Top Law Schools

Information Template

School range:
Rank:
LR?:
Published?:
Recs:
2L/3L/Alum?:
Where applying?:
Any other factors:

Judges Hiring Status (2014-2015 term)

Second Circuit:

• Cabranes - Done
• Calabresi - Done
• Katzmann - Done
• Lohier - Done
• Lynch - Done
• Sack - Done
• Wesley - Done

Fourth Circuit:

• Niemeyer - Done
• Wilkinson - Done

Fifth Circuit:

• Higginbotham - Taking Applications
• King - Done
• Smith - Done

Sixth Circuit:

• Kethledge - Done
• Moore - Done
• Sutton - Done

Seventh Circuit:

• Posner - Done
• Wood - Done

Eighth Circuit:

• Gruender - Done (per rejection letter)
• Murphy - Done

Ninth Circuit:

• Fisher - Done (Secondhand information, reliability unclear)
• Fletcher - 1 spot left per OSCAR
• Ikuta - Done
• Kozinski - Done
• Nguyen - Done
• Smith, Milan - Done
• Tashima - Done
• Watford - Done
• Wardlaw - Done

Tenth Circuit:

• Gorsuch - Done

Eleventh Circuit:

• Black - Done
• Jordan - 2 spots filled, taking applications for the last 2 spots.
• Marcus - Taking Applications
• Pryor - Done

D.C. Circuit:

• Garland - Done
• Kavanaugh - Done
• Tatel - Done
• Griffith - Done
• Ginsburg - presumably done.
• Henderson - Done

Judges Hiring Status (2015-2016 term)

D.C. Circuit:

• Ginsburg - accepting applications for a clerkship to begin January 2015. Interest and background in antitrust/economics preferred. Send in all materials requested in the OSCAR post.
• Griffith - opened applications on OSCAR

DISCLAIMER: Note that some of this information is secondhand and thus may be unreliable. I will do my best to indicate the strength of the tip when possible, but you should not rely on this posting. Get in touch with the judge's chambers, your school's OCS services, or other resources if you want to know whether spots are still open (and please report back via pm or post).

CONFIDENTIALITY: All personal details of posters who private message me a tip about a clerkship opening/filling will be kept completely confidential, and I will do my best to post how the information was received in a general manner so as to protect your privacy.

Checking in. Excited about the new forum. I'm a 3L doing a District clerkship in 2013-14 term and so applying to exclusively CoA this time around. Ready for the application period to get going.

ndirish2010 wrote:Checking in. Excited about the new forum. I'm a 3L doing a District clerkship in 2013-14 term and so applying to exclusively CoA this time around. Ready for the application period to get going.

Good luck! When does OSCAR open up? I have no clue. I'm going to be looking to apply to some judges over the course of the upcoming semester. Will be applying mainly to CoA.

ph14 wrote:

ndirish2010 wrote:Checking in. Excited about the new forum. I'm a 3L doing a District clerkship in 2013-14 term and so applying to exclusively CoA this time around. Ready for the application period to get going.

Good luck! When does OSCAR open up? I have no clue. I'm going to be looking to apply to some judges over the course of the upcoming semester. Will be applying mainly to CoA.

If I remember correctly 2Ls can't see OSCAR stuff until May? It seems so long ago now. I'm so excited to not be constrained at all by the plan. You're at HLS right? What circuits are you looking at?

Also clerking on a D. Ct. in '13. Looking to bag a COA for '14 or '15, hopefully.

ndirish2010 wrote:

ph14 wrote:

ndirish2010 wrote:Checking in. Excited about the new forum. I'm a 3L doing a District clerkship in 2013-14 term and so applying to exclusively CoA this time around. Ready for the application period to get going.

Good luck! When does OSCAR open up? I have no clue. I'm going to be looking to apply to some judges over the course of the upcoming semester. Will be applying mainly to CoA.

If I remember correctly 2Ls can't see OSCAR stuff until May? It seems so long ago now. I'm so excited to not be constrained at all by the plan. You're at HLS right? What circuits are you looking at?

Yup. My preferences are 9/D.C./2 (shocking, I know), in that order. I would probably be open to other circuits depending on the judge. Thanks for the tip on OSCAR. I think I will probably snail mail some judges in the next couple of months that are off-plan.

What about you?

forza wrote:Also clerking on a D. Ct. in '13. Looking to bag a COA for '14 or '15, hopefully.

GL! What circuits are you looking at?

Another 3L starting their D. Ct. clerkship in '13. Looking to see what's opening up and when at the COAs for '15.

9th Circuit: Alex Kozinski finished hiring for 2014.

ph14 wrote:

ndirish2010 wrote:

ph14 wrote:

ndirish2010 wrote:Checking in. Excited about the new forum. I'm a 3L doing a District clerkship in 2013-14 term and so applying to exclusively CoA this time around. Ready for the application period to get going.

Good luck! When does OSCAR open up? I have no clue. I'm going to be looking to apply to some judges over the course of the upcoming semester. Will be applying mainly to CoA.

If I remember correctly 2Ls can't see OSCAR stuff until May? It seems so long ago now. I'm so excited to not be constrained at all by the plan. You're at HLS right? What circuits are you looking at?

Yup. My preferences are 9/D.C./2 (shocking, I know), in that order. I would probably be open to other circuits depending on the judge. Thanks for the tip on OSCAR. I think I will probably snail mail some judges in the next couple of months that are off-plan.

What about you?

I don't have the stats for 2/DC (and I don't want 9th because of geography), I'd really like 6/7 but willing to go anywhere east of the Mississippi probably.

ndirish2010 wrote:

ph14 wrote:

ndirish2010 wrote:

ph14 wrote:
Good luck! When does OSCAR open up? I have no clue. I'm going to be looking to apply to some judges over the course of the upcoming semester. Will be applying mainly to CoA.

If I remember correctly 2Ls can't see OSCAR stuff until May? It seems so long ago now. I'm so excited to not be constrained at all by the plan. You're at HLS right? What circuits are you looking at?

Yup. My preferences are 9/D.C./2 (shocking, I know), in that order. I would probably be open to other circuits depending on the judge. Thanks for the tip on OSCAR. I think I will probably snail mail some judges in the next couple of months that are off-plan.

What about you?

I don't have the stats for 2/DC (and I don't want 9th because of geography), I'd really like 6/7 but willing to go anywhere east of the Mississippi probably.

Why do you not want to go west of the Mississippi? It's only for a year, and the west coast is really nice.

ph14 wrote:Why do you not want to go west of the Mississippi? It's only for a year, and the west coast is really nice.

If I have to leave my fiancee for a year, I'd rather it be not entirely across the country. I'm also not a big fan of the west coast, but in normal circumstances, I would not mind spending a year almost anywhere. I suppose I could be convinced if the circumstances were right.

Checking in as well. I am a 2L. Also, we have access to OSCAR now actually instead of having to wait until May. I will be applying to both district and circuit judges. No specific geographic preference.

Great to see this new forum! 2L applying as well, and I can confirm that registration is open on OSCAR now.

tycoga8118 wrote:Checking in as well. I am a 2L. Also, we have access to OSCAR now actually instead of having to wait until May. I will be applying to both district and circuit judges. No specific geographic preference.

Good to see they're getting a little better. It does help to be able to see the OSCAR listings.

Let's use this template to post stats and where you plan on applying, and others can evaluate chances and give other advice.

School range:
Rank:
LR?:
Published?:
Recs:
2L/3L/Alum?:
Where applying?:
Any other factors:

School range: T25
Rank: Top 10%-ish (we don't rank)
LR?: Yes (no e-board)
Published?: Yes
Recs: Solid, one Prof called for me last year and helped get the D. Ct. clerkship
2L/3L/Alum?: 3L- 2013 D. Ct. clerkship in fairly uncompetitive east coast district
Where applying?: CoA...order of preference vaguely 7/6/4/3/1
Any other factors: Not that I can think of

School range: UT/UCLA/USC/Vandy
Rank: Top 5%ish
LR?: Secondary, e-board
Published?: No
Recs: Medium to strong
2L/3L/Alum?: 2L
Where applying?: West coast (D.C.s and 9th cir.)
Any other factors:

-beekeeper

Just checking in. 3L looking for a '14-'15 D.Ct. clerkship. Since I'm applying as an alumni, when should I start checking out OSCAR? 3L is going well for me so I wanted to wait to apply until I have my spring semester grades. Will waiting til the June be a problem for the few D.Ct. non-plan judges?

ph14 wrote:

forza wrote:Also clerking on a D. Ct. in '13. Looking to bag a COA for '14 or '15, hopefully.

GL! What circuits are you looking at?

Thanks, and good luck to you too! D. Ct. clerkship is in the 6th Cir, so ideally there. Also open to 2d, 11th, 8th, 5th, 3d -- probably in that order.

School range: Vandy
Rank: top 15-20% (doesnt rank so this is a best guess)...right below a 3.6
LR?: LR, eboard selection happens next weekend
Published?: nope.
Recs: pretty strong to very strong
2L/3L/Alum?: 2L
Where applying?: Broadly, with focus (and preference) on DC, VA, MD, FL and MD TN
Any other factors: Not really

-StevieY

ndirish2010 wrote:Let's use this template to post stats and where you plan on applying, and others can evaluate chances and give other advice.

School range:
Rank:
LR?:
Published?:
Recs:
2L/3L/Alum?:
Where applying?:
Any other factors:

School range: Georgetown
Rank: ~ Top 20%
LR?: Secondary Journal, non-eboard editorial position
Published?: No
Recs: One professor (strong), one clinic supervisor (weak)
2L/3L/Alum?: Alum ('11)
Where applying?: 2d and 3d Cir. COA
Any other factors: I have been at a V100 for 1.5 years, will be clerking in SDNY for two years (2013-2015). I'm not sure whether it is too early to start looking, but I figure I might as well check in.

School range: CCN
Rank: top 1/3
LR?: No (won moot court competition stuff though)
Published?: Yes
Recs: Good (profs and former partner advisor willing to go to bat)
2L/3L/Alum?: Alum
Where applying?: 2/3/5/6/8/11
Any other factors: D. Ct. clerkship for 2013

-forza

bruinfan10 wrote:Great to see this new forum! 2L applying as well, and I can confirm that registration is open on OSCAR now.

But as 2Ls we can't send applications on OSCAR yet though, right?

ph14 wrote:

bruinfan10 wrote:Great to see this new forum! 2L applying as well, and I can confirm that registration is open on OSCAR now.

But as 2Ls we can't send applications on OSCAR yet though, right?

That's right, OSCAR remains tied to the hiring plan, so they're still releasing our electronic apps relatively late.

bruinfan10 wrote:

ph14 wrote:

bruinfan10 wrote:Great to see this new forum! 2L applying as well, and I can confirm that registration is open on OSCAR now.

But as 2Ls we can't send applications on OSCAR yet though, right?

That's right, OSCAR is still tied to the hiring plan, so they're still releasing our electronic apps relatively late.

They should allow us to apply through OSCAR for off-plan judges. But I guess they don't want to encourage judges going off-plan, even though a lot of them do.

ph14 wrote:

bruinfan10 wrote:Great to see this new forum! 2L applying as well, and I can confirm that registration is open on OSCAR now.

But as 2Ls we can't send applications on OSCAR yet though, right?

Correct. But even if you're going to apply off-plan, OSCAR can still be a useful resource for figuring out who's hiring and what they're looking for. For example, some judges might use their OSCAR page to say "Don't wait for the plan, send me paper now, here's my address." But then many judges don't update their OSCAR page at all, or their OSCAR listing won't gel with their real-life hiring practices -- there's a lot of variation.