Best and worst judges to clerk for Forum

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on Altonaga in S.D. Fla.?

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[Anonymous User]

any knowledge about the 4th?

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on Altonaga in S.D. Fla.?

Bump

I know some of her former clerks and have met her a few times. She is deeply respected and her clerks love her, ime.

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on the Seventh Circuit and/or NDIL? Judges Wood, Scudder, and Feinerman all teach at Chicago and are beloved by their students. Judge Easterbrook I've heard mixed things on.

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on Altonaga in S.D. Fla.?

Bump

I know some of her former clerks and have met her a few times. She is deeply respected and her clerks love her, ime.

lol. she literally doesn't hire "social" people.

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on Altonaga in S.D. Fla.?

Bump

I know some of her former clerks and have met her a few times. She is deeply respected and her clerks love her, ime.

lol. she literally doesn't hire "social" people.

OP. I did more research on her and she seems to be the most respected Judge on the Court; and perhaps the most in Miami besides Jordan.

[Anonymous User]

any knowledge about the 4th?

Bump

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on Marcus (11th)? I’ve heard hours can be tough; is that true, and if so does anyone have insight on whether senior status has changed that? What about case load now that he’s senior? And is it true that clerks don’t get to draft opinions?

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on the Seventh Circuit and/or NDIL? Judges Wood, Scudder, and Feinerman all teach at Chicago and are beloved by their students. Judge Easterbrook I've heard mixed things on.

Big Frank clerks literally do nothing. He writes everything.

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on Marcus (11th)? I’ve heard hours can be tough; is that true, and if so does anyone have insight on whether senior status has changed that? What about case load now that he’s senior? And is it true that clerks don’t get to draft opinions?

I have heard it's reasonable hours and that clerks draft opinions. Smart and well-respected.

[Anonymous User]

any insight into edny judges?

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on Mark Walker (N.D. Fla.)?

[lavarman84]

Any thoughts on Mark Walker (N.D. Fla.)?

I've heard good things, and he's well respected in Florida. Additionally, he tends to get some interesting cases because of where he's located.

[Anonymous User]

Any bad N.D. Tex. judges?

[Anonymous User]

any insight into edny judges?

stay away: dearcy hall, donnelly, cogan, mauskopf, block

[Anonymous User]

any insight into edny judges?

stay away: dearcy hall, donnelly, cogan, mauskopf, block

What about SDNY?

[Anonymous User]

Any insight into ND Cal judges?

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on Mark Walker (N.D. Fla.)?

I've heard good things, and he's well respected in Florida. Additionally, he tends to get some interesting cases because of where he's located.

This is a weird comment. MW is one of the laughing stocks of the Fl bench partly bc of how often his opinions go off the rails (even among ppl like me who are sympathetic to his politics)

[Anonymous User]

Any insight into ND Cal judges?

Other than Alsup, I've never heard of any of them as being "bad" or worth avoiding. I'm only really familiar with the SF judges though.

I've heard Gonzales-Rogers can be difficult, but only in terms of litigants, I'm not sure how she treats her clerks.

As for Alsup, it's common knowledge that he works absurd hours, and expects his clerks (and to a lesser extent externs) to do the same. We're talking like 5 am to 8 pm every day. He doesn't do it to be cruel like Kozinski used to be famous for, he's just a workhorse who takes his job incredibly seriously. I've also heard that his clerks have to walk his dogs sometimes, which some might find demeaning, but that sounds like a great way to get some time off actual work IMO.

Personally, I'd be hesitant to clerk for him because the hours sound torturous, but it is temporary after all. Also, anyone familiar with Alsup who sees him on your resume will immediately know that you have the capacity to bill a shitload of hours. His name also carries a lot of clout in the NDCA IP litigation scene (whether he deserves it or not).

At the other end of the spectrum, Breyer is very laid back and apparently his clerks basically never go past 9 to 5. He also filters out a lot of tedium (ERISA, social security appeals etc.) through senior status, so his clerks generally spend less time on rote crap like that. He's pretty much the MDL guy in NDCA, so he gets a disproportionate amount of nationwide class actions.

Chhabria is interesting; unlike most judges, he neither has a career clerk, nor does he stagger his clerk's terms. Thus, every new term he has 3 new clerks, who all have to learn the ropes at the same time. I get the impression it can be pretty chaotic, but I'm guessing he'd switch it up if it didn't work.

[Anonymous User]

Any insight into ND Cal judges?

Other than Alsup, I've never heard of any of them as being "bad" or worth avoiding. I'm only really familiar with the SF judges though.

I've heard Gonzales-Rogers can be difficult, but only in terms of litigants, I'm not sure how she treats her clerks.

As for Alsup, it's common knowledge that he works absurd hours, and expects his clerks (and to a lesser extent externs) to do the same. We're talking like 5 am to 8 pm every day. He doesn't do it to be cruel like Kozinski used to be famous for, he's just a workhorse who takes his job incredibly seriously. I've also heard that his clerks have to walk his dogs sometimes, which some might find demeaning, but that sounds like a great way to get some time off actual work IMO.

Personally, I'd be hesitant to clerk for him because the hours sound torturous, but it is temporary after all. Also, anyone familiar with Alsup who sees him on your resume will immediately know that you have the capacity to bill a shitload of hours. His name also carries a lot of clout in the NDCA IP litigation scene (whether he deserves it or not).

At the other end of the spectrum, Breyer is very laid back and apparently his clerks basically never go past 9 to 5. He also filters out a lot of tedium (ERISA, social security appeals etc.) through senior status, so his clerks generally spend less time on rote crap like that. He's pretty much the MDL guy in NDCA, so he gets a disproportionate amount of nationwide class actions.

Chhabria is interesting; unlike most judges, he neither has a career clerk, nor does he stagger his clerk's terms. Thus, every new term he has 3 new clerks, who all have to learn the ropes at the same time. I get the impression it can be pretty chaotic, but I'm guessing he'd switch it up if it didn't work.

Former ND Cal clerk here. Alsup is definitely the most demanding of the clerkships in the district. Didn't know about the walking dogs bit, but I'd probably consider that a slight plus. Koh is a step down workload-wise, but the only other one I'd describe as particularly demanding. Only ones I'd avoid due to personality are Donato and maybe Brown Armstrong. Neither has a great reputation with practitioners and I haven't heard good things about either clerkship experience. At the other end of the spectrum, Tigar, Chen, and Seeborg are widely considered to be fantastic. I've also heard good things about Gilliam and Freeman from former clerks.

Just a note about the above: Breyer is a very difficult clerkship to get, his clerks still occasionally go up and clerk for his brother. The great hours and weeding out of less interesting cases is well known to applicants and so I wouldn't get your hopes up without grades that could get you feeder-level COA clerkships.

[Anonymous User]

any insight into edny judges?

stay away: dearcy hall, donnelly, cogan, mauskopf, block

Can you provide individualized reasons?

[Anonymous User]

Any bad N.D. Tex. judges?

No real horror stories. As to workload, Lindsey and Lynn work clerks pretty hard, as does O'Connor (who hires mostly through fed soc). A bunch of the judges are new, so you won't hear much reliable intel on, say, Starr, Hendrix, Kacsmaryk, Brown, or Pittman---although I've heard anecdotally that Pittman is fine. Fish, Cummings, and McBryde are all great to work for.

[lavarman84]

Any thoughts on Mark Walker (N.D. Fla.)?

I've heard good things, and he's well respected in Florida. Additionally, he tends to get some interesting cases because of where he's located.

This is a weird comment. MW is one of the laughing stocks of the Fl bench partly bc of how often his opinions go off the rails (even among ppl like me who are sympathetic to his politics)

I can only go off of what I've heard from some fairly prominent lawyers and my own personal experiences. But I'm not posting Anon here.

[Anonymous User]

Any bad N.D. Tex. judges?

No real horror stories. As to workload, Lindsey and Lynn work clerks pretty hard, as does O'Connor (who hires mostly through fed soc). A bunch of the judges are new, so you won't hear much reliable intel on, say, Starr, Hendrix, Kacsmaryk, Brown, or Pittman---although I've heard anecdotally that Pittman is fine. Fish, Cummings, and McBryde are all great to work for.

Thanks for this. Do you have any specifics on what it's like to work for Godbey or Boyle? Since they've been on the bench for over a decade, I figured there would be some decent information out there. As far as Godbey goes, at least, I wasn't able to turn up much of anything searching on TLS.

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on 8th Circuit judges?