2021-2022 Clerkship Application Thread Forum

[Anonymous User]

Jay Richardson on the Fourth has been interviewing. He interviews immediately and without warning, so be warned if you get a call from South Carolina.

[Anonymous User]

Jay Richardson on the Fourth has been interviewing. He interviews immediately and without warning, so be warned if you get a call from South Carolina.

Do you know which term he's interviewing for?

[Anonymous User]

Jay Richardson on the Fourth has been interviewing. He interviews immediately and without warning, so be warned if you get a call from South Carolina.

LMAO that's one way to do it I guess.

[Anonymous User]

Any SDNY movement?

[Anonymous User]

Jay Richardson on the Fourth has been interviewing. He interviews immediately and without warning, so be warned if you get a call from South Carolina.

LMAO that's one way to do it I guess.

Kleinfield on the 9th also does this (and then like another 4 rounds of interviews)

[Wild Card]

Any SDNY movement?

viewtopic.php?p=10430140#p10430140

This poster said "Ramos," which I take to mean Edgardo Ramos and not Nelva Ramos (S.D. Tex.)

[Anonymous User]

Any SDNY movement?

Ramos sent out an interview invite

[Anonymous User]

That moment when you hear your phone ring, but it's from a spam caller.

[Anonymous User]

So no more updates for the day I assume?

[Anonymous User]

For those of us lucky enough to snag one of these first wave interviews, how should we feel about taking an interview with a judge that isn't a top choice, knowing that it could be weeks before other judges reach out, if at all? While I feel really fortunate to have already heard something at this point I also know that rescinding an offer is a big no no; if a judge wants to move quickly do you have any leeway to bargain for more time if you don't even have any other interviews lined up yet?

The rule of thumb is that you shouldn't apply to judges that you wouldn't accept with, although no one is so naive to believe that there isn't a pecking order among judges you would accept with.

That being said you are "allowed" to either decline or cancel an interview, and it happens often enough that chambers understand it. You do this at the risk that you'll strike out altogether, and at the considerably lower (but not zero) risk that word gets around to Judge Y that you cancelled on Judge X. This could theoretically piss Judge Y off, even though the reason you backed out of the interview with X was because you want to clerk for Y. The odds of this happening are fairly low, but not unheard of if judges on the same court are close.

What you can always do is tell chambers before an interview that you will also be interviewing with another judge for the same term at a later date, and are committed to attending that later interview even if an offer is extended. Most judges will respect this, and it may get you a quicker decision.

[Anonymous User]

How fast and loose should we be playing with missing scheduled summer associate events for interviews?

[LBJ's Hair]

How fast and loose should we be playing with missing scheduled summer associate events for interviews?

No one cares. Likely won't even notice, although I'd still tell recruiting.

[Anonymous User]

How fast and loose should we be playing with missing scheduled summer associate events for interviews?

No one cares. Likely won't even notice, although I'd still tell recruiting.

As an SA doing interviews last cycle the people I was working with were very understanding, just have to give the heads up as early as possible.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone had a Zoom interview yet? If so, was there anything that surprised you about it? Anything different compared to an in-person interview (other than obviously not being in person)?

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone had a Zoom interview yet? If so, was there anything that surprised you about it? Anything different compared to an in-person interview (other than obviously not being in person)?

I had a few zoom interviews the past few weeks (off-plan). They felt normal and fine. At this point we've all been on zoom quite a lot so it wasn't really different or unique. Naturally, it is harder to connect and read people, but everyone understands that and just does their best. Dress like you would for an in-person interview. Mine ranged from 45 min to an hour and a half. I've interviewed with clerks and judges

[Anonymous User]

I've had a "Zoom" clerkship interview but not an in-person clerkship interview. The Zoom clerkship interview felt slightly more stilted. First, if you log on early but only show yourself and unmute yourself at the time, you may be surprised to see the judge or the clerks waiting for you. Similarly, when transitioning between interviews, you don't get the small talk in between changing rooms; instead, you get to watch the judge or the clerks stare intently at you while they try to exit the interview. And then during the interviews themselves, you may have the common Zoom problem of figuring out whether you're interrupting somebody or not.

I think overall, Zoom interviews are less effective than in-person interviews, but its more of a 90% effectiveness than a 50% effectiveness.

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L applying heavy to district courts throughout the country and especially the South. anyone else sort of torn between starting work at a firm and then applying and applying straight out?

A little, but luckily I think the judges will solve that for me.

Very. It is a weird feeling. Part of me feels like I'm getting ahead of myself though.

Either some judge in some random place will hire me and I'll delay going to a firm, or they won't, and I'll start off at a firm and try again 1-2 years in when maybe I'm a better candidate. I'm trying to be zen about it.

This is ABSOLUTELY the right attitude. (Current clerk). Be flexible, be resilient, be open-minded, try your best. At the end of the day, clerking is super fun, but you can and will have a successful career and life (separate things) without one.

Getting a clerkship is 20% skill and 80% luck, tbh. I just dropped in to really emphasize and underscore the bolded.

It also requires 15% concentrated power of will (See Fort Minor).

LMAOOOO was thinking the same thing. And I hate myself for it! Did used to bump that song, though, to get hype for . . . tennis matches

[Anonymous User]

I've had a "Zoom" clerkship interview but not an in-person clerkship interview. The Zoom clerkship interview felt slightly more stilted. First, if you log on early but only show yourself and unmute yourself at the time, you may be surprised to see the judge or the clerks waiting for you. Similarly, when transitioning between interviews, you don't get the small talk in between changing rooms; instead, you get to watch the judge or the clerks stare intently at you while they try to exit the interview. And then during the interviews themselves, you may have the common Zoom problem of figuring out whether you're interrupting somebody or not.

I think overall, Zoom interviews are less effective than in-person interviews, but its more of a 90% effectiveness than a 50% effectiveness.

earlier anon who said my zoom interviews were normal and fine. I agree with what's stated here, though I didn't have the issue with awkward silence and waiting. Will only emphasize to future zoom interviewees that everyone else will deal with these same less-than-ideal circumstances and the judges and clerks should understand that, so don't sweat it too much and make the best of it with a confident yet relaxed manner.

[Anonymous User]

Interested to see if there's any movement today!

[Anonymous User]

Curious if there’s any equivalent of “YP” for clerkship apps. I’m one of those top 10% HYSCCN people with a bunch of interviews and curiously all are with relatively well-known/respected judges (I’m not trying to complain or brag and realize that I’ve just lucked out in this crapshoot so far). That could just be a result of who moved yesterday or luck, but I imagine judges don’t like being turned down just like firms and schools.

[Anonymous User]

Curious if there’s any equivalent of “YP” for clerkship apps. I’m one of those top 10% HYSCCN people with a bunch of interviews and curiously all are with relatively well-known/respected judges (I’m not trying to complain or brag and realize that I’ve just lucked out in this crapshoot so far). That could just be a result of who moved yesterday or luck, but I imagine judges don’t like being turned down just like firms and schools.

Was wondering about this too. As a counterpoint though, I'm HYS top 25% (probably) and LR, and no bites from COA. Have a DCt interview later today in a semi-competitive district, but not SDNY/DDC level. That seems in line with my stats IMO.

If anything this tells me that, for all the softs we like to tell ourselves are important (LR, secondary journal eboard, moot court, interesting WE) aren't actually all that important for the most competitive judges and are really just icing on the cake to distinguish the magna people from each other.

[hermanberk]

What are people doing for thank you notes after Zoom interviews? I feel kind of weird emailing the judge but not sure what else to do.

[Anonymous User]

Curious if there’s any equivalent of “YP” for clerkship apps. I’m one of those top 10% HYSCCN people with a bunch of interviews and curiously all are with relatively well-known/respected judges (I’m not trying to complain or brag and realize that I’ve just lucked out in this crapshoot so far). That could just be a result of who moved yesterday or luck, but I imagine judges don’t like being turned down just like firms and schools.

Was wondering about this too. As a counterpoint though, I'm HYS top 25% (probably) and LR, and no bites from COA. Have a DCt interview later today in a semi-competitive district, but not SDNY/DDC level. That seems in line with my stats IMO.

If anything this tells me that, for all the softs we like to tell ourselves are important (LR, secondary journal eboard, moot court, interesting WE) aren't actually all that important for the most competitive judges and are really just icing on the cake to distinguish the magna people from each other.

Maybe this is a dumb question, but what is a "YP"

[HenryHankPalmer]

What are people doing for thank you notes after Zoom interviews? I feel kind of weird emailing the judge but not sure what else to do.

My school's clerkship office told us that email will be the norm this year because Covid is making courthouse mail screening more difficult than usual.

[PWADatUNC]

Curious if there’s any equivalent of “YP” for clerkship apps. I’m one of those top 10% HYSCCN people with a bunch of interviews and curiously all are with relatively well-known/respected judges (I’m not trying to complain or brag and realize that I’ve just lucked out in this crapshoot so far). That could just be a result of who moved yesterday or luck, but I imagine judges don’t like being turned down just like firms and schools.

Was wondering about this too. As a counterpoint though, I'm HYS top 25% (probably) and LR, and no bites from COA. Have a DCt interview later today in a semi-competitive district, but not SDNY/DDC level. That seems in line with my stats IMO.

If anything this tells me that, for all the softs we like to tell ourselves are important (LR, secondary journal eboard, moot court, interesting WE) aren't actually all that important for the most competitive judges and are really just icing on the cake to distinguish the magna people from each other.

Maybe this is a dumb question, but what is a "YP"

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