Interviews with limited judge allotted time off Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have to imagine this is a somewhat common problem, given the well-known demands of many circuit or feeder judges. But I just started my COA clerkship with goals of AUSA, and if not, back to firm life. I anticipate having the statistics to garner a fairly high number of interviews but am told my judge has an extremely strict allotment of days for the entire year. Anyone dealt with this? Seems absurd to think that the a large part of why we take these positions be wholly negated by scheduling.

[Barrred]

Any chance you want to interview in a city where you will have a calendar? You should usually be able to take a few hours off one day to interview and/or go down early/stay in town later (on your own dime).

[Anonymous User]

Any chance you want to interview in a city where you will have a calendar? You should usually be able to take a few hours off one day to interview and/or go down early/stay in town later (on your own dime).

Unfortunately, not really. The city in which most of our sittings are would be rather low on my list, although not excluded. I suppose I could attempt a triangle travel and miss less work, but I'm not sure how this is feasible if I get more than 3-4 interviews.

[Barrred]

I guess my advice then would be to apply early and attempt to batch them all into a marathon Thursday/Friday sometime later in your clerkship when you have a better handle on your workload and your judge's leave/travel policies.

[ggocat]

I would simply apply and worry about the interviews later. I have known judges who are "strict" with time off, but that usually just meant you can't take off a week for vacation or the holidays. Your judge might not consider interviewing for potential jobs as "time off." Judges usually want you to succeed, not only for you, but also because it looks good on them if you get a good job after the clerkship.

Really, you just need to talk with your judge about it when the time for interviews approaches.

[GoneSouth]

Can you talk to former clerks and ask how they handled interviewing?

[lolwat]

I would simply apply and worry about the interviews later. I have known judges who are "strict" with time off, but that usually just meant you can't take off a week for vacation or the holidays. Your judge might not consider interviewing for potential jobs as "time off." Judges usually want you to succeed, not only for you, but also because it looks good on them if you get a good job after the clerkship.

Really, you just need to talk with your judge about it when the time for interviews approaches.

Yeah, this. Worst case scenario, figure out what the "strict allotment" is, and work your interviews around that.

[rpupkin]

I'm not sure that the problem you're worried about will actually materialize. AUSA hiring isn't like clerkship hiring or law-school admissions. I wouldn't assume that you'll "garner a fairly high number of interviews" based on your "statistics." I bet you'll be less burdened by interviews than you're expecting.

[Anonymous User]

I'm not sure that the problem you're worried about will actually materialize. AUSA hiring isn't like clerkship hiring or law-school admissions. I wouldn't assume that you'll "garner a fairly high number of interviews" based on your "statistics." I bet you'll be less burdened by interviews than you're expecting.

Look, that may be right. But the person who preceded me at the district level and went to a similarly situated circuit judge got 9(!?!?) Ausa interviews and applied to zero firms. Now he accepted after his third and didn't have to take the rest but it's still pretty nuts and I'm going to apply to a ton of firms because I'm not delusional about AUSA as you suspect.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I'm not sure that the problem you're worried about will actually materialize. AUSA hiring isn't like clerkship hiring or law-school admissions. I wouldn't assume that you'll "garner a fairly high number of interviews" based on your "statistics." I bet you'll be less burdened by interviews than you're expecting.

Look, that may be right. But the person who preceded me at the district level and went to a similarly situated circuit judge got 9(!?!?) Ausa interviews and applied to zero firms. Now he accepted after his third and didn't have to take the rest but it's still pretty nuts and I'm going to apply to a ton of firms because I'm not delusional about AUSA as you suspect.

Was this before or after Trump was elected?

[ggocat]

Was this before or after Trump was elected?

Nony will know better than anyone, but I seem to remember government going on a hiring spree in recent years because there was pent up demand for employees after all the Fed budget fights. Has that tapered off? (Stupid usajobs account locked due to year of inactivity).

[Anonymous User]

I'm not sure that the problem you're worried about will actually materialize. AUSA hiring isn't like clerkship hiring or law-school admissions. I wouldn't assume that you'll "garner a fairly high number of interviews" based on your "statistics." I bet you'll be less burdened by interviews than you're expecting.

Look, that may be right. But the person who preceded me at the district level and went to a similarly situated circuit judge got 9(!?!?) Ausa interviews and applied to zero firms. Now he accepted after his third and didn't have to take the rest but it's still pretty nuts and I'm going to apply to a ton of firms because I'm not delusional about AUSA as you suspect.

Was this before or after Trump was elected?

Yea. And all the caveats that apply. And no one knows what will happen with the budget but I'm hearing from several chief assistants through the grapevine that once confirmed large office will have a deluge

[rpupkin]

I'm not sure that the problem you're worried about will actually materialize. AUSA hiring isn't like clerkship hiring or law-school admissions. I wouldn't assume that you'll "garner a fairly high number of interviews" based on your "statistics." I bet you'll be less burdened by interviews than you're expecting.

Look, that may be right. But the person who preceded me at the district level and went to a similarly situated circuit judge got 9(!?!?) Ausa interviews and applied to zero firms. Now he accepted after his third and didn't have to take the rest but it's still pretty nuts and I'm going to apply to a ton of firms because I'm not delusional about AUSA as you suspect.

I don't suspect that you are "delusional"; I just felt like you were probably overestimating how many interviews you're likely to get, especially in light of the general slowdown in AUSA hiring since Trump took office. (There's not really a total freeze in effect, but there's definitely less hiring activity overall.) Also, while I obviously don't know anything about your friend, I suspect that his nine interviews weren't entirely due to his district-court/COA clerkship combo.

[Anonymous User]

I've had like 8 AUSA interviews and I stink/haven't even sniffed an offer so just getting interviews doesn't matter hth.

[Anonymous User]

I've had like 8 AUSA interviews and I stink/haven't even sniffed an offer so just getting interviews doesn't matter hth.

Not to hijack, but very curious about this - were the interviews recent? With big/small offices? Do you normally interview well? Any big surprises in the interview? Good skill/experience match?