Federal Circuit clerkships Forum
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Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are sharing sensitive information about clerkship applications and clerkship hiring. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned."
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Federal Circuit clerkships
Obviously the Federal Circuit is unique in that it's subject matter is specialized. What do we know about the relative ease or difficulty of getting a clerkship here? Seems that their criteria would be more tailored to their purpose, as opposed to being primarily GPA and law review (at the screening stage). I imagine it helps to have taken classes on areas it deals with a lot?
- Julio_El_Chavo
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
Search for threads about this to find more information.CandyLand wrote:Obviously the Federal Circuit is unique in that it's subject matter is specialized. What do we know about the relative ease or difficulty of getting a clerkship here? Seems that their criteria would be more tailored to their purpose, as opposed to being primarily GPA and law review (at the screening stage). I imagine it helps to have taken classes on areas it deals with a lot?
The bottom line is that it's still very difficult to get a Fed Circuit clerkship. A top10 law degree with 1-2 years of experience and top quarter grades might give you a shot. Add LR and top 10% honors and you have a really good shot. Interest in patent law helps, but is certainly not necessary.
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
fed. cir. clerk here. take every element of julio's advice here , invert it, and that's generally solid advice.Julio_El_Chavo wrote:Search for threads about this to find more information.CandyLand wrote:Obviously the Federal Circuit is unique in that it's subject matter is specialized. What do we know about the relative ease or difficulty of getting a clerkship here? Seems that their criteria would be more tailored to their purpose, as opposed to being primarily GPA and law review (at the screening stage). I imagine it helps to have taken classes on areas it deals with a lot?
The bottom line is that it's still very difficult to get a Fed Circuit clerkship. A top10 law degree with 1-2 years of experience and top quarter grades might give you a shot. Add LR and top 10% honors and you have a really good shot. Interest in patent law helps, but is certainly not necessary.
at least half the judges on here don't give a shit where you went to school. some judges have school biases for some random schools (generally non-t14). some/most have tech degree slots right now. most of them want patent law folks, specifically patent litigation folks. one or two don't care about that. bottomline, get someone to pick up the phone for you who knows a judge or something, be an engineer, do OK in law school, and you should be ok.
- Julio_El_Chavo
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
Funny, all the fed cir clerks I know don't fit your description, but w/e.Anonymous User wrote:fed. cir. clerk here. take every element of julio's advice here , invert it, and that's generally solid advice.Julio_El_Chavo wrote:Search for threads about this to find more information.CandyLand wrote:Obviously the Federal Circuit is unique in that it's subject matter is specialized. What do we know about the relative ease or difficulty of getting a clerkship here? Seems that their criteria would be more tailored to their purpose, as opposed to being primarily GPA and law review (at the screening stage). I imagine it helps to have taken classes on areas it deals with a lot?
The bottom line is that it's still very difficult to get a Fed Circuit clerkship. A top10 law degree with 1-2 years of experience and top quarter grades might give you a shot. Add LR and top 10% honors and you have a really good shot. Interest in patent law helps, but is certainly not necessary.
at least half the judges on here don't give a shit where you went to school. some judges have school biases for some random schools (generally non-t14). some/most have tech degree slots right now. most of them want patent law folks, specifically patent litigation folks. one or two don't care about that. bottomline, get someone to pick up the phone for you who knows a judge or something, be an engineer, do OK in law school, and you should be ok.
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
what's not so funny is when folks largely ignorant of the composition of the current pool of clerks provide unhelpful anecdotes to ppl with legit aspirations/questions.Julio_El_Chavo wrote:Funny, all the fed cir clerks I know don't fit your description, but w/e.Anonymous User wrote:fed. cir. clerk here. take every element of julio's advice here , invert it, and that's generally solid advice.Julio_El_Chavo wrote:Search for threads about this to find more information.CandyLand wrote:Obviously the Federal Circuit is unique in that it's subject matter is specialized. What do we know about the relative ease or difficulty of getting a clerkship here? Seems that their criteria would be more tailored to their purpose, as opposed to being primarily GPA and law review (at the screening stage). I imagine it helps to have taken classes on areas it deals with a lot?
The bottom line is that it's still very difficult to get a Fed Circuit clerkship. A top10 law degree with 1-2 years of experience and top quarter grades might give you a shot. Add LR and top 10% honors and you have a really good shot. Interest in patent law helps, but is certainly not necessary.
at least half the judges on here don't give a shit where you went to school. some judges have school biases for some random schools (generally non-t14). some/most have tech degree slots right now. most of them want patent law folks, specifically patent litigation folks. one or two don't care about that. bottomline, get someone to pick up the phone for you who knows a judge or something, be an engineer, do OK in law school, and you should be ok.
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- Julio_El_Chavo
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
Well, you're pretty much lying about the prospects people have wrt Fed Cir clerkships. So you probably shouldn't criticize me for offering anecdotes.Anonymous User wrote:what's not so funny is when folks largely ignorant of the composition of the current pool of clerks provide unhelpful anecdotes to ppl with legit aspirations/questions.
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
Not sure this is a debate worth having my friend, for either you or me. Unlike the great website Twitter, TLS lacks a "Verified Fed. Cir. clerk" feature. =)Julio_El_Chavo wrote:Well, you're pretty much lying about the prospects people have wrt Fed Cir clerkships. So you probably shouldn't criticize me for offering anecdotes.Anonymous User wrote:what's not so funny is when folks largely ignorant of the composition of the current pool of clerks provide unhelpful anecdotes to ppl with legit aspirations/questions.
I can say this, I enjoyed myself at the recent fed cir reunion which was populated by many non-t14 non-top10% fed cir clerks.
Last edited by Anonymous User on Sat Nov 05, 2011 4:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Julio_El_Chavo
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
Yeah, well I have a spreadsheet open with my T10's entire 25-year history of placing students in Fed Cir clerkships right in front of me. PM me if you want to see it.Anonymous User wrote:Not sure this is a debate worth having my friend, for either you or me. Unlike the great website Twitter, TLS lacks a "Verified Fed. Cir. clerk" feature. =)Julio_El_Chavo wrote:Well, you're pretty much lying about the prospects people have wrt Fed Cir clerkships. So you probably shouldn't criticize me for offering anecdotes.Anonymous User wrote:what's not so funny is when folks largely ignorant of the composition of the current pool of clerks provide unhelpful anecdotes to ppl with legit aspirations/questions.
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
ugh. and from this you conclude what? horrible reasoning fail. you wouldn't do well as a clerk in any court.Julio_El_Chavo wrote:Yeah, well I have a spreadsheet open with my T10's entire 25-year history of placing students in Fed Cir clerkships right in front of me. PM me if you want to see it.Anonymous User wrote:Not sure this is a debate worth having my friend, for either you or me. Unlike the great website Twitter, TLS lacks a "Verified Fed. Cir. clerk" feature. =)Julio_El_Chavo wrote:Well, you're pretty much lying about the prospects people have wrt Fed Cir clerkships. So you probably shouldn't criticize me for offering anecdotes.Anonymous User wrote:what's not so funny is when folks largely ignorant of the composition of the current pool of clerks provide unhelpful anecdotes to ppl with legit aspirations/questions.
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
Current Clerk--
Any thoughts on judges there that offer better/worse clerking experiences from what you can gather?
Any thoughts on judges there that offer better/worse clerking experiences from what you can gather?
- Julio_El_Chavo
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
lol. i love this. typical internet rageAnonymous User wrote:ugh. and from this you conclude what? horrible reasoning fail. you wouldn't do well as a clerk in any court.
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
No thoughts. All I'll say is - if you're in a position where you get more than one interview, surf LinkedIn or Google to find former clerks for THAT judge and email them. I get these emails sometimes from people right now, and I'm more than happy to talk about the work styles of certain judges. I never talk badly about anyone in life, period, so you won't get much out of me.Anonymous User wrote:Current Clerk--
Any thoughts on judges there that offer better/worse clerking experiences from what you can gather?
If you are in a two-interview situation though, please do this as a huge favor to yourself because your happiness at the court is completely intertwined with the quality of relationships you form with your co-clerks and your judge. While most clerks talk in glowing terms about their own judge for practical reasons, you can always sense varying levels of enthusiasm.
Last edited by Anonymous User on Sat Nov 05, 2011 4:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
Fair, thanks for the advice.Anonymous User wrote:No thoughts. All I'll say is - if you're in a position where you get more than one interview, surf LinkedIn or Google to find former clerks and email them. I get these emails sometimes from people right now, and I'm more than happy to talk about the work styles of certain judges. I never talk badly about anyone in life, period, so you won't get much out of me.Anonymous User wrote:Current Clerk--
Any thoughts on judges there that offer better/worse clerking experiences from what you can gather?
If you are in a two-interview situation though, please do this as a huge favor to yourself because your happiness at the court is completely intertwined with the quality of relationship with your co-clerks and your judge. While most clerks talk in glowing terms about their own judge for practical reasons, you can always sense varying levels of enthusiasm.
Also, do most of the judges follow the plan?
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
No.Anonymous User wrote:Fair, thanks for the advice.Anonymous User wrote:No thoughts. All I'll say is - if you're in a position where you get more than one interview, surf LinkedIn or Google to find former clerks and email them. I get these emails sometimes from people right now, and I'm more than happy to talk about the work styles of certain judges. I never talk badly about anyone in life, period, so you won't get much out of me.Anonymous User wrote:Current Clerk--
Any thoughts on judges there that offer better/worse clerking experiences from what you can gather?
If you are in a two-interview situation though, please do this as a huge favor to yourself because your happiness at the court is completely intertwined with the quality of relationship with your co-clerks and your judge. While most clerks talk in glowing terms about their own judge for practical reasons, you can always sense varying levels of enthusiasm.
Also, do most of the judges follow the plan?
- rayiner
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
I would greatly appreciate a PM to discuss if you have the time!Anonymous User wrote:fed. cir. clerk here. take every element of julio's advice here , invert it, and that's generally solid advice.Julio_El_Chavo wrote:Search for threads about this to find more information.CandyLand wrote:Obviously the Federal Circuit is unique in that it's subject matter is specialized. What do we know about the relative ease or difficulty of getting a clerkship here? Seems that their criteria would be more tailored to their purpose, as opposed to being primarily GPA and law review (at the screening stage). I imagine it helps to have taken classes on areas it deals with a lot?
The bottom line is that it's still very difficult to get a Fed Circuit clerkship. A top10 law degree with 1-2 years of experience and top quarter grades might give you a shot. Add LR and top 10% honors and you have a really good shot. Interest in patent law helps, but is certainly not necessary.
at least half the judges on here don't give a shit where you went to school. some judges have school biases for some random schools (generally non-t14). some/most have tech degree slots right now. most of them want patent law folks, specifically patent litigation folks. one or two don't care about that. bottomline, get someone to pick up the phone for you who knows a judge or something, be an engineer, do OK in law school, and you should be ok.
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
if CAFC judges don't follow the plan, how do you know when to apply?
- A. Nony Mouse
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
So when you say CAFC judges don't follow the plan, do you mean that some don't follow the plan? Or do none follow the plan?
How does the application process work, if not through OSCAR?
How does the application process work, if not through OSCAR?
- A. Nony Mouse
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
I don't know who does or doesn't follow the plan, but applying not through OSCAR is pretty easy. Take cover letter, resume, writing sample(s), transcript, and LORs, print them, put them in an envelope, and mail them to the judges. If you don't want to apply by mail, you could call up chambers and ask for an e-mail address to which to send the above electronically. You do therefore have to get copies of your LORs (hard copies or electronic, depending), but your school/the profs should have a system for doing that. I think just a LS transcript would be sufficient, but if you did really well in UG you could throw in an UG transcript if you want to cover absolutely all your bases. (You can also look at the judges' OSCAR listings to see if they have any details about clerkship apps and what they want - if OSCAR's back up, I forget - but basically everyone wants the above stuff.)
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
Anyone have any idea on whether it would be worth my time to dust off some writing samples and apply to the Fed. Cir.?
My stats:
Lower T10
Top 10% - Order of the Coif
BS Software Eng. / MS Elec. Eng.
2.5 years experience in IP lit/pros at a V50
Decent recs from firm and profs
Thanks in advance!
My stats:
Lower T10
Top 10% - Order of the Coif
BS Software Eng. / MS Elec. Eng.
2.5 years experience in IP lit/pros at a V50
Decent recs from firm and profs
Thanks in advance!
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
Anyone know if/when judges like Moore, Prost, etc. might be interviewing for 2014?
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Re: Federal Circuit clerkships
Anything on Chen?
Seriously? What are you waiting for?
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