Help with short-term clerkship goals in 2016-2016 Forum

[throwaway7]

I'm a 2L ranked #1 at a T1 school. I'm on Law Review and do one or two extracurriculars. I'm taking all the classes you would normally take if you're shooting for a clerkship (federal courts, conflicts, crim pro, etc). By the time I graduate, I will have spent two summers working for the Army JAG Corps. I'm an Army officer now and I'm going into the JAG Corps when I graduate in May of 2016.

The problem: The JAG Corps only has three initial training cycles. It's highly likely that I won't start working until January or April of 2017 after I graduate. If I take the bar in July, that means I have roughly six to ten months with no job and no income.

I'd like to clerk during this time. I've got a few questions and I'd be really grateful if anybody could point me in the right direction.

1) What courts are realistically within my reach? I've got my eyes on the Texas and New York state supreme courts, as well as any federal district and appeals courts near NY and Austin.

2) Has anyone done a short-term (i.e. 6 month) clerkship before? Would any/most/some judges accommodate the short term I have to work?

3) Would I need to wait until I got my bar results back to clerk?

4) If I wanted to clerk for a state supreme court, would I have to pass the bar in that state (guessing the answer is yes)?

[A. Nony Mouse]

Answers to 3 & 4 are no and it depends on the judge (unless there's a state that makes it a blanket requirement, but I've never heard of that - only individual judges having a preference, and I think mostly it's taking the bar - whichever one - before you start clerking rather than after).

1 - you look competitive for SSCs local to your school (depending on the state) and maybe some district courts, probably in the local circuit. I know similar students who've got (local) COA but it's likely to be a crap shoot. (As is all clerkship hiring.)

2 - short term would probably be tougher (mostly bc most judges find hiring clerks sort of a pain and don't want to have to fuss with it). Sometimes short-term hires come up (usually short notice) and if you had a connection to a judge (or a judge who was former military/former JAG?) you might have a shot. But it will be a much harder sell.

[throwaway7]

Thanks very much for the response. My school is in the upper part of the south (north carolina/virginia/maryland). Would a state supreme court or federal district court in Austin, TX or NYC be unrealistic?

[Emma.]

I'd imagine being first in your class, combined with your military service, would make you a pretty strong candidate for district court clerkships if you were looking for a full term. But I'd imagine that finding a judge who has an opening for just August 2016 through January or April 2017 is going to be really tough.

[BVest]

I'd imagine being first in your class, combined with your military service, would make you a pretty strong candidate for district court clerkships if you were looking for a full term. But I'd imagine that finding a judge who has an opening for just August 2016 through January or April 2017 is going to be really tough.

I agree with this. That said, you said that the next starting times for JAG would be either Jan or April and that there are three a year. Does that mean the following one is in July? I could see a judge being willing to take you on if you could give 11 months. (It would not be one of the two district courts in Austin, though, since both those judges are two-year clerkship judges. It seems like even the magistrates in Austin do two-year terms, but there might be one who does one-year.

[MarkfromWI]

The following one would be in October... Pushing his start date back to Oct 2017 might be preferable anyway because then he would be eligible for a full-term clerkship.

[throwaway7]

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

I checked with the Army today and they said they'd be fine with me completing a one-year clerkship. So now I've got the same goals but no time restriction, so long as the thing starts in August/September of 2016 and only runs a year.