does working for a judge the summer of 1L or 2L help you Forum

[littleboyblue]

land a clerkship with that judge after graduation?

[legends159]

it'll probably hurt you b/c some judges try not to take former externs b/c if you take some but not others then it somehow implies that those not taken had weaker work product which it doesn't b/c it could simply come down to grades and interview.

[littleboyblue]

it'll probably hurt you b/c some judges try not to take former externs b/c if you take some but not others then it somehow implies that those not taken had weaker work product which it doesn't b/c it could simply come down to grades and interview.

wow - i am so glad I asked!!!

[Cole S. Law]

it'll probably hurt you b/c some judges try not to take former externs b/c if you take some but not others then it somehow implies that those not taken had weaker work product which it doesn't b/c it could simply come down to grades and interview.

A judge should be used to disappointing people. A person who can look someone in the eye and sentence them to die should be able to deal with the hurt feelings of a former intern. Even if true, this would only eliminate one judge from the potential employer pool. The benefits far outweigh the possible detriment.

[Renzo]

it'll probably hurt you b/c some judges try not to take former externs b/c if you take some but not others then it somehow implies that those not taken had weaker work product which it doesn't b/c it could simply come down to grades and interview.

A judge should be used to disappointing people. A person who can look someone in the eye and sentence them to die should be able to deal with the hurt feelings of a former intern. Even if true, this would only eliminate one judge from the potential employer pool. The benefits far outweigh the possible detriment.

NYU's OCS looked at many years worth of employment data and found no relation to judicial internships and clerkships. Empirically, they do not help at all when compared to any other summer job.

[steve_nash]

Most likely not. Many judges have a policy (perhaps most?) not to hire former interns. The judge would nonetheless likely be a good reference to have.

[legends159]

it'll probably hurt you b/c some judges try not to take former externs b/c if you take some but not others then it somehow implies that those not taken had weaker work product which it doesn't b/c it could simply come down to grades and interview.

A judge should be used to disappointing people. A person who can look someone in the eye and sentence them to die should be able to deal with the hurt feelings of a former intern. Even if true, this would only eliminate one judge from the potential employer pool. The benefits far outweigh the possible detriment.

most judges don't support the death penalty. However it's either follow the sentencing guidelines or resign. And it's not so much that they care about hurting your feelings, though they might. it's just an easier administrative policy to have than to have to tell each person no.

[UCLAtransfer]

I am a 2L, and I am currently an extern for a district court judge. One of the two current clerks was a summer extern after his 1L summer for this judge, so it does happen (however rarely). He did still have to go through the whole application/LOR/interview process, and would have been very competitive even had he not externed for this judge. From talking to a lot of current and former clerks though, I haven't otherwise heard of this happening.

Interesting info from NYU. I talked to UCLA's clerkship coordinator and they said they have found pretty strong tie between externing for a federal judge (summer or during semester) and clerking. (I just assumed that it was correlation rather than causation though, since people with high grades after 1st semester of 1L are most able to get summer externships with federal judges, and would then go on to have the grades to clerk post-law school, too.)

I think it can definitely be a benefit to extern based on the LOR possibilities and to get a great writing sample for clerkship applications, but I don't think that externing is going get you a clerkship if you don't also have the grades/right school.

Just my two cents.