Senior Judge Status' Effect on Clerkship Bonus? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know if clerking for a senior status judge affects clerkships bonuses/the way your clerkship is perceived by subsequent employers? Sorry if this has an obvious answer, but I couldn't find anything addressing it in my OCS materials.

[dixon02]

It has no effect on either. You get the bonus, and there are plenty of senior judges who are more widely known/respected than sitting judges.

[ClerkAdvisor]

It has no effect on either. You get the bonus, and there are plenty of senior judges who are more widely known/respected than sitting active judges.

This. Plus, there are a fair number of senior judges who still take 100% caseload. And if the judge takes less than 100% case load, if they are still taking a significant case load, there is often more work per clerk than in an active judge's chambers.

Final thought - there are a lot of reasons that judges take senior status. Some of the more common ones include: opening up another position in a district/circuit to help with the work load (by taking senior, you can now have 2 judges taking 100% case load), making more money from teaching, publishing, etc. (fewer restrictions), or moving duty stations.

[Anonymous User]

Aren't senior status judges generally less competitive than an active judge on the same circuit/district? Are we positive that this would not affect either clerkship bonuses or post-clerkship hiring? Thus, clerking for a senior COA judge instead of an active COA judge will be viewed the same by big firms (and I'm really trying to target litigation boutiques) and litigation boutiques for both bonus and class credit purposes as well as hiring purposes?

[ClerkAdvisor]

Aren't senior status judges generally less competitive than an active judge on the same circuit/district? Are we positive that this would not affect either clerkship bonuses or post-clerkship hiring? Thus, clerking for a senior COA judge instead of an active COA judge will be viewed the same by big firms (and I'm really trying to target litigation boutiques) and litigation boutiques for both bonus and class credit purposes as well as hiring purposes?

Three thoughts here:

-If the firm gives a clerkship bonus for federal clerks, you'll get it for a senior judge.

-Beyond the en banc practice (which is less important outside of the 9th... e.g., I think the 4th does about 1 en banc/yr), a COA senior judge does exactly the same work as an active judge. And, senior judges who take full caseloads (or really >~70% caseloads) keep their clerks busier than active judges (generally at the COA level they have 1 fewer clerk). At the district court level, there's no difference between a senior judge who takes 100% caseload and an active judge.

-As has been said here, there are a fair number of senior judges who are more competitive than active judges on their district or circuit. E.g., Circuit - Calabresi, Williams, Ebel, Higginbotham, Barry, etc. are all competitive judges; District - Weinstein, Pollak (while alive), F. Motz, etc.

-You can find people who have clerked for senior judges at litigation boutiques, lit only/predominant firms (like W&C, Boies, Quinn), and at V5/V10 firms.