SSC Clerk Taking Question Forum

[Anonymous User]

ssc clerk on eastcoast, about half way through the term thought I'd answer any questions about hiring for clerkships/what its like/post-clerkship jobs.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

How hard is it for a person from a regional school with great grades to get ssc in another state? For example, top five in the class (order of the coif, manga cum laude) at washington and lee to get ssc clerkship in your state?

[Anonymous User]

How hard is it for a person from a regional school with great grades to get ssc in another state? For example, top five in the class (order of the coif, manga cum laude) at washington and lee to get ssc clerkship in your state?

For my judge and from knowing the other clerks for other judges on my court, itd be the same odds as any instate person getting a job there. In other words, my judge doesn't seem to care so much about whether youre in or out of state/what school you went to. Most people are from schools nearby, but not all. The worst thing about clerkship hiring is that we get a lot of great resumes but the judge probably only actually looks at <5% of them and the other 95% just sit there on the shelf. IMO if you can get someone to call on your behalf, do it.

[Anonymous User]

How hard is it for a person from a regional school with great grades to get ssc in another state? For example, top five in the class (order of the coif, manga cum laude) at washington and lee to get ssc clerkship in your state?

For my judge and from knowing the other clerks for other judges on my court, itd be the same odds as any instate person getting a job there. In other words, my judge doesn't seem to care so much about whether youre in or out of state/what school you went to. Most people are from schools nearby, but not all. The worst thing about clerkship hiring is that we get a lot of great resumes but the judge probably only actually looks at <5% of them and the other 95% just sit there on the shelf. IMO if you can get someone to call on your behalf, do it.

Other than calls on your behalf, what can an applicant do to increase their chances of getting the app materials in front of the justice?

[Anonymous User]

Other than calls on your behalf, what can an applicant do to increase their chances of getting the app materials in front of the justice?

OP here

Short answer: nothing really; there are unfortunately many applicants who have similar stats (top 10%, LR, etc), so peoples resumes don't really stand out from one another. But, I would call chambers to ask whether they are interviewing, not merely accepting resumes, for the term you are interested in--for instances, my judge hasn't looked at resumes from my start date till now. So all those resumes that people sent in between then and now will never be considered no matter how good the candidates are--they've just been lost in the pile. Im not sure whether chambers will actually tell you "oh yeh they are actively considering candidates at the moment," but I certainly do when someone calls.

[Anonymous User]

Not OP: A friend of mine who hadn't thought she was a candidate for clerkships ended up being asked to apply by the Tx Sup Ct judge she interned for during half of 2L summer and she got the offer. Not saying that's common, but I'm sure that interning at the SSC during 1L or 2L summer will at least get your app some attention at the court.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

How hard is it for a person from a regional school with great grades to get ssc in another state? For example, top five in the class (order of the coif, manga cum laude) at washington and lee to get ssc clerkship in your state?

For my judge and from knowing the other clerks for other judges on my court, itd be the same odds as any instate person getting a job there. In other words, my judge doesn't seem to care so much about whether youre in or out of state/what school you went to. Most people are from schools nearby, but not all. The worst thing about clerkship hiring is that we get a lot of great resumes but the judge probably only actually looks at <5% of them and the other 95% just sit there on the shelf. IMO if you can get someone to call on your behalf, do it.

Ok so I'm assuming this is the profile of the type of person your judge would hire, correct? Obviously this person likely loses to T14 top 10% but I'm assuming those candidates are not common.

[Anonymous User]

The type of person your judge would hire, correct? Obviously this person likely loses to T14 top 10% but I'm assuming those candidates are not common.

Yeh, at least for my court you'd have just as good a chance.

As for the t14 kids, my judge gets applications from them but they don't necessarily beat out the non-t14ers. Clerkship hiring is very, very odd for ssc's IMO, we get a resume from a top 10% kid from Georgetown but we will interview a top 10% from a TTT because someone called and said we should interview them. Its a little frustrating to see but thats just how it goes unfortunately.

Also, the above poster is correct--internships do seem to help.

[lawstudentap23]

ssc clerk on eastcoast, about half way through the term thought I'd answer any questions about hiring for clerkships/what its like/post-clerkship jobs.

I know this is an old post but I was wondering what the post-clerkship job market has looked like for you? Have firms solicited SSC clerks? Is there a good shot at state/fed gvt jobs? What will you be doing post-clerkship?