Let's talk 2nd Circuit! Forum

[Anonymous User]

any updates on some of the PI judges' hiring (i.e. Morrison, Choudhury)?

[Anonymous User]

1) The DC Circuit >>>> 2nd Circuit; 2) While Perez is fine, Pan’s career trajectory blows Perez’s out of the water and she’s already produced a couple of Bristows. Not saying the abuse is justified because her credentials are better or that the clerkship is “more” prestigious, but a Perez clerkship hardly seems worth the pain.

Neither clerkship is worth the pain. But many law students don't have a sense of how much your life in chambers revolves around your judge and just how miserable a year can be if you have a bad boss.

Both can be true. She seems to have psych issues up the wazoo according to my buddy there, but among other unhinged stories I was told clerks would spend hours combing through applications to give her good candidates only to have her reject anyone with too good of transcripts because she was threatened by them intellectually. Most pathetic thing I ever heard about a judge.

[Anonymous User]

Any idea if Menashi has moved?

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone speak to the experience in Menashi's chambers/to his hiring process? How grade-selective is he?

[Anonymous User]

Menashi is probably the least grade sensitive judge on CA2, probably tied with Eunice Lee. He will hire after 1L and is mostly interested in ideology, namely conservative and fedsoc ties. You’d have to be at or above median, of course, but you need to have a conservative professor or more commonly, the executive board of your school’s federalist society chapter, make a call for you to get pulled. Grades don’t matter as much.

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone speak to the experience in Menashi's chambers/to his hiring process? How grade-selective is he?

Menashi’s clerks like him—he’s a bit interpersonally awkward but I haven’t heard anything bad about the experience. He has a reputation for being a bit difficult for other judges to work with but nothing terrible, and his work product is consistently good. It is comfortably the most MAGA chambers in CA2, so buyer beware if that’s an issue. Menashi is one of the less grade selective judges in CA2 and hires a good number of clerks with the right connections (often meaning not just Fed Soc, but the further reaches of the conservative movement) but middling grades.

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone speak to the experience in Menashi's chambers/to his hiring process? How grade-selective is he?

I have heard he is nice to his clerks, but I would be cautious about clerking in his chambers unless you are committed to the MAGA movement. I think a clerkship with SJM would be a net negative for a lot of positions, including relatively politically neutral things like AUSA positions.

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone speak to the experience in Menashi's chambers/to his hiring process? How grade-selective is he?

I have heard he is nice to his clerks, but I would be cautious about clerking in his chambers unless you are committed to the MAGA movement. I think a clerkship with SJM would be a net negative for a lot of positions, including relatively politically neutral things like AUSA positions.

I see the concern trolling is back. You know Donald Trump got elected right?

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone speak to the experience in Menashi's chambers/to his hiring process? How grade-selective is he?

I have heard he is nice to his clerks, but I would be cautious about clerking in his chambers unless you are committed to the MAGA movement. I think a clerkship with SJM would be a net negative for a lot of positions, including relatively politically neutral things like AUSA positions.

I hate donald trump but this is not true for AUSA offices at all. In what world are AUSA offices dens of leftist activisms and not career-oriented to the point they have it out for a specific federal judge who is the most MAGA of the 2nd Circuit. Do you know what the bulk of AUSA work is or what goes on in those offices lol.

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone speak to the experience in Menashi's chambers/to his hiring process? How grade-selective is he?

I have heard he is nice to his clerks, but I would be cautious about clerking in his chambers unless you are committed to the MAGA movement. I think a clerkship with SJM would be a net negative for a lot of positions, including relatively politically neutral things like AUSA positions.

I hate donald trump but this is not true for AUSA offices at all. In what world are AUSA offices dens of leftist activisms and not career-oriented to the point they have it out for a specific federal judge who is the most MAGA of the 2nd Circuit. Do you know what the bulk of AUSA work is or what goes on in those offices lol.

I am at one of EDNY/SDNY USAO and have heard firsthand what people say about SJM.

[Anonymous User]

I have heard similar sentiments. His clerks don’t have the same qualifications as other CA2 judges and are picked for ideological reasons. His opinions tend to be ideological in nature as well. The NYC USAOs are above partisanship and don’t want political AUSAs. Almost all of the AUSAs who clerked on SCOTUS were for Roberts with a few for Sotomayor and Kavanagh. No ex Thomas clerks for instance.

[Anonymous User]

How competitive is a CLS top ~3% student, no LR, solids recs, 100% PI, interesting background? Heard some judges it's basically top 5 students or bust. Clerkships office won't indicate which judges are more realistic, they just told me to apply to as many judges as possible, but I'm trying to target outreach. Also appreciate district court takes in this vein

[Anonymous User]

Any movement from Robinson?

[Anonymous User]

How competitive is a CLS top ~3% student, no LR, solids recs, 100% PI, interesting background? Heard some judges it's basically top 5 students or bust. Clerkships office won't indicate which judges are more realistic, they just told me to apply to as many judges as possible, but I'm trying to target outreach. Also appreciate district court takes in this vein

Very competitive. Top 3% at Columbia is likely in reach for every(?) Second Circuit judge. Law review is a crapshoot these days, so its influence is waning.

Maybe the mega feeders would sing you on grades, but every other judge would take the app very seriously.

[Anonymous User]

I have heard similar sentiments. His clerks don’t have the same qualifications as other CA2 judges and are picked for ideological reasons. His opinions tend to be ideological in nature as well. The NYC USAOs are above partisanship and don’t want political AUSAs. Almost all of the AUSAs who clerked on SCOTUS were for Roberts with a few for Sotomayor and Kavanagh. No ex Thomas clerks for instance.

Careful taking advice from keyboard jockeys trading in rumors, not facts. Several recent SJM clerks were #1 in their class and he's the top feeder judge on CA2 (four clerks in five years) for a reason. Good luck getting an SJM clerkship without strong qualifications.

The only thing "ideological" here is Anonymous User's ludicrous suggestion that SDNY and EDNY won't hire Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, or Barrett clerks to avoid "partisanship." The simple truth is that those Justices' clerks pursue career options elsewhere, not that the NYC USAOs are hiring from Sotomayor (very non-political) but not Alito.

[Anonymous User]

Any movement from Robinson?

[Anonymous User]

Any news re: Judge Robinson? Have interviews started for 26-27?

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone speak to the experience in Menashi's chambers/to his hiring process? How grade-selective is he?

I have heard he is nice to his clerks, but I would be cautious about clerking in his chambers unless you are committed to the MAGA movement. I think a clerkship with SJM would be a net negative for a lot of positions, including relatively politically neutral things like AUSA positions.

I hate donald trump but this is not true for AUSA offices at all. In what world are AUSA offices dens of leftist activisms and not career-oriented to the point they have it out for a specific federal judge who is the most MAGA of the 2nd Circuit. Do you know what the bulk of AUSA work is or what goes on in those offices lol.

I am at one of EDNY/SDNY USAO and have heard firsthand what people say about SJM.

Can’t speak to internal dynamics at SDNY, but SJM hires way fewer AUSA gunners than someone like e.g. Jacobs, Raggi, or Sullivan and is an outsider to the surprisingly insular New York federal criminal bar. Just for that reason, even aside from any alleged reputational issues, he wouldn’t be my first choice if my dream job was AUSA.

[Anonymous User]

How competitive is a CLS top ~3% student, no LR, solids recs, 100% PI, interesting background? Heard some judges it's basically top 5 students or bust. Clerkships office won't indicate which judges are more realistic, they just told me to apply to as many judges as possible, but I'm trying to target outreach. Also appreciate district court takes in this vein

Very competitive. 100% PI will attract some judges and put off some others but you’re over the grades threshold regardless for every judge on the circuit.

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone speak to the experience in Menashi's chambers/to his hiring process? How grade-selective is he?

I have heard he is nice to his clerks, but I would be cautious about clerking in his chambers unless you are committed to the MAGA movement. I think a clerkship with SJM would be a net negative for a lot of positions, including relatively politically neutral things like AUSA positions.

I hate donald trump but this is not true for AUSA offices at all. In what world are AUSA offices dens of leftist activisms and not career-oriented to the point they have it out for a specific federal judge who is the most MAGA of the 2nd Circuit. Do you know what the bulk of AUSA work is or what goes on in those offices lol.

I am at one of EDNY/SDNY USAO and have heard firsthand what people say about SJM.

Can’t speak to internal dynamics at SDNY, but SJM hires way fewer AUSA gunners than someone like e.g. Jacobs, Raggi, or Sullivan and is an outsider to the surprisingly insular New York federal criminal bar. Just for that reason, even aside from any alleged reputational issues, he wouldn’t be my first choice if my dream job was AUSA.

No one who wants to be an AUSA is clerking for Menashi - he tries hiring future academics and conservative movement lawyers. And if they did want to go into the SDNY/EDNY AUSA office, I don't think Jay Clayton/Joe Nocella are turning them down.

[Anonymous User]

Nocella and Clayton are not hardcore MAGA people like Habba and Martin are. And there is no guarantee that they will be confirmed or kept on as Acting USAs beyond 120 days. It is the line AUSAs who do the first round interviews, not the front office brass.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone have info on how competitive Jacobs is grade-wise since going senior? Also wondering if anyone has an idea of when he'd open applications, or if he's looking to step down soon.

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone speak to the experience in Menashi's chambers/to his hiring process? How grade-selective is he?

I have heard he is nice to his clerks, but I would be cautious about clerking in his chambers unless you are committed to the MAGA movement. I think a clerkship with SJM would be a net negative for a lot of positions, including relatively politically neutral things like AUSA positions.

I hate donald trump but this is not true for AUSA offices at all. In what world are AUSA offices dens of leftist activisms and not career-oriented to the point they have it out for a specific federal judge who is the most MAGA of the 2nd Circuit. Do you know what the bulk of AUSA work is or what goes on in those offices lol.

I am at one of EDNY/SDNY USAO and have heard firsthand what people say about SJM.

Can’t speak to internal dynamics at SDNY, but SJM hires way fewer AUSA gunners than someone like e.g. Jacobs, Raggi, or Sullivan and is an outsider to the surprisingly insular New York federal criminal bar. Just for that reason, even aside from any alleged reputational issues, he wouldn’t be my first choice if my dream job was AUSA.

No one who wants to be an AUSA is clerking for Menashi - he tries hiring future academics and conservative movement lawyers. And if they did want to go into the SDNY/EDNY AUSA office, I don't think Jay Clayton/Joe Nocella are turning them down.

This betrays and total misunderstanding of how AUSA hiring works. It is the hiring committee that will be turning them down.

[Anonymous User]

Has Sullivan interviewed yet? How grade sensitive is he. I’m top 30% at MVP

[Anonymous User]

Has Sullivan interviewed yet? How grade sensitive is he. I’m top 30% at MVP

No idea if he has interviewed, but Sullivan has above-average grade sensitivity on CA2 and loves YLS.

Top 30% from MVP would normally not be competitive for CoA judges without post-grad work experience, FedSoc, special factors, or a connection.