Timing Forum

[Anonymous User]

Only thing I didn't have was a prof or faculty adviser making calls/greasing the wheels on my behalf, but I thought with my credentials I might be able to overcome that. Guess not.

I hate to say it, but even for those at the very top, recommender calls seem incredibly important. When my classmates and I went through the process last year, I was basically shocked to see how hard it was to get an interview without phone calls or emails from professors. Fortunately, there are still judges out there who truly sift through all of the applications and pick the meritorious candidates, but many judges won't do this, simply because they can fill up their spots by looking only at those students who go the extra mile and have a professor (or someone else) reach out.

I am still a law student, so take all of that with a grain of salt, but that's my impression of how things work in a lot of judges' chambers these days. If you can get someone to call or email for you, I would really encourage you to do so.

That's certainly been my experience, but phrasing it as "going the extra mile" is inaccurate. You just need to be lucky enough to have taken classes from a prof who's a) willing to cold call chambers or b) personally plugged in with judges where you're applying. If you don't have that, seems to be 100% luck of the draw. Or more like winning the lottery.

Agreed. This is total BS. I'm at GULC - the DC Circuit is across the street and Career Services STILL got blindsided by the announcement. No wonder we have a 66% employment rate upon graduation.

I don't think this is accurate. I'm at GULC, and I knew--from professors and OCS--that the DC Circuit was leaving the plan at least a month before it happened. I don't think knowledge is the problem, I think it's trying to compete with 500 other students for the attention of the same 5-8 professors who are well-connected and willing to pick up the phone.

[Anonymous User]

I don't think this is accurate. I'm at GULC, and I knew--from professors and OCS--that the DC Circuit was leaving the plan at least a month before it happened. I don't think knowledge is the problem, I think it's trying to compete with 500 other students for the attention of the same 5-8 professors who are well-connected and willing to pick up the phone.

Really? Your whole school is trying for a COA clerkship?

[Anonymous User]

MVPB "strikeout" from earlier; got a COA clerkship in a secondary market, big city, very happy. I think I was freaking out a little early.

[Anonymous User]

Blind pull? Or did You have Profs make calls?

[Anonymous User]

Blind pull? Or did You have Profs make calls?

MVPB applicant from above. I got the interview when I called chambers to ask if they would take a call from one of my professors. Which means that Tangerine Gleam's advice, which I argued against in earlier pages of this thread, was directly responsible for getting me the interview that led to my clerkship. So a big thank you to Tangerine - I'll think long and hard before I question you again. In other news, people still searching, definitely get a professor to consent to make a few calls, even just three or four, and then call chambers for judges you know are taking applications to ask if the judge will accept a call from a professor. Usually the clerk will ask the judge, and sometimes this can, in and of itself, get your app out of the pile and on the judge's desk. I used a legal practice professor for this who knew me well - much easier to get them to agree to call than a big name prof, but that can't hurt either. Again, many thanks.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for that suggestion. I'll probably ask some of my clinical professors to call in addition to my official recommenders.

[Citizen Genet]

Blind pull? Or did You have Profs make calls?

MVPB applicant from above. I got the interview when I called chambers to ask if they would take a call from one of my professors. Which means that Tangerine Gleam's advice, which I argued against in earlier pages of this thread, was directly responsible for getting me the interview that led to my clerkship. So a big thank you to Tangerine - I'll think long and hard before I question you again. In other news, people still searching, definitely get a professor to consent to make a few calls, even just three or four, and then call chambers for judges you know are taking applications to ask if the judge will accept a call from a professor. Usually the clerk will ask the judge, and sometimes this can, in and of itself, get your app out of the pile and on the judge's desk. I used a legal practice professor for this who knew me well - much easier to get them to agree to call than a big name prof, but that can't hurt either. Again, many thanks.

Would appreciate a pm if you don't mind.