2016-2017 Clerkship Application Thread Forum

[Anonymous User]

As a current 3L looking at clerking, I am curious to know what your plans are for the year after you graduate (and presumably before you start a 16/17 clerkship).

I'm your anon. Plan to accept BigLaw offer and work as a first-year litigation associate.

Can you give us any details on where you interviewed? Type of court, circuit/district, etc.?

A 7th Circuit judge and a District Court judge within the 7th Circuit. Not comfortable saying much more at this point.

[Anonymous User]

School range: HYS
Rank: Top 1/3 or 1/4
LR?: No
Published?: In process of
Recs: decent I guess
2L/3L/Alum?: 3L
Where applying?: DDC and EDVA
Any other factors: non feeder COA lined up for 2015

1 interview so far with DDC, couple of rejections.

[Anonymous User]

School range: MVP
Rank: 3%
LR?: Yep
Published?: Nope
Recs: Good, includes professors & D.Ct. judge for whom I worked 1L summer
2L/3L/Alum?: 2L
Where applying?: 1st, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th, D.C.

[Anonymous User]

School range: MVP
Rank: 3%
LR?: Yep
Published?: Nope
Recs: Good, includes professors & D.Ct. judge for whom I worked 1L summer
2L/3L/Alum?: 2L
Where applying?: 1st, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th, D.C.

Looks like you're just targeting circuit courts, but if you're interested in two clerkships, get a d.ct. gig for 2016 and then apply earlier for COA in 2017. If you keep your grades up you'd be competitive for a lot of COA positions.

Edit: to be clear, you could probably still get a COA gig for 2016, but many of the "most desirable" ones have been snatched up.

[Anonymous User]

School range: MVP
Rank: 3%
LR?: Yep
Published?: Nope
Recs: Good, includes professors & D.Ct. judge for whom I worked 1L summer
2L/3L/Alum?: 2L
Where applying?: 1st, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th, D.C.

Looks like you're just targeting circuit courts, but if you're interested in two clerkships, get a d.ct. gig for 2016 and then apply earlier for COA in 2017. If you keep your grades up you'd be competitive for a lot of COA positions.

Edit: to be clear, you could probably still get a COA gig for 2016, but many of the "most desirable" ones have been snatched up.

Thanks! Yeah I care less about "most desirable" and care more about doing one year of clerkship, wherever it may be (preferably COA to D.Ct. but understand I may not get any COA) and getting on with my life. I'm too old/married/kids to take that extra year in one more random city and delay settling down with a firm job in whatever city my family ends up in.

Also, why does "most desirable" matter? Obviously there are feeder judges, but if you don't have the c.v. for the Court to start with, what's the difference between 3d Circuit Judge X and 5th Circuit Judge Y when one of them just happens to be more selective about clerks and hire them earlier?

[Anonymous User]

Also, why does "most desirable" matter? Obviously there are feeder judges, but if you don't have the c.v. for the Court to start with, what's the difference between 3d Circuit Judge X and 5th Circuit Judge Y when one of them just happens to be more selective about clerks and hire them earlier?

Judges who hire earlier and are more selective tend to be more "prestigious" in some way (although that's obviously not always the case; several COA judges have already completed hiring for 16-17, and they are not considered prestigious relative to other COA judges). Prestige of the judge can matter in more ways than just making you competitive for a SCOTUS clerkships. Some prestigious judges don't really feed, but place well into academia. Other judges don't really feed, but selective law firms recruit from those judges. Working for a prestigious judge also signals that you were one of the most competitive applicants from your school, which is a benefit when applying to certain jobs.

If none of that matters to you, then choose only on geographic preference/judge's ideology/flip a coin. But I think there are definitely a band of judges that aren't perennial feeders but who open more doors than the average COA judge.

EDIT: And hopefully we aren't talking past each other. I take "most desirable" to mean "prestigious," and I grant that just because a judge hires early/is selective doesn't necessarily mean that they are "prestigious."

[Anonymous User]

School: WUSTL
Rank: 2%
LR?: Yes
Published?: Yes
Recs: Probably decent
2L/3L/Alum?: Alum
Where applying?: Any/all COA.

No idea how I'll do. I'll probably start applying to local-ish D.Cts if it looks like COA isn't panning out.

[Anonymous User]

School: T1
Rank: 1%
LR? Yes
Published? No
Recs: one LWR small-section professor, one big class professor, dean of the law school
2L /3L/ Alum: 2L
Where applying: Applied and accepted W.D. Va. where I have ties and interned. Next up, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 9th, 10th, and 11th COA for 2017.

[Jchance]

tag

[newlawgrad]

Is there any movement here at all? Applied about 6 weeks ago. Have a few dings but really have no idea when I should be expecting any responses at all. Applied broadly but probably 40% were 2015 probably.

Not that competitive stats so maybe not important anyways (top 1/3 Penn 2 years big law 2 good/great rec, 1 blah)

[Anonymous User]

I frankly find it astonishing that there is basically nothing on this thread considering how fast the 2016-2017 hiring is happening this year compared to any year in the recent past

[Anonymous User]

Seems like many of the folks in this thread applied too late to have been in that first wave of hiring, and will now be waiting for the slower moving judges.

[newlawgrad]

Seems like many of the folks in this thread applied too late to have been in that first wave of hiring, and will now be waiting for the slower moving judges.

So crazy that 2 years in advance of start date is "late"

[Anonymous User]

Seems like many of the folks in this thread applied too late to have been in that first wave of hiring, and will now be waiting for the slower moving judges.

Do we have any approximation of what percentage of judges were in this "first wave"?

[Anonymous User]

I won't give many details for now, but I know that many judges on the 2d Cir. have already hired. The feeders on the 3d. have hired; no clue about the rest. Wilkinson has hired on the 4th, and a few of the more desirable 4th Cir. judges are currently interviewing. The rest of the 4th doesn't appear to be moving. Several of the more prominent 5th Cir. judges have hired or are currently interviewing. Many judges on the 9th have hired, and many of the rest are actively interviewing. The judges who don't appear to be moving on the 9th are senior judges. The DC Cir. has pretty much moved, with the exception of some of non or less active feeders.

[Anonymous User]

I won't give many details for now, but I know that many judges on the 2d Cir. have already hired. The feeders on the 3d. have hired; no clue about the rest. Wilkinson has hired on the 4th, and a few of the more desirable 4th Cir. judges are currently interviewing. The rest of the 4th doesn't appear to be moving. Several of the more prominent 5th Cir. judges have hired or are currently interviewing. Many judges on the 9th have hired, and many of the rest are actively interviewing. The judges who don't appear to be moving on the 9th are senior judges. The DC Cir. has pretty much moved, with the exception of some of non or less active feeders.

Is there any information (or guesses) regarding D.Ct.'s?

[Anonymous User]

I won't give many details for now, but I know that many judges on the 2d Cir. have already hired. The feeders on the 3d. have hired; no clue about the rest. Wilkinson has hired on the 4th, and a few of the more desirable 4th Cir. judges are currently interviewing. The rest of the 4th doesn't appear to be moving. Several of the more prominent 5th Cir. judges have hired or are currently interviewing. Many judges on the 9th have hired, and many of the rest are actively interviewing. The judges who don't appear to be moving on the 9th are senior judges. The DC Cir. has pretty much moved, with the exception of some of non or less active feeders.

Is there any information (or guesses) regarding D.Ct.'s?

OP here. I know less about the movement of USDCs. I do know that a few judges in the most desirable districts (SDNY/NDCA/EDVA) have hired already for 16-17. I think it's too early to tell whether USDC hiring is accelerating as quickly as COA miring. My guess is that hiring might move up slightly this year, but will still mostly happen in the late winter through the end of summer, with the bulk happening in the spring.

[Anonymous User]

I won't give many details for now, but I know that many judges on the 2d Cir. have already hired. The feeders on the 3d. have hired; no clue about the rest. Wilkinson has hired on the 4th, and a few of the more desirable 4th Cir. judges are currently interviewing. The rest of the 4th doesn't appear to be moving. Several of the more prominent 5th Cir. judges have hired or are currently interviewing. Many judges on the 9th have hired, and many of the rest are actively interviewing. The judges who don't appear to be moving on the 9th are senior judges. The DC Cir. has pretty much moved, with the exception of some of non or less active feeders.

Is there any information (or guesses) regarding D.Ct.'s?

OP here. I know less about the movement of USDCs. I do know that a few judges in the most desirable districts (SDNY/NDCA/EDVA) have hired already for 16-17. I think it's too early to tell whether USDC hiring is accelerating as quickly as COA miring. My guess is that hiring might move up slightly this year, but will still mostly happen in the late winter through the end of summer, with the bulk happening in the spring.

I can't speak for other districts, but my district court hasn't even hired my replacement (starting in 2015) yet.

[Anonymous User]

I won't give many details for now, but I know that many judges on the 2d Cir. have already hired. The feeders on the 3d. have hired; no clue about the rest. Wilkinson has hired on the 4th, and a few of the more desirable 4th Cir. judges are currently interviewing. The rest of the 4th doesn't appear to be moving. Several of the more prominent 5th Cir. judges have hired or are currently interviewing. Many judges on the 9th have hired, and many of the rest are actively interviewing. The judges who don't appear to be moving on the 9th are senior judges. The DC Cir. has pretty much moved, with the exception of some of non or less active feeders.

Is there any information (or guesses) regarding D.Ct.'s?

OP here. I know less about the movement of USDCs. I do know that a few judges in the most desirable districts (SDNY/NDCA/EDVA) have hired already for 16-17. I think it's too early to tell whether USDC hiring is accelerating as quickly as COA miring. My guess is that hiring might move up slightly this year, but will still mostly happen in the late winter through the end of summer, with the bulk happening in the spring.

I can't speak for other districts, but my district court hasn't even hired my replacement (starting in 2015) yet.

My NDCA judge has hired for 2016.

[Jchance]

I can't speak for other districts, but my district court hasn't even hired my replacement (starting in 2015) yet.

Which district? PM me

[Anonymous User]

I won't give many details for now, but I know that many judges on the 2d Cir. have already hired. The feeders on the 3d. have hired; no clue about the rest. Wilkinson has hired on the 4th, and a few of the more desirable 4th Cir. judges are currently interviewing. The rest of the 4th doesn't appear to be moving. Several of the more prominent 5th Cir. judges have hired or are currently interviewing. Many judges on the 9th have hired, and many of the rest are actively interviewing. The judges who don't appear to be moving on the 9th are senior judges. The DC Cir. has pretty much moved, with the exception of some of non or less active feeders.

Which 4th Circuit judges have hired? Also, there are no feeders on the 3d.

[Anonymous User]

I won't give many details for now, but I know that many judges on the 2d Cir. have already hired. The feeders on the 3d. have hired; no clue about the rest. Wilkinson has hired on the 4th, and a few of the more desirable 4th Cir. judges are currently interviewing. The rest of the 4th doesn't appear to be moving. Several of the more prominent 5th Cir. judges have hired or are currently interviewing. Many judges on the 9th have hired, and many of the rest are actively interviewing. The judges who don't appear to be moving on the 9th are senior judges. The DC Cir. has pretty much moved, with the exception of some of non or less active feeders.

Which 4th Circuit judges have hired? Also, there are no feeders on the 3d.

Duncan interviewing now/very soon.

[Anonymous User]

I can't speak for other districts, but my district court hasn't even hired my replacement (starting in 2015) yet.

My NDCA judge has hired for 2016.

Same. And has received apps for 17-18, though hasn't started reviewing them yet. I'd say about 1/3 of the N.D. Cal. judges have hired at least one for '16. But then there are some who don't hire replacements until 2-3 months before their current clerk leaves.

[Anonymous User]

Are these all on OSCAR? (Re: NDCal hires)

[Anonymous User]

Niemeyer (4th) is interviewing