How to Cancel an Interview Forum

[Anonymous User]

Got an offer from one judge and have an interview with a different judge scheduled for Tuesday. I plan to call Monday morning to accept 1st judge's offer (my school says to accept a fed judge offer no matter what) - so I assume I need to cancel the Tuesday interview. Is this correct? Assuming yes, does anyone have a link to a sample of what this should look like? thanks

[A. Nony Mouse]

Are you fine with working for the first judge over the second judge? If you'd prefer the second, it sounds like the first gave you some period of time to think about it/respond, so you could probably go on the second interview and see what happens. (That is, if the second judge offered on the spot, you could accept and decline, with thanks, the first judge; if the second judge didn't make an offer on the spot, but you'd prefer to work for them, you might have to call before the first judge deadline to say that you have an offer for another position but remain very interested, has the judge said when s/he's going to make a decision? Or even possibly bring it up at the interview, if timeline comes up.)

If you don't have any preference between them, though, accepting the first and canceling the second and being done is probably best. After you accept the first judge, I would just call chambers and tell them you have an interview scheduled for Tuesday but you need to cancel because you have accepted another offer, but please thank the judge very much for considering your application.

[Anonymous User]

Are you fine with working for the first judge over the second judge? If you'd prefer the second, it sounds like the first gave you some period of time to think about it/respond, so you could probably go on the second interview and see what happens. (That is, if the second judge offered on the spot, you could accept and decline, with thanks, the first judge; if the second judge didn't make an offer on the spot, but you'd prefer to work for them, you might have to call before the first judge deadline to say that you have an offer for another position but remain very interested, has the judge said when s/he's going to make a decision? Or even possibly bring it up at the interview, if timeline comes up.)

If you don't have any preference between them, though, accepting the first and canceling the second and being done is probably best. After you accept the first judge, I would just call chambers and tell them you have an interview scheduled for Tuesday but you need to cancel because you have accepted another offer, but please thank the judge very much for considering your application.

my school is fairly insistent on not saying no, so i am planning to just go with the first.

is phone call definitively better? all of their communication with me has been e-mail. i'm really looking for an e-mail form letter that i can look at for guidance on what to say but i can't find anything online.

[hichvichwoh]

Are you fine with working for the first judge over the second judge? If you'd prefer the second, it sounds like the first gave you some period of time to think about it/respond, so you could probably go on the second interview and see what happens. (That is, if the second judge offered on the spot, you could accept and decline, with thanks, the first judge; if the second judge didn't make an offer on the spot, but you'd prefer to work for them, you might have to call before the first judge deadline to say that you have an offer for another position but remain very interested, has the judge said when s/he's going to make a decision? Or even possibly bring it up at the interview, if timeline comes up.)

If you don't have any preference between them, though, accepting the first and canceling the second and being done is probably best. After you accept the first judge, I would just call chambers and tell them you have an interview scheduled for Tuesday but you need to cancel because you have accepted another offer, but please thank the judge very much for considering your application.

my school is fairly insistent on not saying no, so i am planning to just go with the first.

is phone call definitively better? all of their communication with me has been e-mail. i'm really looking for an e-mail form letter that i can look at for guidance on what to say but i can't find anything online.

your school will always tell you to accept any offer from any employer immediately. If you got an offer to flip burgers and were waiting on a biglaw callback they'd tell you to take the burger flipping job. If you'd rather work for the second judge, then do the interview. Otherwise, just write a normal email to the judge's clerk saying you've accepted an offer to intern/clerk with [X] and would like to cancel your interview with [Y].

[A. Nony Mouse]

Are you fine with working for the first judge over the second judge? If you'd prefer the second, it sounds like the first gave you some period of time to think about it/respond, so you could probably go on the second interview and see what happens. (That is, if the second judge offered on the spot, you could accept and decline, with thanks, the first judge; if the second judge didn't make an offer on the spot, but you'd prefer to work for them, you might have to call before the first judge deadline to say that you have an offer for another position but remain very interested, has the judge said when s/he's going to make a decision? Or even possibly bring it up at the interview, if timeline comes up.)

If you don't have any preference between them, though, accepting the first and canceling the second and being done is probably best. After you accept the first judge, I would just call chambers and tell them you have an interview scheduled for Tuesday but you need to cancel because you have accepted another offer, but please thank the judge very much for considering your application.

my school is fairly insistent on not saying no, so i am planning to just go with the first.

is phone call definitively better? all of their communication with me has been e-mail. i'm really looking for an e-mail form letter that i can look at for guidance on what to say but i can't find anything online.

Yeah, schools will say that. If you're fine with the first judge, there isn't any real reason not to accept.

If all their correspondence has been e-mail, then e-mail is probably fine - I tend to think the phone is better the more non-routine the correspondence is, and you also know for sure that they got the message, but either works. In any case, format doesn't really matter - short and sweet is fine. I would go with something like:

Dear [Judge X/judicial assistant - whoever you've been corresponding with],

I'm writing to let you know that I need to withdraw from consideration for the [2015-16/whatever term] clerkship in your chambers, as I have accepted another offer for that term. [If you really want, you could specify - e.g. "I have accepted an offer to clerk for Judge Whosit of [whatever jurisdiction] during that term]. Thank you very much for considering my application. [If you're interested in doing a second clerkship and would like to be considered for a future term, you could add that here.]

Sincerely,
[name]

[ResIpsa21]

Before you accept the first judge, ask yourself if you're doing it for a good reason. Blindly following instructions from your law school is not a good reason. They aren't the ones who are going to work for this judge. They aren't the ones who will have the clerkship on their resume for the rest of their career. "Always accepting the first offer" is a rule 100% for the school's benefit and 0% for yours. It disturbs me to see people who are such lemmings to their law school that they will unquestioningly comply with any request the school makes. Think for yourself!

If you are happy with the first judge, then Mouse's draft message is perfectly good. If you would prefer the second judge, then wait. This happens ALL the time. Unless you think the first judge is going to pull the offer before you get a response from the second judge (highly unlikely unless you have a hard deadline), then you're good to do the interview. No matter what you do, make your own decision!

[BVest]

(my school says to accept a fed judge offer no matter what)

Everyone's school says that. My school said it at a clerkship forum right before all of the judges they brought in for a panel contradicted them.

[BearState]

I had an identical situation except my school and the first judge said it was perfectly fine to do the second interview. I didn't, but only because I was certain I was happy with the first judge. As long as the first judge didn't make your offer an exploding one, there is NO good reason not to interview the second judge if you'd prefer the second judge.

If you do cancel, I think phone is the classy and professional thing to do. Chambers will totally understand and congratulate you.