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I want to apply for a judicial internship for the fall semester (or even spring semester) with federal judges. What should my timeline be for this? When do federal judges hire interns for the fall semester?

This depends entirely on the judge. Unlike clerking, there is no formal process to obtaining one.

Many (most?) don't even hire judicial interns. I would suggest starting with your CSO or the person in charge of the externship program at your school. At my school, they are generally set up the semester or summer before the internship.

patrickd139 wrote:This depends entirely on the judge. Unlike clerking, there is no formal process to obtaining one.

Many (most?) don't even hire judicial interns. I would suggest starting with your CSO or the person in charge of the externship program at your school. At my school, they are generally set up the semester or summer before the internship.

Not entirely accurate. Most federal judges do take academic year clerks. Generally, if they took clerks in the summer they probably do in the fall as well. Generally you want to do physical mailings to their chambers several months in advance (like a semester in advance). I forget when I applied but I would aim for early summer/after finals applying for a fall position and mid-fall semester for spring. I've applied before... just can't remember the exact months... but that's easy to find out from your career services.

Some Judges will demand full time while others will be more like 3 days a week, part-time. Applying during the school year is very smart though - much less competition; although beware overloading on classes since they are pretty intense internships.

Are you currently a 1L? To my knowledge, you cannot do a judicial externship until spring 2L.

Cupidity wrote:Are you currently a 1L? To my knowledge, you cannot do a judicial externship until spring 2L.

No you can extern for a federal court judge anytime beginning 1L summer. I would say fall gets the least applicants though compared to spring then summer.

arhmcpo wrote:

Cupidity wrote:Are you currently a 1L? To my knowledge, you cannot do a judicial externship until spring 2L.

No you can extern for a federal court judge anytime beginning 1L summer. I would say fall gets the least applicants though compared to spring then summer.

In that case, check with your school. Some schools internally regulate their judicial externships and put restrictions in place.

At least in Bay Area, federal judges should be getting physical mailings for the fall in February/March. Spring should be September/October. Some will sit on the materials for weeks or months, others will jump right in.

Early is always better than late. I'm nobody special, but I secured summar COA position and fall District Court position by interviewing early. You are only competing against yourself at that point. In both instances I was the first candidate interviewed and had an offer in hand before they ever interviewed other candidates.

Thanks everyone! My school does allow for judicial externships starting summer 1L year so that would be fine. Just gotta send them out ASAP I guess.