Chances at federal clerkship in NDCal or CDCal? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I want to clerk in Norcal, primarily because I want to move there and work there in the near future. Any chance of that happening based on my credentials?

Positives
* Roots: I'm from Norcal, between SF and SV, and I have family in LA
* Work experience: I'm currently a 1st year associate at a V30 firm in DC.
* Bar passage: I took and passed the Cali-bar
* Judicial externships: I have several, all from different courts
* Law school: T6
* Moot court: Did not win but did well

Negatives
* Grades: My school does not do rankings, but I'm pretty sure I'm not in the top 1/3 of my class
* Journal: No journal

I will take any federal judge in NDCal or CDCal willing to give me a chance (magistrates included)

[Anonymous User]

Come on, you know the answer. Lack of journal and grades are barriers. Talk to former judges you externed for and current associates/partners at your firm to leverage connections to judges in ND/CD Cal.

[rpupkin]

Come on, you know the answer. Lack of journal and grades are barriers. Talk to former judges you externed for and current associates/partners at your firm to leverage connections to judges in ND/CD Cal.

This.

[Anonymous User]

Former ND Cal law clerk here - not sure how competitive you are for district judges. Even my (relatively unprestigious) district judge received dozens of applications like yours. You are competitive for magistrates, however. For what it's worth, Spero, Cousins, Grewal, and Corley all seem good.

[Anonymous User]

My NDCal judge (and at least a couple others) wouldn't seriously consider your app. In my chambers, top 10% was a pretty firm cutoff.