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Searched the forums, but didn't really find anything on point. Forgive me if this has been asked and answered.

Was interested in a judicial internship for 2015 in NYC. Career services suggested that I blanket SDNY and EDNY on December 1st. They said that I would get interviews scheduled for around Christmas. I sent out 80 packets on the morning of December 1st, and what I received back was a handful of grade requests and about 70 silences.

Last Friday I went back to career services, and they told me that I might have missed the federal boat, and should try the Supreme Court Appellate Divisions, 1st and 2nd departments. Blanketed both departments on Friday. Today I received a bunch of rejections from them (rapid turn around) and one of them included a personal notate that wrote "FYI, the NYC supreme court does not hire summer interns." ???

Talked to career services again just now and they said they weren't sure what that justice/clerk was talking about, and they are now recommending that I wait a couple of weeks and then blanket all of the Supreme Court trial judges.

I would really appreciate it if anyone who actually has experience with this unravel some of this for me and/or give me some pointers. Did I already miss the boat on EDNY/SDNY? Should I proceed as they suggested? Thanks a lot.

you for sure didn't miss the boat on federal and Supreme Court definitely does hire interns

when you blanket-bomb 80 generic applications you're most likely going to get silences (happened to my friend)


For state level courts in NYC, personalize letter and maybe even call to see if they are taking interns.

Most judges won't get back to you unless they're extending you an interview or asking for grades. I mass mailed SDNY/EDNY in early January and got two interviews and a request for grades. What school are you at? It could be playing a role in how successful you'll be without grades.

Former SDNY summer judicial intern here. A couple thoughts:

1) The lack of replies isn't surprising. I imagine these judges see tons of applications so if something on your resume doesn't pop out, they won't be contacting you. As the poster above me said, I imagine your law school can play a big role without grades.

2) You may already be planning on doing this, but I would consider mailing judges grades after you receive them in order to put yourself back on their radar.

3) I applied really late (March/April) and I got an internship offer fairly quickly along with a couple other interview offers. I had good grades at CLS/NYU, which I'm sure played a role, but don't assume all of the hiring is done in December. I know of friends who didn't have amazing grades who got jobs as late as I did.

4) Consider looking into more specialized courts like bankruptcy in NYC. Also look into courts in NJ that have an easy commute.

Thanks for the responses.

1) To the person who said mail judges after grades to get back on their radar, should I send them the whole packet again or just grades and maybe a new cover letter?

2) I'll try the more personal approach for trial court judges. Do you think I should start that over the break or wait until a week or two in Jan as suggested by career services?

Thanks.

1L at T10 here going to be a SDNY intern. I mass mailed 85 federal judges in NYC (SDNY, EDNY, CIT, 2nd Cir) with generic cover letter, resume and writing sample - sent out just before Christmas, had 2 interviews in early January. Got an offer same day as interview without grades. Possible that the ship has sailed for fed judges hiring that don't care to see grades - might be another big batch of judges later on when all applicants grades are in.