Working for a federal judge? Forum

[BrooklynLaw16]

Just finished 1L. I'm starting an internship for a federal judge in SDNY next week. I want to make a good impression, for obvious reasons. Any tips?

[Danger Zone]

Just finished 1L. I'm starting an internship for a federal judge in SDNY next week. I want to make a good impression, for obvious reasons. Any tips?

Do good work and never blow a deadline. Working for a judge is a sweet gig. Ask for feedback on your writing after you've turned in a few things.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a current SDNY clerk, so I'll give you a few tips based on my experiences with interns.

First of all, relax. Interns can be really uptight, and it makes everyone else uncomfortable to be around them.

Be respectful to the clerks and any other staff. I have seen interns be rude to staff, and judges really hate that. This also means respecting their time (clerks usually work really long hours in SDNY). If you have questions, wait until you have a few and ask them at one time.

Call the judge "Judge", not "your honor."

If you don't know how to format something, look to the judge's past decisions before asking the clerks. Actually you should do this even if you think you know what the formatting should be.

Double proof read everything. There is nothing more annoying than catching tons of dumb typos in an intern's draft or memo. Clerks expect legal errors/confusion because you're new to this, but everything else should be perfect.

[BrooklynLaw16]

Great, you're just the person that I want to talk to. I'm generally a strong writer, I don't make many typos.

When you say that I should look at opinions for formatting, are you referring to a situation in which the judge or a law clerk requests a draft opinion?

In law school, they taught us a very long winded form of writing an office memo, including question presented, short answer, statement of facts, etc... My intuition tells me that a Judge would prefer if I jump straight into an objective discussion of the issue, law, and how it applies to the facts, kind of like an exam answer. So basically, keep the office memos super formal with separate sections, or keep them shorter and straight to the point?

I prefer Westlaw over Lexis, does SDNY have access to Westlaw?

Most importantly, how can I distinguish myself? I want to be the go-to intern for business related issues.

[Danger Zone]

To get the format down, you need to ask a clerk for samples of his/her work so you know what the judge wants. Also, have a conversation with the judge on day one about what they expect from you. During that meeting, you can also discuss what type of cases you'd prefer to work on, though it's more likely the judge will say that he/she can only give you so many of those cases and that the majority of your cases will be [different practice area].

[Anonymous User]

Great, you're just the person that I want to talk to. I'm generally a strong writer, I don't make many typos.

When you say that I should look at opinions for formatting, are you referring to a situation in which the judge or a law clerk requests a draft opinion?

In law school, they taught us a very long winded form of writing an office memo, including question presented, short answer, statement of facts, etc... My intuition tells me that a Judge would prefer if I jump straight into an objective discussion of the issue, law, and how it applies to the facts, kind of like an exam answer. So basically, keep the office memos super formal with separate sections, or keep them shorter and straight to the point?

I prefer Westlaw over Lexis, does SDNY have access to Westlaw?

Most importantly, how can I distinguish myself? I want to be the go-to intern for business related issues.

I'm the SDNY clerk anon from above.

First, I wouldn't do anything to try to distinguish yourself other than giving the clerks great work-product. As the above poster noted, usually you'll have a meeting with the judge/clerk to talk about your interests, and you can express an interest in business issues (not sure what that means exactly so you may want to define that a bit). You're much more likely to be assigned habeas or SSI appeals than any major commercial litigation, simply because they generally involve a more discrete set of issues that can be handled in the time you are in chambers. But at least in our chambers, we really try to assign interesting cases to our interns especially if they ask for something in particular.

For formatting, no matter what the work product, you should look for examples. Generally you'll have access the the chambers shared drive, just find examples or ask the clerk. If it's a draft opinion, search west law for the judge's prior opinions with similar issues to the case you're assigned. Every judge has different preferences as far as style and format, so it's important to check. I can't tell you what judges normally want because they're all different, so do the research.

The court has both westlaw and lexis, so no worries there.

[BrooklynLaw16]

What is a good source to read up on habeas and SSI appeals? I want to go in with working knowledge so that I can hit the ground running.

[WHJTMG178]

What do you mean by "business related issues?" Insider trading? Securities fraud? Contract disputes? There are a whole bunch of business related issues on the SDNY docket. Be more specific when you talk to the judge.
Distinguish yourself by being nice and fitting in. Judges usually don't hire interns as clerks, and if you have SDNY dreams from Brooklyn you better be one of the top five people in your class. I would just focus on learning some new law, growing your writing skills, and having a fun summer. Also, spend a lot of time in court. If there is a high profile case you should go to it, and try to observe the 2nd circuit at least once or twice. Good luck.

[Anonymous User]

D. ct. clerk here. This is my advice for interns.

Every chambers operates differently. You will figure out how yours operates within a few days. I'd say most judges interact sparingly with interns, depending on their work load. Unless your judge has an open door policy, do not bother him/her. Go to the clerks. In most chambers, clerks supervise the interns because interns are given easy/rote assignments that need minimal oversight. We are essentially your boss.

This is advice for life in general, but treat EVERYONE with the utmost respect. To begin with, there is nothing worse than an arrogant law student, and you never know who knows who and how close they are. For instance, my judge is friends with a janitor at the court because their kids are friends and go to the same school. They play soccer together every now and then. If an intern was rude to the janitor, that intern could say good bye to any reference or LOR from the judge.

Do not under any circumstances miss deadlines without giving at least a day or two of notice. We give interns way more time than should be necessary, but lots of interns are idiots, understandably don't know how to do something I think is obvious, or (most commonly) make things way too complicated. If you can't make a deadline, just be forthright about it. I don't care if an intern can't make a deadline and he/she tells me with notice. But if you miss a deadline unexpectedly, that can have a ripple effect (you take longer than I expected, then I have to readjust work, then the judge does, and so on).

This should go without saying, but proof your work. We all make lots of mistakes, it's okay, it happens. But if it's clear you didn't proofread your work, I will judge you.

Don't try to write shit like Learned Hand. Just use plain English. But do formulate an opinion, state that opinion, and explain and support it. I don't know why, but interns are routinely too afraid to take a stance and just waffle around for a few pages.

Above all, be pleasant to work with. Don't stress and act like everything is some huge deal. I assure you the 12b6 you're working on is not a big deal. If you want a good LOR/reference, you will absolutely have to make a good impression on us clerks.

TL;DR be fun to work with, do decent work, and don't miss deadlines and you'll be fine.