Best and worst judges to clerk for Forum

[Anonymous User]

Any under-the-radar SDNY/EDNY judges that have a reputation of being great to clerk for?

I don't think it's possible to be under the radar in those districts, but Karas probably qualifies because he's in White Plains, and he's wonderful.

Yeah I was going to say it’s a bit of an oxymoron but Karas is wonderful and is a good shout. I’ve also heard secondhand good things about Halpern and not great things about Briccetti, but I clerked in Manhattan so take those impressions with a lot of salt (though I’m confident in my recommendation of Karas).

In general, divisions matter a lot more than I realized before I clerked, though—White Plains judges don’t get any Manhattan cases and vice versa.

Some of the seniors are also excellent and might be somewhat under-the-radar, and SDNY seniors tend to be very active. Preska is one of the bubbliest people I’ve ever met, and is probably one of the best SDNY clerkships QOL-wise, and my judge regarded Castel, Kaplan, Keenan, and Stein highly. Cote and Rakoff as well, of course, but I don’t think they’re really “under the radar.” Avoid Berman for obvious reasons. McMahon is very well-connected but has a reputation for being personally difficult. Koeltl will seemingly never go senior and works very very hard, but that kind of comes with the territory with judges with full caseloads.

[Anonymous User]

If you're considering SDNY Mags, I've heard great great GREAT things about Barbara Moses. And she's sent at least one clerk to the Circuit.

[Anonymous User]

Any under-the-radar SDNY/EDNY judges that have a reputation of being great to clerk for?

I don't think it's possible to be under the radar in those districts, but Karas probably qualifies because he's in White Plains, and he's wonderful.

Oh yeah, I get that, but TLS is just lacking info on some of the judges so I thought I'd ask! Was curious about judges like Schofield, Seibel, Gardephe, Carter, Hellerstein, Román, or Marrero.

[Anonymous User]

I suppose it doesn’t really matter, but the endless (Judge, J.) cites to minor Fed Soc luminaries also strongly made it seem like the work of an overeager clerk, not a federal judge. The sort of cringey faux pas that some maturity from practice might have cured.

Speaking of which: I was surprised to see some Twitter commentary on the clerk who likely authored the opinion, based on the initials accompanying the ECF entry. While this is a new sleuthing method (to me, anyway), it's long been possible to connect opinions with their likely author through PDF metadata. This never gets discussed, and I assumed it was because of some desire to avoid peeking behind the curtain. Apparently that instinct no longer holds.

(For the clerks out there: clear PDF metadata before posting opinions and orders. Or at the very least, ensure that metadata never makes it to your PDFs in the first place by setting up Adobe properly etc. Last thing you want is some Twitter rando learning your name.)

Uploading a pdf is not metadata, it’s a clerical task which someone more competent and less hackish than a DemandJustice writer thats never worked for a judge would have known immediately.
Given that he has a habit of “outing” clerks he doesn’t like, my assumption is that the clerk is the only person he could readily find information about on the internet and backfilled a justification to try and harass him.

Admittedly, the only interesting information he posted was that the guy graduated top of his class, which he’ll presumably ignore next time he goes on a rant about how FedSoc students can walk into a SCOTUS clerkship. Also cuts against the many posters here on this very thread that continuously claim that judges they don’t like struggle to find clerks, which has never been true.

It is true that less-respected judges often get less-qualified clerks, but obviously they still get people more than qualified to be federal clerks. E.g. Mizelle generally isn’t hiring the level of people that the top Fed Soc DJs are rn from anything I’ve heard (this guy who’s going to Sutton aside). Part of that’s location, but a large part is that at least for now she raises eyebrows in a way that other judges don’t, and this won’t help. And the general principle applies even to entirely non-political stuff—judges known to be terrible to work for, or who the local bar thinks are morons, get weaker apps because very competitive applicants can be picky.

She’s definitely getting people with good credentials applying. One of her clerks next year is a UVA Law student/Law Review/School Moot Court winner who is clerking for Judge Lagoa on the 11th the year afterward. I know she interviewed another student who went to what most would consider a prestigious school on par with the Ivies, significant and impressive work experience, and also a T-14 law school. That individual didn’t get the clerkship with Mizelle but has a separate district clerkship and circuit clerkship lined up. Mizelle is well connected and will likely end up sending multiple clerks to Circuit clerkships with some eventually landing SCOTUS clerkships.

[Anonymous User]

I’m sure that’s true, but for the top Fed Soc DJs, having secured a very competitive COA (usually with one of the Trump semi-feeders) is virtually a prerequisite to get hired. Mizelle will have lots of doubles I’m sure, and may eventually feed, but not lots of doubles with feeders/semi-feeders. E.g. someone mentioned she’s hired clerks from VanDyke, who isn’t particularly selective.

In other words, I was just being unreasonably snobby, I’m sure she’s hiring people who are very competitive clerkship applicants by most criteria.

[Anonymous User]

Any under-the-radar SDNY/EDNY judges that have a reputation of being great to clerk for?

I don't think it's possible to be under the radar in those districts, but Karas probably qualifies because he's in White Plains, and he's wonderful.

Yeah I was going to say it’s a bit of an oxymoron but Karas is wonderful and is a good shout. I’ve also heard secondhand good things about Halpern and not great things about Briccetti, but I clerked in Manhattan so take those impressions with a lot of salt (though I’m confident in my recommendation of Karas).

Any details about Halpern?

[Anonymous User]

Any under-the-radar SDNY/EDNY judges that have a reputation of being great to clerk for?

I don't think it's possible to be under the radar in those districts, but Karas probably qualifies because he's in White Plains, and he's wonderful.

Yeah I was going to say it’s a bit of an oxymoron but Karas is wonderful and is a good shout. I’ve also heard secondhand good things about Halpern and not great things about Briccetti, but I clerked in Manhattan so take those impressions with a lot of salt (though I’m confident in my recommendation of Karas).

Any details about Halpern?

I haven't clerked for Halpern but have interacted with him in the past. Seems like a nice, gentlemanly guy, FWIW.

[Anonymous User]

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[Anonymous User]

https://abovethelaw.com/2022/05/federal ... -see-here/

Apparently the D.C. Circuit conducted a workplace survey recently, and one of the items revealed in the survey was that Judge Karen Henderson (who's a circuit judge) has hired exactly one woman as a law clerk since being confirmed in 1990.

She said: "I give equal treatment and consideration to all applicants and hire law clerks based only on their credentials. To the extent any contrary impression exists, I regret that such impression exists and I will use my best efforts to address it."

Kind of horrifying.

[Anonymous User]

About that whole discussion about Elrod being ideological, she wrote this, which among other things, cites a quip from Ronald Reagan as support

https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/p ... 07-CV0.pdf

Oldham joined this. Between this and his lifting of the stay in the Texas social media litigation, which he also joined, he's positioning himself as probably to the right of Ho on outcomes, if not on rhetoric, with a taste for radicalism that's very unusual in SCOTUS feeders.

[Quichelorraine]

https://abovethelaw.com/2022/05/federal ... -see-here/

Apparently the D.C. Circuit conducted a workplace survey recently, and one of the items revealed in the survey was that Judge Karen Henderson (who's a circuit judge) has hired exactly one woman as a law clerk since being confirmed in 1990.

She said: "I give equal treatment and consideration to all applicants and hire law clerks based only on their credentials. To the extent any contrary impression exists, I regret that such impression exists and I will use my best efforts to address it."

Kind of horrifying.

Guess she'll have to recuse from any USDA petitions for review about sausage parties.

[Anonymous User]

https://abovethelaw.com/2022/05/federal ... -see-here/

Apparently the D.C. Circuit conducted a workplace survey recently, and one of the items revealed in the survey was that Judge Karen Henderson (who's a circuit judge) has hired exactly one woman as a law clerk since being confirmed in 1990.

She said: "I give equal treatment and consideration to all applicants and hire law clerks based only on their credentials. To the extent any contrary impression exists, I regret that such impression exists and I will use my best efforts to address it."

Kind of horrifying.

This is really shocking and totally inexcusable. They should do this "workplace survey" on every federal court and publish the results.

[Anonymous User]

Also in the report: Three Judith Rogers JAs have quit in the past three years due to bullying. Two went on the record with specific allegations under their own names. Running through four JAs in three years is astonishing, it's common for them to stay more or less for life.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... -bullying/

[Chokenhauer]

About that whole discussion about Elrod being ideological, she wrote this, which among other things, cites a quip from Ronald Reagan as support

https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/p ... 07-CV0.pdf

Oldham joined this. Between this and his lifting of the stay in the Texas social media litigation, which he also joined, he's positioning himself as probably to the right of Ho on outcomes, if not on rhetoric, with a taste for radicalism that's very unusual in SCOTUS feeders.

I’ve stopped feigning surprised whenever the Fifth Circus issues another insane, historical fiction inspired opinion striking down any law that was enacted after the Civil War. It got too exhausting reacting to so many.

[Anonymous User]

https://abovethelaw.com/2022/05/federal ... -see-here/

Apparently the D.C. Circuit conducted a workplace survey recently, and one of the items revealed in the survey was that Judge Karen Henderson (who's a circuit judge) has hired exactly one woman as a law clerk since being confirmed in 1990.

She said: "I give equal treatment and consideration to all applicants and hire law clerks based only on their credentials. To the extent any contrary impression exists, I regret that such impression exists and I will use my best efforts to address it."

Kind of horrifying.

This is really shocking and totally inexcusable. They should do this "workplace survey" on every federal court and publish the results.

This is also not a surprise. My school's clerkship office tried for years to place conservative women with Henderson before realizing that she, as they put it, "has a type." I, a white man from a preppy background with good but not CADC-level stats, applied and received an interview offer, but had already accepted another clerkship at that time. She then proceeded to interview and hire two other white men from preppy backgrounds in my class whose grades were solid, but lower than mine. I suspect that her collage of clerk class photos looks like a GQ catalogue.

[Anonymous User]

https://abovethelaw.com/2022/05/federal ... -see-here/

Apparently the D.C. Circuit conducted a workplace survey recently, and one of the items revealed in the survey was that Judge Karen Henderson (who's a circuit judge) has hired exactly one woman as a law clerk since being confirmed in 1990.

She said: "I give equal treatment and consideration to all applicants and hire law clerks based only on their credentials. To the extent any contrary impression exists, I regret that such impression exists and I will use my best efforts to address it."

Kind of horrifying.

This is really shocking and totally inexcusable. They should do this "workplace survey" on every federal court and publish the results.

This is also not a surprise. My school's clerkship office tried for years to place conservative women with Henderson before realizing that she, as they put it, "has a type." I, a white man from a preppy background with good but not CADC-level stats, applied and received an interview offer, but had already accepted another clerkship at that time. She then proceeded to interview and hire two other white men from preppy backgrounds in my class whose grades were solid, but lower than mine. I suspect that her collage of clerk class photos looks like a GQ catalogue.

When you walk into Henderson's chambers, your greeting is a large sign that says "Welcome to Reagan Country"

[Anonymous User]

https://abovethelaw.com/2022/05/federal ... -see-here/

Apparently the D.C. Circuit conducted a workplace survey recently, and one of the items revealed in the survey was that Judge Karen Henderson (who's a circuit judge) has hired exactly one woman as a law clerk since being confirmed in 1990.

She said: "I give equal treatment and consideration to all applicants and hire law clerks based only on their credentials. To the extent any contrary impression exists, I regret that such impression exists and I will use my best efforts to address it."

Kind of horrifying.

This is really shocking and totally inexcusable. They should do this "workplace survey" on every federal court and publish the results.

This is also not a surprise. My school's clerkship office tried for years to place conservative women with Henderson before realizing that she, as they put it, "has a type." I, a white man from a preppy background with good but not CADC-level stats, applied and received an interview offer, but had already accepted another clerkship at that time. She then proceeded to interview and hire two other white men from preppy backgrounds in my class whose grades were solid, but lower than mine. I suspect that her collage of clerk class photos looks like a GQ catalogue.

Yeah nobody just unintentionally only hires one woman in 30+ years - is she like a female Kozinski (without the sexual harassment, I'm assuming) and just likes eye candy?

The judges mentioned in this article state that conservatives do seem to get fewer female applicants in general: https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/c ... ntext=mulr. That's not a surprise at all, but the candor from the judges on how they hire might be a helpful read for folks.

[Anonymous User]

https://abovethelaw.com/2022/05/federal ... -see-here/

Apparently the D.C. Circuit conducted a workplace survey recently, and one of the items revealed in the survey was that Judge Karen Henderson (who's a circuit judge) has hired exactly one woman as a law clerk since being confirmed in 1990.

She said: "I give equal treatment and consideration to all applicants and hire law clerks based only on their credentials. To the extent any contrary impression exists, I regret that such impression exists and I will use my best efforts to address it."

Kind of horrifying.

This is really shocking and totally inexcusable. They should do this "workplace survey" on every federal court and publish the results.

This is also not a surprise. My school's clerkship office tried for years to place conservative women with Henderson before realizing that she, as they put it, "has a type." I, a white man from a preppy background with good but not CADC-level stats, applied and received an interview offer, but had already accepted another clerkship at that time. She then proceeded to interview and hire two other white men from preppy backgrounds in my class whose grades were solid, but lower than mine. I suspect that her collage of clerk class photos looks like a GQ catalogue.

Yeah nobody just unintentionally only hires one woman in 30+ years - is she like a female Kozinski (without the sexual harassment, I'm assuming) and just likes eye candy?

The judges mentioned in this article state that conservatives do seem to get fewer female applicants in general: https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/c ... ntext=mulr. That's not a surprise at all, but the candor from the judges on how they hire might be a helpful read for folks.

That's a good article that I found helpful when applying. I clerked for a Trump appointee with a fairly nonideological background and we certainly got more men than women applying, so I imagine that most Fed Soc chambers get far more men than women. Many conservative judges do really want female clerks, though, even if they're leery about the perception of AA, and the supply-demand mismatch means that conservative women are in very, very high demand.

[Anonymous User]

https://abovethelaw.com/2022/05/federal ... -see-here/

Apparently the D.C. Circuit conducted a workplace survey recently, and one of the items revealed in the survey was that Judge Karen Henderson (who's a circuit judge) has hired exactly one woman as a law clerk since being confirmed in 1990.

She said: "I give equal treatment and consideration to all applicants and hire law clerks based only on their credentials. To the extent any contrary impression exists, I regret that such impression exists and I will use my best efforts to address it."

Kind of horrifying.

This is really shocking and totally inexcusable. They should do this "workplace survey" on every federal court and publish the results.

This is also not a surprise. My school's clerkship office tried for years to place conservative women with Henderson before realizing that she, as they put it, "has a type." I, a white man from a preppy background with good but not CADC-level stats, applied and received an interview offer, but had already accepted another clerkship at that time. She then proceeded to interview and hire two other white men from preppy backgrounds in my class whose grades were solid, but lower than mine. I suspect that her collage of clerk class photos looks like a GQ catalogue.

Yeah nobody just unintentionally only hires one woman in 30+ years - is she like a female Kozinski (without the sexual harassment, I'm assuming) and just likes eye candy?

I never thought I'd be assessing my own attractiveness on TLS, but all three of us are over 6 feet tall and conventionally "preppy handsome," I guess. But I also have no idea how she'd know this? I think it's more that she hires men from the most old-world backgrounds imaginable, Ivy and Little Ivy undergrad, T14 law, white-shoe summer associateships, Republican connections, etc.

Kozinski's a pig, but in addition to hiring "eye candy" he put a ton of clerks on the Court. Henderson feeds less than almost any other CADC judge, so she's really doing her own thing instead of competing for either the top of the market, the brightest ideologues, and/or the most promising public interest candidates, each of which describes her colleagues in one way or another.

[Anonymous User]

This is also not a surprise. My school's clerkship office tried for years to place conservative women with Henderson before realizing that she, as they put it, "has a type." I, a white man from a preppy background with good but not CADC-level stats, applied and received an interview offer, but had already accepted another clerkship at that time. She then proceeded to interview and hire two other white men from preppy backgrounds in my class whose grades were solid, but lower than mine. I suspect that her collage of clerk class photos looks like a GQ catalogue.

Yeah nobody just unintentionally only hires one woman in 30+ years - is she like a female Kozinski (without the sexual harassment, I'm assuming) and just likes eye candy?

The judges mentioned in this article state that conservatives do seem to get fewer female applicants in general: https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/c ... ntext=mulr. That's not a surprise at all, but the candor from the judges on how they hire might be a helpful read for folks.

That's a good article that I found helpful when applying. I clerked for a Trump appointee with a fairly nonideological background and we certainly got more men than women applying, so I imagine that most Fed Soc chambers get far more men than women. Many conservative judges do really want female clerks, though, even if they're leery about the perception of AA, and the supply-demand mismatch means that conservative women are in very, very high demand.

I can definitely see that affecting the numbers to some extent. Not to the extent of "1 woman clerk in 30 years," though (not that I think you're saying that).

I clerked for a judge who had one term clerk (the other was career) and alternated between men and women, hiring a man one year, a woman the next, and so on. The judge never admitted to doing this on purpose, but the career clerk figured it had to be because it was such a consistent pattern. It would be one way to ensure parity over the years, although kind of frustrating if you were applying the wrong year (the judge wasn't a feeder or especially prestigious so not really dashing anyone's career, though it was a great experience).

[Anonymous User]

https://abovethelaw.com/2022/05/federal ... -see-here/

Apparently the D.C. Circuit conducted a workplace survey recently, and one of the items revealed in the survey was that Judge Karen Henderson (who's a circuit judge) has hired exactly one woman as a law clerk since being confirmed in 1990.

She said: "I give equal treatment and consideration to all applicants and hire law clerks based only on their credentials. To the extent any contrary impression exists, I regret that such impression exists and I will use my best efforts to address it."

Kind of horrifying.

This is really shocking and totally inexcusable. They should do this "workplace survey" on every federal court and publish the results.

This is also not a surprise. My school's clerkship office tried for years to place conservative women with Henderson before realizing that she, as they put it, "has a type." I, a white man from a preppy background with good but not CADC-level stats, applied and received an interview offer, but had already accepted another clerkship at that time. She then proceeded to interview and hire two other white men from preppy backgrounds in my class whose grades were solid, but lower than mine. I suspect that her collage of clerk class photos looks like a GQ catalogue.

Yeah nobody just unintentionally only hires one woman in 30+ years - is she like a female Kozinski (without the sexual harassment, I'm assuming) and just likes eye candy?

I never thought I'd be assessing my own attractiveness on TLS, but all three of us are over 6 feet tall and conventionally "preppy handsome," I guess. But I also have no idea how she'd know this? I think it's more that she hires men from the most old-world backgrounds imaginable, Ivy and Little Ivy undergrad, T14 law, white-shoe summer associateships, Republican connections, etc.

Kozinski's a pig, but in addition to hiring "eye candy" he put a ton of clerks on the Court. Henderson feeds less than almost any other CADC judge, so she's really doing her own thing instead of competing for either the top of the market, the brightest ideologues, and/or the most promising public interest candidates, each of which describes her colleagues in one way or another.

That makes more sense - your reference to the GQ catalog is what led me down that train of thought, but what you explained is much more logical. Interesting that her reputation is so well known that clerkship offices didn't bother sending conservative women to her though. I would've thought conservative women and people of color would've had a marginally easier time than conservative white guys just by virtue of them being rarer/standing out more, but I guess that can't always be the case.

[Anonymous User]

Among the big feeder judges on the right, which of them are taskmasters? I've heard Sutton and Pryor are tough but not sure about the Trump ones

[Anonymous User]

Among the big feeder judges on the right, which of them are taskmasters? I've heard Sutton and Pryor are tough but not sure about the Trump ones

I hear Wilkinson is not a very tough clerkship.

[Anonymous User]

Among the big feeder judges on the right, which of them are taskmasters? I've heard Sutton and Pryor are tough but not sure about the Trump ones

I hear Wilkinson is not a very tough clerkship.

Seconded. He has a quirky personality but it’s generously a 9 to 5 job.

[Anonymous User]

Among the big feeder judges on the right, which of them are taskmasters? I've heard Sutton and Pryor are tough but not sure about the Trump ones

These aren’t “big” feeders by any means, but on CA8 Colloton and Stras both work their clerks hard, and Colloton is also a very unpleasant man, so his clerks are generally miserable.

Staying in the Midwest, I’ve heard really good things about Sykes, and Easterbrook is personally quirky but a very relaxed clerkship.