HELLLP Forum

[Anonymous User]

So, today has been a mixed bag. Only got one preselect for the joke that is 3L OCI, but also got a fed clerk interview...
Its tomorrow and in my home district. I feel like I have the world riding on this and am more nervous than anything. Please post with tips/suggestions...perhaps help me off the edge a bit.
What should I do tonight to prepare?

[BVest]

Review your resume. Think about personal anecdotes that you can work into conversation easily. Look at what classes you're taking next semester (s/he may ask, and I've focused so much on an interview before that the question has thrown me). And most of all relax and be yourself. Most of these are "fit" interviews. You've got the goods, they now want to see if they'll get along with you. They might ask a non-trick question that can trip you up like "tell me how you like to work," so just relax when you get those and deal with them as best you can.

When you get there tomorrow, get there with enough time to get through security (this varies widely depending on your city) and don't take your cell phone (sometimes that causes problems at fed courthouse security unless you already have your bar card) and still get to chambers about 8-10 minutes ahead of your interview slot. This will give you time to chat with the term clerk/judicial assistant. (That's interview part 1. It can also loosen you up a little and get you talking about yourself.)

If you want to do some research tonight, the only thing you should do is look for case mix for the district/division. Do not spend all night doing this though. An example of where to find it would be for the WD TX:

Go to the website http://www.txwd.uscourts.gov/default1.asp
>> Court Info
>> District Stats
You can see there that the Austin division sees about 2/3 civil filings, while the Del Rio division sees about 95% criminal.

Note, each district has the district stats somewhere different, and some don't seem to have them that easily accessible, so

[Tangerine Gleam]

Re-read your writing sample. You might not get any questions about it, but if you do, you want to be prepared.

To add a second opinion re: showing up early, I agree it's a very good idea to get to the courthouse early, but you might not want to show up to the judge's chambers ten minutes ahead of time. Some judges have offices that are right near the entry door to their chambers, and there is no way for an interviewee-in-waiting to sit there for ten minutes without distracting the judge. I would advise getting to the courthourse way ahead of time, but then hanging out in the lobby and showing up to the judge's chambers five or fewer minutes ahead of time.

EDIT: Also, some judges have the interviewee meet with the clerks first. If you chit-chat with one or more of the clerks informally for too long, it can be weird to then go into a separate room and begin a "formal" interview with them all over again. All the more reason, in my opinion, to not show up too early. But this, like everything else, probably varies dramatically from chambers to chambers.

Keep your cool. Remember that if you weren't qualified on paper, you wouldn't have gotten the interview. They want to like you.

[Anonymous User]

D. ct. clerk here. I've obviously been interviewed before but I've also interviewed candidates twice. Here is my general advice:

Be normal and easygoing. We want to work with normal and easygoing people. We think you're smart and qualified enough when you're coming in for an interview, but you need to prove you're someone we'd want to work with.

Please be able to easily, clearly, and quickly articulate why you want to clerk. This may seem obvious, but it's shocking how common it is for interviewees to not have a solid answer to this question.

Be able to explain why you're qualified (i.e., that you can read and write clearly, think things through on your own, you've got a good attn to detail). Above all else, make it clear that you can be objective and disinterested and have no ego. We do not want people who can't realize they are there to assist the judge and do what he/she wants. But also make it clear that you have no problem disagreeing when necessary but being able to recognize when it's time to shut up and help the judge--that's a clerk's job.

As for judge-specific advice, go read some of his/her most recent cases. Be able to specifically explain what you find interesting about them so you can talk about the docket. Many jurisdictions have lots of the same types of cases so you need to be able to articulate a district-specific interest. Don't say you want to work on securities cases or IP cases if you're in a district where those are uncommon. For example, in my (desert) district, water cases are always a BFD. We would love to see someone with a genuine interest in water law.

Good luck.

[timmyd]

This is OP (didnt mean to go anon earlier)
Thanks so much for the insight. I have spend the night researching the judge and reading a few opinions. I don't know them well enough to spit out all the facts on call because Iv'e been focusing more on learning what the docket generally looks like and anticipating questions concerning my interest with said docket.
I think I have my resume down cold, and luckily my writing samples were composed recently enough that I remember them well.
At this point, I think I am just going to get some sleep and try to somehow focus on the two hours of work I have to do at the firm before I depart for the interview.
Thanks again.

[timmyd]

Spent*

[rpupkin]

Re-read your writing sample. You might not get any questions about it, but if you do, you want to be prepared.

To add a second opinion re: showing up early, I agree it's a very good idea to get to the courthouse early, but you might not want to show up to the judge's chambers ten minutes ahead of time. Some judges have offices that are right near the entry door to their chambers, and there is no way for an interviewee-in-waiting to sit there for ten minutes without distracting the judge. I would advise getting to the courthourse way ahead of time, but then hanging out in the lobby and showing up to the judge's chambers five or fewer minutes ahead of time.

EDIT: Also, some judges have the interviewee meet with the clerks first. If you chit-chat with one or more of the clerks informally for too long, it can be weird to then go into a separate room and begin a "formal" interview with them all over again. All the more reason, in my opinion, to not show up too early. But this, like everything else, probably varies dramatically from chambers to chambers.

Keep your cool. Remember that if you weren't qualified on paper, you wouldn't have gotten the interview. They want to like you.

Great advice here. I want to second the part about not showing up too early to chambers. Yes, get to the courthouse really early and figure out where the judge's chambers are once you're inside. But don't actually enter the chambers until 5 minutes before your scheduled interview. As Tangerine says, it's awkward for everyone if you're sitting there for 15 minutes.

[Anonymous User]

Don't forget your suit jacket, like I did, and show up 10 min before interview realizing you forgot suit jacket, like I did, and run desperately to office in attempt to get suit jacket, like I did, then stop halfway realizing you don't have time to make it, like I did, then run back to courtroom and show up exactly on time for interview but with sweat dripping out of every pore, like I did.

True story.

[ResIpsa21]

Good luck! Hope it goes / went well! Come back and tell us how you felt about it once you're done.

[timmyd]

Interview went extremely well I thought. Lasted about 2 hours in total and was mostly conversational. Not alot of q and a and no substantive law questions. They are still interviewing three more candidates which worries me...I'm scared I will be the least fresh in their minds out of the four candidates. It's out of my hands now though so I will write thank you letters and hope for the best.

[BVest]

Interview went extremely well I thought. Lasted about 2 hours in total and was mostly conversational. Not alot of q and a and no substantive law questions. They are still interviewing three more candidates which worries me...I'm scared I will be the least fresh in their minds out of the four candidates. It's out of my hands now though so I will write thank you letters and hope for the best.

Interviewing multiple candidates and it went 2 hours, either that judge has no docket to speak of or your interview went well. More likely the latter.

[rpupkin]

Interview went extremely well I thought. Lasted about 2 hours in total and was mostly conversational. Not alot of q and a and no substantive law questions. They are still interviewing three more candidates which worries me...I'm scared I will be the least fresh in their minds out of the four candidates. It's out of my hands now though so I will write thank you letters and hope for the best.

Don't worry; they'll remember you. Congrats on what sounds like an excellent interview. Oh, and don't get super-anxious and start calling (or emailing) chambers every other day for an update on the status of your application. Send your thank you letters and then patiently wait.

[timmyd]

I got it!!!!!!!!!!

[ResIpsa21]

I got it!!!!!!!!!!

YES!! Awesome! Congrats!

[Anonymous User]

That is so awesome. Great to hear. I remember when I got my clerkship offer. There really isn't anything like it, and it's cool to see other people experience that same feeling online.