Former District Court Clerk - taking questions Forum

[cryingashley]

Hi!

I know this thread is super old but thought I would try my luck at asking a couple of questions here. I am trying to gauge what my chances might be at getting a federal district court clerkship or a state supreme court clerkship with my stats (HYS, URM, top 50% grades, secondary journal). I have 3 years of post law school experience at a federal agency in DC (legal honors but not DOJ, no litigation) and plan on spending at least the next couple of years in an OIG office at another federal agency in DC. I'd like to transition to an AG office eventually but with no lit experience (even after the OIG stint unless I can get a detail at DOJ), I wonder if a clerkship may be necessary. If I were to leave the DC area, the market I would consider would be MA, western MA, among a few others. I think I am pretty strong writer, but worry about my very avg grades not really having relationships with professors, and in any case, having left law school long enough ago that they would not remember me.

Any thoughts from former clerks? Should I give up before even trying?

It seems pretty unlikely with median grades from H (if Y or S, that's different), especially if you're limited to DDC and D. Mass. Do you have people from your current job that could provide recommendations re: your writing skills? If not, you might have some difficulty finding recommenders that would give a judge useful feedback on your potential as a clerk.

I don't really know how the URM thing plays out, but that's been debated on other threads.

Hi there. Thank you for the reply. By DC area, I think I mean that I would probably try for a court in MD-- I definitely do not think I would be competitive for anything in the district. For Massachusetts, I was thinking more along the lines of Central/Western Mass. as opposed to Boston proper.

I think I could get a reference from a couple of professors (one academic, one clinical) and an employer.

Does that make a difference?

[Anonymous User]

There is no western or central mass, it's all one district. True, a few judges sit in no-boston locations, but (1) there are only a few of those, and (2) they may be slightly easier to get, but I frankly doubt it's significant as they still are part of the same district

[ndirish2010]

Hi!

I know this thread is super old but thought I would try my luck at asking a couple of questions here. I am trying to gauge what my chances might be at getting a federal district court clerkship or a state supreme court clerkship with my stats (HYS, URM, top 50% grades, secondary journal). I have 3 years of post law school experience at a federal agency in DC (legal honors but not DOJ, no litigation) and plan on spending at least the next couple of years in an OIG office at another federal agency in DC. I'd like to transition to an AG office eventually but with no lit experience (even after the OIG stint unless I can get a detail at DOJ), I wonder if a clerkship may be necessary. If I were to leave the DC area, the market I would consider would be MA, western MA, among a few others. I think I am pretty strong writer, but worry about my very avg grades not really having relationships with professors, and in any case, having left law school long enough ago that they would not remember me.

Any thoughts from former clerks? Should I give up before even trying?

It seems pretty unlikely with median grades from H (if Y or S, that's different), especially if you're limited to DDC and D. Mass. Do you have people from your current job that could provide recommendations re: your writing skills? If not, you might have some difficulty finding recommenders that would give a judge useful feedback on your potential as a clerk.

I don't really know how the URM thing plays out, but that's been debated on other threads.

Hi there. Thank you for the reply. By DC area, I think I mean that I would probably try for a court in MD-- I definitely do not think I would be competitive for anything in the district. For Massachusetts, I was thinking more along the lines of Central/Western Mass. as opposed to Boston proper.

I think I could get a reference from a couple of professors (one academic, one clinical) and an employer.

Does that make a difference?

D. Md. and E.D. Va. are still quite competitive. I mean you should try, I just wouldn't count on it.