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Before, on-plan judges had a whole week to review apps to be ready to call right at noon under the plan. Since the release and calling period start at the same time this year, will calls still go out at noon on Friday or even on Friday at all for on-plan judges? Will judges/clerks/assistants be looking at apps that morning or the day before (or even now)? I doubt anyone will know for sure, but maybe a clerk or two on here knows what's up for a few judges.

Some judges on the plan have already reached out to candidates for interviews. I think the plan part is that no one can start interviewing before noon. However, some are already scheduling interviews for that afternoon...

No, the plan part is that OSCAR doesn't release the applications until noon. Of course, lots of judges have been taking applications outside of OSCAR and scheduling interviews for Friday. But technically that's not really on-plan, since if you're taking apps from rising 3Ls through OSCAR, you can't see those until noon Friday. (I really don't get why some judges have decided not to follow the plan in that they'll take applications early, but they will follow it in that they won't schedule interviews till Friday. I mean, either follow it or don't, don't try to have your cake and eat it too. But then, no one asked me!)

Sorry to say that I can't hazard a guess to what's going to happen, my judge already hired an alum.

Not much will happen on Friday. Judges have been contacting candidates (not just alums, but rising 3L's as well) and setting up interview schedules for months. Those interviews will be staggered over the first two weeks of July for judges looking to hire 3L's. Some judges will wait out the storm and start reviewing on Friday, but for the most competitive district courts, this process has been happening for quite some time.

Anonymous User wrote:Not much will happen on Friday. Judges have been contacting candidates (not just alums, but rising 3L's as well) and setting up interview schedules for months. Those interviews will be staggered over the first two weeks of July for judges looking to hire 3L's. Some judges will wait out the storm and start reviewing on Friday, but for the most competitive district courts, this process has been happening for quite some time.

For most judges in most competitive districts, it's true. There are substantial number of judges in the mix. Some judges just choose to follow exactly what the plan states and right now, the plan states not to contact anyone until Friday. So I still expect some significant movement on Friday and particularly next week.

It almost definitely will not be like the plan dates in years past. But I'm interested to see what it is like.

If you poke around OSCAR there are definitely some judges saying they are "following the plan" and will be conducting their interviews in early to mid July, so it seems like some judges are basically treating the new plan like a moved-up version of the old plan in terms of staggering interviews after the date on which applications are released. At the same time, some districts (SDNY comes to mind), have been pretty blunt that they will contact on-plan applicants before June 28th to schedule interviews that are set to start on June 28th.

EDNY, SDNY, DNJ, EDPa, have all been steadily moving on applicants from rising 3L's and alums for weeks if not before. Unless, the judge's OSCAR posting explicitly states a strict adherence to the plan, I'd be reluctant to say applicants to those districts will see much movement, if any, on Friday.

I can tell you that my judge (district court in the 9th Circuit) has not started reviewing any applications yet (from rising 3Ls or alums) and will only start doing so on Friday. The judge's opinion is that the new plan is unfair to applicants, and the judge will be giving everyone a fair shake. So I expect that we'll be interviewing during the first few weeks of July.

Remember, even if the district is considered "competitive," the applicant pool is deep. Judges have more than one choice.

Anonymous User wrote:I can tell you that my judge (district court in the 9th Circuit) has not started reviewing any applications yet (from rising 3Ls or alums) and will only start doing so on Friday. The judge's opinion is that the new plan is unfair to applicants, and the judge will be giving everyone a fair shake. So I expect that we'll be interviewing during the first few weeks of July.

Remember, even if the district is considered "competitive," the applicant pool is deep. Judges have more than one choice.

It's not just the highly competitive coastal districts that have been consistently hiring before June 28. Texas district courts have been doing the same. Seems like there has been a concerted push perhaps greater than before to either hire alums or work around the confines of the plan to hire early and not have a critical mass on Friday as there used to be in late August/early September.