Federal Circuit clerkships Forum

[CandyLand]

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]

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?

Search for threads about this to find more information.

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.

[Anonymous User]

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?

Search for threads about this to find more information.

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.

fed. cir. clerk here. take every element of julio's advice here , invert it, and that's generally solid advice.
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]

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?

Search for threads about this to find more information.

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.

fed. cir. clerk here. take every element of julio's advice here , invert it, and that's generally solid advice.
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.

Funny, all the fed cir clerks I know don't fit your description, but w/e.

[Anonymous User]

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?

Search for threads about this to find more information.

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.

fed. cir. clerk here. take every element of julio's advice here , invert it, and that's generally solid advice.
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.

Funny, all the fed cir clerks I know don't fit your description, but w/e.

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]

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.

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]

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.

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.

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. =)

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.

[Julio_El_Chavo]

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.

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.

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. =)

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]

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.

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.

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. =)

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.

ugh. and from this you conclude what? horrible reasoning fail. you wouldn't do well as a clerk in any court.

[Anonymous User]

Current Clerk--
Any thoughts on judges there that offer better/worse clerking experiences from what you can gather?

[Julio_El_Chavo]

ugh. and from this you conclude what? horrible reasoning fail. you wouldn't do well as a clerk in any court.

lol. i love this. typical internet rage

[Anonymous User]

Current Clerk--
Any thoughts on judges there that offer better/worse clerking experiences from what you can gather?

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.

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.

[Anonymous User]

Current Clerk--
Any thoughts on judges there that offer better/worse clerking experiences from what you can gather?

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.

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.

Fair, thanks for the advice.

Also, do most of the judges follow the plan?

[Anonymous User]

Current Clerk--
Any thoughts on judges there that offer better/worse clerking experiences from what you can gather?

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.

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.

Fair, thanks for the advice.

Also, do most of the judges follow the plan?

No.

[rayiner]

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?

Search for threads about this to find more information.

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.

fed. cir. clerk here. take every element of julio's advice here , invert it, and that's generally solid advice.
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.

I would greatly appreciate a PM to discuss if you have the time!

[Anonymous User]

if CAFC judges don't follow the plan, how do you know when to apply?

[A. Nony Mouse]

Apply now.

[Anonymous User]

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?

[A. Nony Mouse]

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.)

[Anonymous User]

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!

[Myself]

.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know if/when judges like Moore, Prost, etc. might be interviewing for 2014?

[Anonymous User]

Anything on Chen?