2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread Forum

[Anonymous User]

Colloton, Scudder, and Miller have also moved

Colloton just for 23, or also 24?

my knowledge is limited to 23

[Anonymous User]

Is it too late to have a professor make calls to judges? (Particularly district court judges?)

Definitely not.

[Ruraljuror92]

Any idea of how many NDIL judges have extended interview offers?

bump

I heard it was all of them. I’ve also heard Chang and Lee are done.

Lol there is no way it’s “all of them”

Sorry ok I really should’ve been more specific - it’s all the ones I applied to lol.
Pallmeyer. Wood. Chang. Kennelly. Tharp. Lee. Seeger.

Rowland sent invites

[Anonymous User]

Anon who got the surprise interview for a feeder judge way out of my league. Interviewed later that day after posting. Did not ask who else I was interviewing for, but I was incredibly nervous and suffering from major imposter syndrome which probably showed. Got the rejection today. Onto the (hopefully) next one I guess!

[Anonymous User]

Contreras (DDC) has moved

[Anonymous User]

Contreras (DDC) has moved

Do you know if this is also for 24-25, or just 23-24?

[Anonymous User]

Contreras (DDC) has moved

Do you know if this is also for 24-25, or just 23-24?

No, sorry.

[hysreacher]

Colloton, Scudder, and Miller have also moved

Does “move” mean interviews or offers?

[Anonymous User]

So I'm a Columbia/NYU rising 3L with top 10% and Law Review, good undergrad with great grades and applied very broadly but got zero interview invites. Obviously, it is not over yet, but I want to be proactive and see if this forum has any suggestions. It feels weird to just hold tight and do nothing. I double-checked my cover letters and found no typos. I had used my Note as a writing sample, but perhaps that was a bad idea—should I maybe try subbing it out for something more practice-oriented? Maybe email Professors asking them their thoughts. Maybe start reworking some of my cover letters to stress my connections/interest in the district/circuits. Any other ideas? Really open to anything and want to improve what I can while it is still possible.

[Anonymous User]

So I'm a Columbia/NYU rising 3L with top 10% and Law Review, good undergrad with great grades and applied very broadly but got zero interview invites. Obviously, it is not over yet, but I want to be proactive and see if this forum has any suggestions. It feels weird to just hold tight and do nothing. I double-checked my cover letters and found no typos. I had used my Note as a writing sample, but perhaps that was a bad idea—should I maybe try subbing it out for something more practice-oriented? Maybe email Professors asking them their thoughts. Maybe start reworking some of my cover letters to stress my connections/interest in the district/circuits. Any other ideas? Really open to anything and want to improve what I can while it is still possible.

Way too early to say you struck out, wait until at least end of next week to expect the worst. The only thing you didn't mention was having profs reach out on your behalf - imo basically the only way to get many judges to look at your app in a sea of apps.

[LBJ's Hair]

So I'm a Columbia/NYU rising 3L with top 10% and Law Review, good undergrad with great grades and applied very broadly but got zero interview invites. Obviously, it is not over yet, but I want to be proactive and see if this forum has any suggestions. It feels weird to just hold tight and do nothing. I double-checked my cover letters and found no typos. I had used my Note as a writing sample, but perhaps that was a bad idea—should I maybe try subbing it out for something more practice-oriented? Maybe email Professors asking them their thoughts. Maybe start reworking some of my cover letters to stress my connections/interest in the district/circuits. Any other ideas? Really open to anything and want to improve what I can while it is still possible.

1. give it time
2. if you didn't have professor support (ie phone calls and emails), you're relying on getting picked out of the pile, and that's just tough. I reviewed apps when I was a COA clerk and your numbers would be in our range but, there are a lot of people with good numbers. really helps to have something else giving the clerks / judge a reason that you, specifically, are worth the interview

it's like looking at the Cheesecake Factory menu and there are 200 different things and they all sound fine and so you ask the waiter 'what do you recommend' and he says 'I like the chicken parm' and you order chicken parm

maybe the waiter has bad taste but how else am I supposed to decide

[Anonymous User]

So I'm a Columbia/NYU rising 3L with top 10% and Law Review, good undergrad with great grades and applied very broadly but got zero interview invites. Obviously, it is not over yet, but I want to be proactive and see if this forum has any suggestions. It feels weird to just hold tight and do nothing. I double-checked my cover letters and found no typos. I had used my Note as a writing sample, but perhaps that was a bad idea—should I maybe try subbing it out for something more practice-oriented? Maybe email Professors asking them their thoughts. Maybe start reworking some of my cover letters to stress my connections/interest in the district/circuits. Any other ideas? Really open to anything and want to improve what I can while it is still possible.

1. give it time
2. if you didn't have professor support (ie phone calls and emails), you're relying on getting picked out of the pile, and that's just tough. I reviewed apps when I was a COA clerk and your numbers would be in our range but, there are a lot of people with good numbers. really helps to have something else giving the clerks / judge a reason that you, specifically, are worth the interview

it's like looking at the Cheesecake Factory menu and there are 200 different things and they all sound fine and so you ask the waiter 'what do you recommend' and he says 'I like the chicken parm' and you order chicken parm

maybe the waiter has bad taste but how else am I supposed to decide

So I'm a Columbia/NYU rising 3L with top 10% and Law Review, good undergrad with great grades and applied very broadly but got zero interview invites. Obviously, it is not over yet, but I want to be proactive and see if this forum has any suggestions. It feels weird to just hold tight and do nothing. I double-checked my cover letters and found no typos. I had used my Note as a writing sample, but perhaps that was a bad idea—should I maybe try subbing it out for something more practice-oriented? Maybe email Professors asking them their thoughts. Maybe start reworking some of my cover letters to stress my connections/interest in the district/circuits. Any other ideas? Really open to anything and want to improve what I can while it is still possible.

Way too early to say you struck out, wait until at least end of next week to expect the worst. The only thing you didn't mention was having profs reach out on your behalf - imo basically the only way to get many judges to look at your app in a sea of apps.

Thanks! Going to reach out to my Professors and let them know of my position to see if maybe some will offer to email or phone call. I apologize if I sounded whiny above. I don't mean to sound whiny at all, I understand nothing is guaranteed and I am still in a great position, but I just wanted to be proactive about addressing potential problems and see if there is anything I should be doing right now.

[nixy]

So I'm a Columbia/NYU rising 3L with top 10% and Law Review, good undergrad with great grades and applied very broadly but got zero interview invites. Obviously, it is not over yet, but I want to be proactive and see if this forum has any suggestions. It feels weird to just hold tight and do nothing. I double-checked my cover letters and found no typos. I had used my Note as a writing sample, but perhaps that was a bad idea—should I maybe try subbing it out for something more practice-oriented? Maybe email Professors asking them their thoughts. Maybe start reworking some of my cover letters to stress my connections/interest in the district/circuits. Any other ideas? Really open to anything and want to improve what I can while it is still possible.

With the caveat that as people have suggested, if you can have profs advocate for you, that will definitely help, I think you're overthinking this.

Presumably you picked your Note because you think it's your best work. If that's the case, then it's the right writing sample.

Presumably too if you'd had connections to the jurisdiction/judge that were significant enough to make a difference, you'd have mentioned them already. If you just didn't bother with any of that at all, sure, go back and think about whether you could add anything, but just manufacturing some compliments for the wonders of (say) Indianapolis isn't likely to make a difference.

Everyone else is right, it's too early yet. And there's just not much you can do other than sit tight (it can be kind of useful to learn that).

LBJ's Hair's analogy to Cheesecake Factory is excellent.

[Anonymous User]

So I'm a Columbia/NYU rising 3L with top 10% and Law Review, good undergrad with great grades and applied very broadly but got zero interview invites. Obviously, it is not over yet, but I want to be proactive and see if this forum has any suggestions. It feels weird to just hold tight and do nothing. I double-checked my cover letters and found no typos. I had used my Note as a writing sample, but perhaps that was a bad idea—should I maybe try subbing it out for something more practice-oriented? Maybe email Professors asking them their thoughts. Maybe start reworking some of my cover letters to stress my connections/interest in the district/circuits. Any other ideas? Really open to anything and want to improve what I can while it is still possible.

With the caveat that as people have suggested, if you can have profs advocate for you, that will definitely help, I think you're overthinking this.

Presumably you picked your Note because you think it's your best work. If that's the case, then it's the right writing sample.

Presumably too if you'd had connections to the jurisdiction/judge that were significant enough to make a difference, you'd have mentioned them already. If you just didn't bother with any of that at all, sure, go back and think about whether you could add anything, but just manufacturing some compliments for the wonders of (say) Indianapolis isn't likely to make a difference.

Everyone else is right, it's too early yet. And there's just not much you can do other than sit tight (it can be kind of useful to learn that).

LBJ's Hair's analogy to Cheesecake Factory is excellent.

Alright will sit tight. The cheesecake analogy is helpful. I definitely empathize with the COA clerks who have to sort through 100s of apps. Definitely not taking anything personally!

[Anonymous User]

How's movement for Livingston / Friedrich?

[TAR111]

Judge Sanchez on the Ninth is full for 2023 per Oscar

[Anonymous User]

The prize for the most over-eager judge this year goes to Lohier, who's hiring for 2026-27!

Nichols is right there with him, and I’d be shocked if McFadden and Rakoff aren’t unofficially

How far is Nichols filled for? He had/has a live Oscar post for 2024?

[Anonymous User]

What is a feeder as opposed to a semi feeder? Is Barron a feeder? Lohier? Fletcher? Oldham? Wilkinson? I guess the distinction is mostly pointless but the term is used so much I thought I’d try to pin it down.

[Anonymous User]

[delete]

[Anonymous User]

Wahoooo! T20, have FDC for 22–23, LR ed board, moot court, published, etc., but not top 10% of my class. Got A- in Fed Courts and Evidence. Figured applying COA was a long shot, and have been sitting around dejected for days without a single phone call.

BUT I GOT MY FIRST INTERVIEW TODAY!

YAY CONGRATS! GO AND KILL IT!

[Anonymous User]

Wahoooo! T20, have FDC for 22–23, LR ed board, moot court, published, etc., but not top 10% of my class. Got A- in Fed Courts and Evidence. Figured applying COA was a long shot, and have been sitting around dejected for days without a single phone call.

BUT I GOT MY FIRST INTERVIEW TODAY!

Congratulations! Did you have professors making calls?

[heretolurk]

Wahoooo! T20, have FDC for 22–23, LR ed board, moot court, published, etc., but not top 10% of my class. Got A- in Fed Courts and Evidence. Figured applying COA was a long shot, and have been sitting around dejected for days without a single phone call.

BUT I GOT MY FIRST INTERVIEW TODAY!

Congratulations! Did you have professors making calls?

[Anonymous User]

Wahoooo! T20, have FDC for 22–23, LR ed board, moot court, published, etc., but not top 10% of my class. Got A- in Fed Courts and Evidence. Figured applying COA was a long shot, and have been sitting around dejected for days without a single phone call.

BUT I GOT MY FIRST INTERVIEW TODAY!

Congratulations! Did you have professors making calls?

[delete]

I did not. I took an unconventional approach in my cover letter!

[Anonymous User]

Juust outside top 10% at HLS, H in fed courts, have a professor calling for me and still nothing.

Have had multiple people read my writing sample to excellent feedback. Recs are from profs I RA'd for and who know me fairly well. I don't even know anymore guys.

So dejected lol. Haven't even gotten a call at districts I had ties to that I thought would be realistic shots for me.

[Anonymous User]

Juust outside top 10% at HLS, H in fed courts, have a professor calling for me and still nothing.

Have had multiple people read my writing sample to excellent feedback. Recs are from profs I RA'd for and who know me fairly well. I don't even know anymore guys.

So dejected lol. Haven't even gotten a call at districts I had ties to that I thought would be realistic shots for me.

Bit too early to say you're out but depends on where you applied - there are still a lot of Dist judges who havent' even begun interviewing in big districts