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Sorry for the stupid question. 2L here and am trying to come up with a list of judges and districts. I was wondering

1) How competitive is EDNY vs SDNY (or DNJ/D Conn).

2) I know SDNY gets more of the big commercial cases than EDNY, but what type of docket does the EDNY have. Is there anything to distinguish it. Is it really the location that makes it popular?

3) I have an SA lined up at a V5 and want to go back afterwards to do litigation. Would it be better to clerk in a place like DDC or NDIL since those are the main federal courts for their cities? Or is EDNY viewed better because of its location (even though I'd imagine few BIGLAW firms file there as opposed to SDNY).

Thanks!

Are you applying with the plan to get an offer, clerk, then start at firm?

Hutz_and_Goodman wrote:Are you applying with the plan to get an offer, clerk, then start at firm?

Indeed. I'd be open to looking for something in 2016 too if things get so crazy with the new OSCAR free-for-all.

1. SDNY is probably more competitive even though EDNY has far fewer judges and many seem to be on a policy of only hiring clerks with at least a year or two of experience. DNJ is probably the least competitive of the four you mentioned although I'm not sure about how it is viewed prestige-wise vs. D Conn.

2. EDNY has the standard federal docket and they do get complex commercial cases albeit in less volume than SDNY. There's a really high volume of narcotics cases, however, given that EDNY has both LaGuardia and JFK airports. I've heard people describe working in EDNY as one long drug trial. It's prestige is probably mostly because of its location and also there are a couple of judges on the bench there who are highly regarded nationally (Judge Weinstein comes to mind).

3. Clerk where you want to work if you can. If you want to work in New York, clerking in either SDNY and EDNY is viewed as kind of interchangable. No one is going to distinguish a SDNY clerk from an EDNY clerk. If you want to live/work in Chicago, look at ND Ill -- although its less "prestigious" on these boards, ND Ill will help you in Chicago more than SDNY probably. Likewise, if you want DC go to DDC.

Interesting about the extent of narcotics cases. Did the person you know who clerked there like it? Is it a little less intense than some of the SDNY judges?