Top Law Schools

There's a thread like this for Stanford, and I'm curious what TLS has to say for Chicago, particularly because of our unique grading scale. What grades are needed to clerk for CoA? Are journals absolutely required for most clerkships still?

I would be interested in this as well.

Journals are definitely helpful, but not necessary at all. It will probably exclude you from the most competitive judges, though.

The funky grading system is somewhat ameliorated by letters of recommendation; many professors calculate your GPA and say your approximate class rank in their letter if they think it would be useful for you.

I had just over a 179 and a secondary journal. I got a handful of district court interviews (one led to offer), but no CoA interviews.

Top 10% is going to give you a good shot at a CoA gig. For judges like D. Wood and Posner you'll probably need to be K&E.

It depends a lot on where you are from. If you don't have great ties and want a sexy appellate gig, top 10% is credited.

Given that feeder judges are now moving early summer, before Chicago grades come out, are Chicago students at a disadvantage for those clerkships?

Wouldn't your school's clerkship office be able to provide much better data? I mean, It's Chicago: it has to be someone's job.

runinthefront wrote:Wouldn't your school's clerkship office be able to provide much better data? I mean, It's Chicago: it has to be someone's job.

are you new or something?