Clerks Taking Questions Forum

[DogDay90]

Yes, I believe COA clerks should have received new-hire paperwork by now. Or at least we did and our deadline for submitting it recently passed. Your circuit or chambers might be different. I would just email the JA or HR at the Office of the Circuit Executive. They'll let you know what's up.

[BlackAndOrange84]

Yes, I believe COA clerks should have received new-hire paperwork by now. Or at least we did and our deadline for submitting it recently passed. Your circuit or chambers might be different. I would just email the JA or HR at the Office of the Circuit Executive. They'll let you know what's up.

I think every circuit does this differently, with varying levels of formality. Check with the JA first.

[mcmenary]

Does anyone know which locality pay New Haven/Upstate NY 2nd Cir. clerks get?

[Anonymous User]

Current district court clerk. My judge emailed a COA judge to recommend on my behalf and set up a phone call. My judge doesn't know the COA judge personally and hasn't gotten a response after a few days. Is this common? Anything else I can do at this point?

[nixy]

Does anyone know which locality pay New Haven/Upstate NY 2nd Cir. clerks get?

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversig ... -schedule/

If it’s not listed it will be “rest of the United States “

[o0o0o0o]

Does anyone know which locality pay New Haven/Upstate NY 2nd Cir. clerks get?

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversig ... -schedule/

If it’s not listed it will be “rest of the United States “

New Haven D. Conn. and CA2 clerks are paid the same as NYC Art. III clerks. Hartford based clerks get paid a bit less. I do not know what locality pay, if any, applies to Pooler and Wesley in upstate NY.

-(Current D. Conn. clerk).

[Anonymous User]

If we are on our parent's healthcare, is it worth switching over to the clerk healthcare plan (whatever that is)?

[cheaptilts]

If we are on our parent's healthcare, is it worth switching over to the clerk healthcare plan (whatever that is)?

Are the choices between free healthcare (from your parents) vs. health care you have to pay for? If so, I don't get how this is a question.

[Anonymous User]

When does federal health insurance take effect? Let's say I start on the 15th of a month and I sign up for a plan on the 18th, would it take effect on the 18th, earlier or later?

I plan to have a 45 day gap between starting the clerkship and leaving my current job, so I care about getting coverage ASAP once I start. I would ask the HR of the court but they are behind schedule and not going to get to answering my onboarding questions for a while.

[nixy]

I think it kicks in after your first pay period - that is, you have to work the first two weeks before you can get the insurance, because it’s part of your benefits associated with your paycheck. So if you start work on the 15th you won’t get your first paycheck/insurance won’t kick in until like the week after those first 2 weeks. (I think the Monday of your third week.)

(Someone correct me if I’m remembering that wrong though.)

[Anonymous User]

I'm doing a 2 year appellate clerkship, but my ultimate goal is to be a trial lawyer. Would it make sense to clerk at the district level (3 total years clerking), or would I be better served diving into biglaw?

[Elston Gunn]

I'm doing a 2 year appellate clerkship, but my ultimate goal is to be a trial lawyer. Would it make sense to clerk at the district level (3 total years clerking), or would I be better served diving into biglaw?

Imo you’d be better off diving into practice, but if you’re intent on the trial part of that (rather than just practicing at the *trial level*), you probably want to aim for a boutique or federal government instead.

[lavarman84]

I'm doing a 2 year appellate clerkship, but my ultimate goal is to be a trial lawyer. Would it make sense to clerk at the district level (3 total years clerking), or would I be better served diving into biglaw?

A district court clerkship is better than biglaw if you want to be a trial lawyer (but even a D. Ct. clerkship isn't ideal because you're not guaranteed to see a trial during your year there). I wouldn't touch biglaw if you want to be a trial lawyer.

[Anonymous User]

I was wondering if someone might be able to chance me. My first round of applications are going out this week for a mix of COAs and D.Cts., targeting non-feeders and non-major cities, but I want to make sure I'm not wasting the time of my professors or CSOs by applying for COA clerkships at all.

General stats:
- A top 5 student at a law school between T30 -- T50
- Law Review membership
- 3 LORs (one hopefully strong from a professor I RA'd for, and two other professors who know me)
- geographic ties only in the circuit of my school and the Southeast city I grew up in
- Patent work experience but terrible undergraduate gpa in engineering (I'm not focusing on, or expecting bites from, the Federal Circuit for this reason.)

Does this make me competitive for at least some COAs, or should I focus solely on D.Ct. judges? I'm not targeting major cities (e.g., New York, Chicago, anything in California), or any judge remotely feeder-ish (e.g. had ever sent a clerk to the Supreme Court). But even without these constraints, I know any position is ridiculously competitive.

[Fireworks2016]

I was wondering if someone might be able to chance me. My first round of applications are going out this week for a mix of COAs and D.Cts., targeting non-feeders and non-major cities, but I want to make sure I'm not wasting the time of my professors or CSOs by applying for COA clerkships at all.

General stats:
- A top 5 student at a law school between T30 -- T50
- Law Review membership
- 3 LORs (one hopefully strong from a professor I RA'd for, and two other professors who know me)
- geographic ties only in the circuit of my school and the Southeast city I grew up in
- Patent work experience but terrible undergraduate gpa in engineering (I'm not focusing on, or expecting bites from, the Federal Circuit for this reason.)

Does this make me competitive for at least some COAs, or should I focus solely on D.Ct. judges? I'm not targeting major cities (e.g., New York, Chicago, anything in California), or any judge remotely feeder-ish (e.g. had ever sent a clerk to the Supreme Court). But even without these constraints, I know any position is ridiculously competitive.

I went to a school more in Top 20-30 but otherwise had your stats (but not your engineering background). Didn't get even a whiff of interest from COA judges until I did a district court clerkship.

[lavarman84]

I was wondering if someone might be able to chance me. My first round of applications are going out this week for a mix of COAs and D.Cts., targeting non-feeders and non-major cities, but I want to make sure I'm not wasting the time of my professors or CSOs by applying for COA clerkships at all.

General stats:
- A top 5 student at a law school between T30 -- T50
- Law Review membership
- 3 LORs (one hopefully strong from a professor I RA'd for, and two other professors who know me)
- geographic ties only in the circuit of my school and the Southeast city I grew up in
- Patent work experience but terrible undergraduate gpa in engineering (I'm not focusing on, or expecting bites from, the Federal Circuit for this reason.)

Does this make me competitive for at least some COAs, or should I focus solely on D.Ct. judges? I'm not targeting major cities (e.g., New York, Chicago, anything in California), or any judge remotely feeder-ish (e.g. had ever sent a clerk to the Supreme Court). But even without these constraints, I know any position is ridiculously competitive.

I agree with Fireworks. If you have any connections (via your school's faculty or personal), work them. But I had very similar credentials (absent the engineering and patent background), and I didn't get any interest from COAs until I had my D. Ct. clerkship. That doesn't mean don't apply to COAs. Don't worry about wasting people's time. Take all the shots you can. But you'll stand a better chance with COAs once you have a D. Ct. clerkship. My D. Ct. judge gave me a strong LOR after a few months on the job, and that (plus some networking) led to me getting a solid number of COA interviews.

[Generic1L]

If we are on our parent's healthcare, is it worth switching over to the clerk healthcare plan (whatever that is)?

I know this isn't exactly your question, but I would take a hard look at the insurance plans that are offered if you do decide to switch. My dentist had a looooong talk with me about how much crappier my dental plan is now that I switched (I picked the cheapest plan possible).

Also, for context, you are allowed to choose from several different plans. You could choose to have one of the best possible packages available or a barebones coverage.

[ProbablyWaitListed]

How much does undergraduate GPA matter for getting clerkships? I've seen it mentioned in some places as a factor and that makes me a little nervous for getting a future Article III clerkship. I'll be starting at a MVPB school in the fall and recently graduated from a t20 undergrad with a 3.4 GPA. Will this be an issue for me when it comes time to apply for clerkships?

[nixy]

Some small subset of judges cares, most won’t. It’s not worth worrying about.

[BansheeScream]

I'm working for a year in big law before starting a district court clerkship and a CoA clerkship back to back. Are there any type of matters I should try to work on to prepare myself? I've also heard its difficult to get good work because partners know you're going to be leaving in a year. Any advice from those who worked then clerked?

[texanslimjim]

How much does undergraduate GPA matter for getting clerkships? I've seen it mentioned in some places as a factor and that makes me a little nervous for getting a future Article III clerkship. I'll be starting at a MVPB school in the fall and recently graduated from a t20 undergrad with a 3.4 GPA. Will this be an issue for me when it comes time to apply for clerkships?

Some judges care a lot about your undergraduate record, including GPA, school prestige, and whether you did a thesis (some will even want to read it). Some don't care at all.

For those that do care, that you went to what is presumably a prestigious and well-known undergraduate school will probably balance out the GPA so it's not likely to be an issue.

[stoopkid13]

I'm working for a year in big law before starting a district court clerkship and a CoA clerkship back to back. Are there any type of matters I should try to work on to prepare myself? I've also heard its difficult to get good work because partners know you're going to be leaving in a year. Any advice from those who worked then clerked?

I feel like this may be court/firm specific. The only universal I can think of is it would help to work on a trial before your district court clerkship, but getting staffed on a trial team as a first-year can be tough. More generally though, it may not matter. I'm not sure how much say you'll have to pick the cases you're working on, but I also wouldn't worry about not getting staffed because you're leaving to clerk. A year is still a long time. If you can prove yourself to do good work, the partners/senior associates will want you on their teams for as long as possible, IME.

[Wild Card]

A practical question to clerks who have served as the first line of defense for their judges:

To what extent does OSCAR let you filter by GPA and school and post-graduation work experience?

For example, will your judge say: "OK, filter for GPAs above 3.6/3.7 and ignore the rest." And you'll read exclusively from that pile. Or, "OK, find me all graduates of [X] University."

I suppose what I'm really asking is, is there any point at all in using OSCAR to apply to judges in the most desirable districts? Or would a paper application serve me better in that situation, since my materials at least would get a quick glance before being thrown out?

[lavarman84]

A practical question to clerks who have served as the first line of defense for their judges:

To what extent does OSCAR let you filter by GPA and school and post-graduation work experience?

For example, will your judge say: "OK, filter for GPAs above 3.6/3.7 and ignore the rest." And you'll read exclusively from that pile. Or, "OK, find me all graduates of [X] University."

I suppose what I'm really asking is, is there any point at all in using OSCAR to apply to judges in the most desirable districts? Or would a paper application serve me better in that situation, since my materials at least would get a quick glance before being thrown out?

Paper always serves you better unless the judge expressly doesn't want paper applications.

[Anonymous User]

A practical question to clerks who have served as the first line of defense for their judges:

To what extent does OSCAR let you filter by GPA and school and post-graduation work experience?

For example, will your judge say: "OK, filter for GPAs above 3.6/3.7 and ignore the rest." And you'll read exclusively from that pile. Or, "OK, find me all graduates of [X] University."

I suppose what I'm really asking is, is there any point at all in using OSCAR to apply to judges in the most desirable districts? Or would a paper application serve me better in that situation, since my materials at least would get a quick glance before being thrown out?

Paper always serves you better unless the judge expressly doesn't want paper applications.

Yep. In our chambers, we always review paper applications. I handle OSCAR, and if an OSCAR application doesn't meet the judge's criteria it won't get printed out and reviewed.