Judicial Internship Question Forum

[AlexGrace]

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[bluecrab5448]

I'm currently playing phone tag w/ my career services office, and I thought maybe a TLSer could help - thanks in advance.

I'm trying to get a judicial internship in NYC this summer, and early in December I sent out around 35 letters to federal judges... Having not heard back yet, I sent out 100 more letters to state judges two days ago. That same day, a clerk (for one of the federal judges) contacts me and asks to schedule an interview. I had my interview yesterday, and I would love to work for that judge, but I'm not sure how the interview went overall. I am terrible at gauging these things. Because I was the first to interview and this particular judge employs 5-10 interns each summer, the judge said that he wouldn't make his decision for a few weeks.

Yesterday, apparently the mail was delivered quickly and I received two interview offers from state judges - one I'm scheduling for later this month and the other I haven't called back yet. I've heard conflicting opinions on whether OCI interviewers would look more favorably upon someone who interned for a state judge or federal judge. Really, I would just love to work for the judge who I interviewed with yesterday. Any advice on how to handle scheduling interviews with state judges, being that the general career office advice (at least, at my school) is to never say no to an offer from a judge and not to schedule an interview unless you'd be comfortable accepting an offer from that judge on the spot?

I would go ahead and schedule the interviews with the 2 state judges. You obviously want the fed judge the most but do you have any preference among the two state judges? It sounds like the federal judge will be taking his time with interviews, so it may be awhile before you hear anything and if you want to do a judicial internship, all of them tend to be locked down in January/February.

The never say no to an offer from a judge is not exactly written in stone. It's one thing to say yes immediately and then try to renege later on, but I think most judges would understand if you asked for a day to get back to them.

[AlexGrace]

Thanks for your help.

[Anonymous User]

I would recommend scheduling the state judges down the line to give yourself plenty of time to hear from the federal judge. This is all anecdotal, but I do not know of anyone who has not received an offer to intern/extern for a judge after getting the interview. I know 5 people, myself included, that all got the offer from the federal judge we interviewed with.

Also, at least here in Chicago, working for a federal judge > a state judge as far as experience goes. State judges in Cook county are absurdly swamped, whereas federal judges have a comparatively manageable docket. The experience overall if better in federal court. I never worked for a state court judge, but having gone to the courthouse many a times, I can tell you that it is semi-controlled chaos at best. I imagine you will have a more enjoyable experience overall interning for the federal court judge, and I would hold out to hear from him/her before accepting anything from the state court judge.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I would recommend scheduling the state judges down the line to give yourself plenty of time to hear from the federal judge. This is all anecdotal, but I do not know of anyone who has not received an offer to intern/extern for a judge after getting the interview. I know 5 people, myself included, that all got the offer from the federal judge we interviewed with.

Also, at least here in Chicago, working for a federal judge > a state judge as far as experience goes. State judges in Cook county are absurdly swamped, whereas federal judges have a comparatively manageable docket. The experience overall if better in federal court. I never worked for a state court judge, but having gone to the courthouse many a times, I can tell you that it is semi-controlled chaos at best. I imagine you will have a more enjoyable experience overall interning for the federal court judge, and I would hold out to hear from him/her before accepting anything from the state court judge.

This is probably only true for trial courts - I'm sure that state COA is swamped, too, but it won't be chaos and will probably be fairly substantive work (drafting opinions). (As for SSC, they get to set their own schedules!)

[ilovesf]

It doesn't really matter for OCI. I liked interning in a federal court because we did both state & federal issues, so I got to cover both areas.

[Anonymous User]

I would recommend scheduling the state judges down the line to give yourself plenty of time to hear from the federal judge. This is all anecdotal, but I do not know of anyone who has not received an offer to intern/extern for a judge after getting the interview. I know 5 people, myself included, that all got the offer from the federal judge we interviewed with.

Also, at least here in Chicago, working for a federal judge > a state judge as far as experience goes. State judges in Cook county are absurdly swamped, whereas federal judges have a comparatively manageable docket. The experience overall if better in federal court. I never worked for a state court judge, but having gone to the courthouse many a times, I can tell you that it is semi-controlled chaos at best. I imagine you will have a more enjoyable experience overall interning for the federal court judge, and I would hold out to hear from him/her before accepting anything from the state court judge.

This is probably only true for trial courts - I'm sure that state COA is swamped, too, but it won't be chaos and will probably be fairly substantive work (drafting opinions). (As for SSC, they get to set their own schedules!)

I'm sorry, I am not sure why I was envisioning trial courts. I guess I assumed he was interviewing to intern for a federal district court judge and thought state level trial court as the corollary. I suppose it would be quite different to clerk for a state supreme court judge, or even state COA judge. Still thought, I think interning for a federal judge has a little more cache.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I would recommend scheduling the state judges down the line to give yourself plenty of time to hear from the federal judge. This is all anecdotal, but I do not know of anyone who has not received an offer to intern/extern for a judge after getting the interview. I know 5 people, myself included, that all got the offer from the federal judge we interviewed with.

Also, at least here in Chicago, working for a federal judge > a state judge as far as experience goes. State judges in Cook county are absurdly swamped, whereas federal judges have a comparatively manageable docket. The experience overall if better in federal court. I never worked for a state court judge, but having gone to the courthouse many a times, I can tell you that it is semi-controlled chaos at best. I imagine you will have a more enjoyable experience overall interning for the federal court judge, and I would hold out to hear from him/her before accepting anything from the state court judge.

This is probably only true for trial courts - I'm sure that state COA is swamped, too, but it won't be chaos and will probably be fairly substantive work (drafting opinions). (As for SSC, they get to set their own schedules!)

I'm sorry, I am not sure why I was envisioning trial courts. I guess I assumed he was interviewing to intern for a federal district court judge and thought state level trial court as the corollary. I suppose it would be quite different to clerk for a state supreme court judge, or even state COA judge. Still thought, I think interning for a federal judge has a little more cache.

Yeah, federal always has a little more preftige than state. State court judges can still have some excellent connections, though.

(Full disclosure, I interned for a SSC judge my 1L year because I got the offer before I had my interview with a federal judge. I think the "accept an offer on the spot" thing is less true for internships than clerkships, though, and it can also vary by judge. You might want to find out if anyone at your school - student or CSO - knows anything about what the judges in question expect.)

[AlexGrace]

Thanks for your help everybodyyyy... While attempting to strategically re-schedule an interview, I fell into a phone conversation that turned into a phone interview that turned into an offer. I explained my dilemma, and now I have a few days to decide.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for your help everybodyyyy... While attempting to strategically re-schedule an interview, I fell into a phone conversation that turned into a phone interview that turned into an offer. I explained my dilemma, and now I have a few days to decide.

You could wait a couple days and then call the federal court judge and explain that you have an offer on the table, but that you would much rather prefer to work in his/her chambers if he/she is willing to extend the offer.

Good luck breh.

[thesealocust]

Thanks for your help everybodyyyy... While attempting to strategically re-schedule an interview, I fell into a phone conversation that turned into a phone interview that turned into an offer. I explained my dilemma, and now I have a few days to decide.

roflcopter. Just do the state judge, it will be a great experience and 1L summer really doesn't matter from a prestige pissing contest or future job search point of view.