nd Circuits, but would be willing to clerk anywhere. I have a SA position at a v50 firm in NYC. What types of federal clerkships will I be most competitive for?

Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

I'm a 2L at Virginia with a GPA that puts me in the top 5-6% of the school. I'm not on LR but on a very good secondary journal. I'm from New England and would love to clerk on the 1st or 2nd Circuits, but would be willing to clerk anywhere. I have a SA position at a v50 firm in NYC. What types of federal clerkships will I be most competitive for?

Thanks!

How did you only get v50 w/ those grades?

[20130312]

Congrats OP! You should ask for help here from our resident expert: http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 3&t=146252

[bk1]

I'm a 2L at Virginia with a GPA that puts me in the top 5-6% of the school. I'm not on LR but on a very good secondary journal. I'm from New England and would love to clerk on the 1st or 2nd Circuits, but would be willing to clerk anywhere. I have a SA position at a v50 firm in NYC. What types of federal clerkships will I be most competitive for?

Thanks!

How did you only get v50 w/ those grades?

Clearly there is no possible reason that someone might choose a V50 over a V10.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a 2L in the same grade range but with LR. UVA does not place well in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Circuits - If you look at the available data very few UVA students regardless of GPA snag clerkships in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Circuits. I would think you would be much more competitive in the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 10th though, with the exception of a few judges (Wilkinson, Sutton), but I was told that much will depend on networking, prof's calling judges, etc. Just a few thoughts.

[Anonymous User]

I think your best shot to stay in New England is to do a district clerkship first and then try for COA. UVA doesn't have a strong track record in that area, but has placed clerks with Judges Boudin, Lynch, and Lipez in the 1st and Sack in the 2d. All of these clerks that I'm aware of had managing board positions on law review.

[Anonymous User]

Some non-CA1/2 judges who have hired UVA clerks who aren't at the very top of the class include Judge Motz in the 4th, Judge Smith in the 5th, Judges Gibbons and Boggs in the 6th, Judge Ripple in the 7th, and Judge Beezer in the 9th.

[vanwinkle]

I'm a 2L at Virginia with a GPA that puts me in the top 5-6% of the school. I'm not on LR but on a very good secondary journal. I'm from New England and would love to clerk on the 1st or 2nd Circuits, but would be willing to clerk anywhere. I have a SA position at a v50 firm in NYC. What types of federal clerkships will I be most competitive for?

Thanks!

How did you only get v50 w/ those grades?

This isn't an appropriate response. Let's try not to use anon for off-topic, backhanded questions.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a 2L at Virginia with a GPA that puts me in the top 5-6% of the school. I'm not on LR but on a very good secondary journal. I'm from New England and would love to clerk on the 1st or 2nd Circuits, but would be willing to clerk anywhere. I have a SA position at a v50 firm in NYC. What types of federal clerkships will I be most competitive for?

Thanks!

How did you only get v50 w/ those grades?

If you must know I transferred to UVA so I didn't have those sorts of grades until recently.

[traydeuce]

Some non-CA1/2 judges who have hired UVA clerks who aren't at the very top of the class include Judge Motz in the 4th, Judge Smith in the 5th, Judges Gibbons and Boggs in the 6th, Judge Ripple in the 7th, and Judge Beezer in the 9th.

And Moth, Smith and Boggs are great judges. That said, a mere top 5-6%er who's not on law review is more likely - should he get any COA clerkship at all - to end up with one of the lesser lights of the 4th, 5th or 11th, and stands a strong chance of striking out. So be sure to get extremely enthusiastic recommendations (from recommenders who will make calls), and apply to lots of district judges.

[Anonymous User]

Some non-CA1/2 judges who have hired UVA clerks who aren't at the very top of the class include Judge Motz in the 4th, Judge Smith in the 5th, Judges Gibbons and Boggs in the 6th, Judge Ripple in the 7th, and Judge Beezer in the 9th.

This is incorrect. D. Motz, J. Smith, D. Boggs, and K. Ripple have all been hiring top 10 (rank, not %) students for the past several years. You are correct with regards to Judge Gibbons. And, as to Judge Beezer, rumor is that he only handles immigration cases now.

[Anonymous User]

What about my odds at SDNY, or D. MA?

[Blindmelon]

What about my odds at SDNY, or D. MA?

D. Mass. hiring each year tends to look like this: a few Yale, tons of Harvard, 2 BU, 2 BC, 1 Cornell, random assortment of NYU/Columbia.

[Anonymous User]

What about my odds at SDNY, or D. MA?

Probably not, but worth a shot. I think you should start thinking about 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 11th Circuits, EDVa, WDVa, and other district courts in UVA's general proximity.

I've done some research with UVA's materials, turns out I'm well above the average for nearly all the federal courts with some COA exceptions.

see here

http://lawnotes2.law.virginia.edu/lawit ... ment&login

My question is how this data is affected by post-JD experience

[Anonymous User]

What about my odds at SDNY, or D. MA?

Probably not, but worth a shot. I think you should start thinking about 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 11th Circuits, EDVa, WDVa, and other district courts in UVA's general proximity.

I've done some research with UVA's materials, turns out I'm well above the average for nearly all the federal courts with some COA exceptions.

see here

http://lawnotes2.law.virginia.edu/lawit ... ment&login

My question is how this data is affected by post-JD experience

The data on that page is average data. So just because you're above the average for a specific circuit or district does not mean you will even be competitive for some judges on that circuit or district.

[vamedic03]

What about my odds at SDNY, or D. MA?

Probably not, but worth a shot. I think you should start thinking about 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 11th Circuits, EDVa, WDVa, and other district courts in UVA's general proximity.

I've done some research with UVA's materials, turns out I'm well above the average for nearly all the federal courts with some COA exceptions.

see here

http://lawnotes2.law.virginia.edu/lawit ... ment&login

My question is how this data is affected by post-JD experience

Much of that data is based on pre-ITE clerkship trends. Virtually all of those GPA's have increased (obviously not for judges who were already top 1-2%). The only value in that data is in demonstrating how the circuits relate. A big problem, however, is that all of that data is very judge specific and very year specific.

It's probably worth noting that the link you provided is only accessible by current UVA students.

And look, people can only make rough estimates. If you really want to know how you stack up and how you would fare as an alum, go talk to your resources at UVA. They have the hard data and are very willing to talk about your odds. And realize, the clerkship market has gotten far more competitive in the last few years.

[traydeuce]

What about my odds at SDNY, or D. MA?

Probably not, but worth a shot. I think you should start thinking about 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 11th Circuits, EDVa, WDVa, and other district courts in UVA's general proximity.

I've done some research with UVA's materials, turns out I'm well above the average for nearly all the federal courts with some COA exceptions.

see here

http://lawnotes2.law.virginia.edu/lawit ... ment&login

My question is how this data is affected by post-JD experience

Yeah, not to be snide, but the fact that you would rely on pre-ITE data, and attempt to share it with us when you yourself had to log in to see it, doesn't speak so highly for your analytic abilities. Anyway, all I can say is that the single most important thing you can do right now is to form a relationship with a prof who's known for getting on the phone with judges, and/or who knows some judges. This makes all the difference in the world. If this doesn't happen for you, there's no reason for even the Judge Wynns and Kings (4th Cir.) of the world to pull you out of their stack and bring you in for an interview. A large share of the top of your class will apply to everyone you apply to, and you're not just competing with them, but with people in the top third at HYS, CCN people, Penn people, etc.