When to apply for clerkships/what classes to take? Forum

[Anonymous User]

The advice offered here is solid.
Feel free to disregard this comment, but I felt taking federal courts was a complete and total waste of my time. Everything I learned from bar prep was enough to get me through my current COA clerkship.
But wishing you the absolute best.

[Anonymous User]

The advice offered here is solid.
Feel free to disregard this comment, but I felt taking federal courts was a complete and total waste of my time. Everything I learned from bar prep was enough to get me through my current COA clerkship.
But wishing you the absolute best.

you would not be saying the same in a district court clerkship

[Anonymous User]

The advice offered here is solid.
Feel free to disregard this comment, but I felt taking federal courts was a complete and total waste of my time. Everything I learned from bar prep was enough to get me through my current COA clerkship.
But wishing you the absolute best.

you would not be saying the same in a district court clerkship

I never took fed courts and haven’t felt behind in any way without it

[Anonymous User]

The advice offered here is solid.
Feel free to disregard this comment, but I felt taking federal courts was a complete and total waste of my time. Everything I learned from bar prep was enough to get me through my current COA clerkship.
But wishing you the absolute best.

you would not be saying the same in a district court clerkship

I never took fed courts and haven’t felt behind in any way without it

Same here. Wish I would have though, just because it might have been fun.

[Anonymous User]

The advice offered here is solid.
Feel free to disregard this comment, but I felt taking federal courts was a complete and total waste of my time. Everything I learned from bar prep was enough to get me through my current COA clerkship.
But wishing you the absolute best.

you would not be saying the same in a district court clerkship

I never took it and handled my district court clerkship just fine. Of course, I can't say what brilliance I'd have been able to achieve if I had taken it, but I think the above is a little overstated.

[jotarokujo]

The advice offered here is solid.
Feel free to disregard this comment, but I felt taking federal courts was a complete and total waste of my time. Everything I learned from bar prep was enough to get me through my current COA clerkship.
But wishing you the absolute best.

you would not be saying the same in a district court clerkship

I never took it and handled my district court clerkship just fine. Of course, I can't say what brilliance I'd have been able to achieve if I had taken it, but I think the above is a little overstated.

THere are no classes that are truly "required" to do the work. The two that are most useful in a district court clerkship ime are Crim Pro and Fed Courts

[Anonymous User]

The advice offered here is solid.
Feel free to disregard this comment, but I felt taking federal courts was a complete and total waste of my time. Everything I learned from bar prep was enough to get me through my current COA clerkship.
But wishing you the absolute best.

you would not be saying the same in a district court clerkship

I never took it and handled my district court clerkship just fine. Of course, I can't say what brilliance I'd have been able to achieve if I had taken it, but I think the above is a little overstated.

Yes agreed - I took Fed Courts and didn’t find it helpful at all for my district or appellate clerkships. Practical classes like advanced legal research/writing and interning (whether with the court or otherwise) were much more useful than doctrinals for me, and at most maybe employment law was useful.

Also, a lot of (but not all, of course) judges in big cities with a large civil docket will do the criminal stuff themselves, whereas judges in more rural places/border districts tend to have their clerks do more of the criminal stuff. As a result, crim/crim pro/sentencing can either be very relevant or not relevant at all to a district court clerkship.

[Anonymous User]

The advice offered here is solid.
Feel free to disregard this comment, but I felt taking federal courts was a complete and total waste of my time. Everything I learned from bar prep was enough to get me through my current COA clerkship.
But wishing you the absolute best.

you would not be saying the same in a district court clerkship

I never took it and handled my district court clerkship just fine. Of course, I can't say what brilliance I'd have been able to achieve if I had taken it, but I think the above is a little overstated.

Yes agreed - I took Fed Courts and didn’t find it helpful at all for my district or appellate clerkships. Practical classes like advanced legal research/writing and interning (whether with the court or otherwise) were much more useful than doctrinals for me, and at most maybe employment law was useful.

Also, a lot of (but not all, of course) judges in big cities with a large civil docket will do the criminal stuff themselves, whereas judges in more rural places/border districts tend to have their clerks do more of the criminal stuff. As a result, crim/crim pro/sentencing can either be very relevant or not relevant at all to a district court clerkship.

For me, taking fed courts was essential to being a district court clerk. So it just depends on the person.

[Anonymous User]

I never took it and handled my district court clerkship just fine. Of course, I can't say what brilliance I'd have been able to achieve if I had taken it, but I think the above is a little overstated.

Yes agreed - I took Fed Courts and didn’t find it helpful at all for my district or appellate clerkships. Practical classes like advanced legal research/writing and interning (whether with the court or otherwise) were much more useful than doctrinals for me, and at most maybe employment law was useful.

Also, a lot of (but not all, of course) judges in big cities with a large civil docket will do the criminal stuff themselves, whereas judges in more rural places/border districts tend to have their clerks do more of the criminal stuff. As a result, crim/crim pro/sentencing can either be very relevant or not relevant at all to a district court clerkship.

For me, taking fed courts was essential to being a district court clerk. So it just depends on the person.

Well, and on the jurisdiction and the judge and the cases that come into chambers while you’re there.

Agreed that crim pro will only be relevant in the criminal-heavy districts where your judge may actually want help with the criminal caseload.

I think evidence is really helpful. although the more experienced your judge, the more they can rule on evidentiary issues off the top of their head (mostly I just think all lit folks should take evidence). Then it’s a crapshoot. I found admin extremely valuable for clerking, but also worked on a big environmental case during my term. If I hadn’t I probably wouldn’t.

Anyway, I also think clerking is a little like the bar - don’t take classes only b/c you think you need to know those subjects for those purposes. Take what interests you and will benefit your long term career, and if you do well enough in school to get a clerkship, you’ll be fine learning on the job.

(I mean this mostly in terms of taking classes to prepare you to do the work of a clerkship. Taking classes b/c judges like to see them makes more sense, although I still hate to think that this makes people take classes they have no interest in at all.)