Conveying interest in geographical areas Forum

[timmyd]

I'm seeking many federal clerkships, some of which are across the country from my current location. Every so often, a judge will want to know why the applicant wants to clerk in that location specifically.

In answering that question, I want to know whether certain districts receive more of certain types of cases. I think expressing interest in such a manner might resonate more than simply responding that it sounds like a cool area of the country to live for a year. Is there anyway to find, say, what districts get the most admin cases, maritime cases, criminal cases, IP cases etc?

[mjb447]

The AO maintains tables that may have some of that info - try poking around http://www.uscourts.gov/statistics-repo ... ata-tables (although I can't remember if there's anything with the specific info you're looking for). I found it helpful - I found out that one of the judges I interviewed was in a district that was near the top nationwide in terms of trials per judge and talked about that during my interview, and it went well.

[deuceindc]

Is there anyway to find, say, what districts get the most admin cases, maritime cases, criminal cases, IP cases etc?

if you're interested in patent work specifically, look into judges on the Patent Pilot Program.

[nothingtosee]

IMO some of these areas would make sense on an application (e.g. IP or immigration). Some would come across as weird/desperate if there was not additional experience on your resume (e.g. Maritime or employment discrimination).

And for crim it could be a hit or miss proposition: I know some judges that handle all crim themselves and some who give it all to their career clerk

[mjb447]

IMO some of these areas would make sense on an application (e.g. IP or immigration). Some would come across as weird/desperate if there was not additional experience on your resume (e.g. Maritime or employment discrimination).

And for crim it could be a hit or miss proposition: I know some judges that handle all crim themselves and some who give it all to their career clerk

Yeah, that's a good point. There are also lots of types of cases that are fairly common pretty much everywhere (undifferentiated "criminal" and employment discrimination come to mind); it might come off as weird or not-very-genuine if you act like a district is a "standout" in some way if the judge doesn't feel that way too.

[lolwat]

I can only really think of patent and maybe immigration as standouts. But patents are pretty limited... probably primarily going to be CDCA/NDCA/DDel at this point?

I found out that one of the judges I interviewed was in a district that was near the top nationwide in terms of trials per judge and talked about that during my interview, and it went well.

I think this is a point but that might get lost in discussion about practice areas. Info like this is great and it actually shows you did deeper research into the district than many applicants would have done.

[foregetaboutdre]

I'm seeking many federal clerkships, some of which are across the country from my current location. Every so often, a judge will want to know why the applicant wants to clerk in that location specifically.

In answering that question, I want to know whether certain districts receive more of certain types of cases. I think expressing interest in such a manner might resonate more than simply responding that it sounds like a cool area of the country to live for a year. Is there anyway to find, say, what districts get the most admin cases, maritime cases, criminal cases, IP cases etc?

Check if a judge has ever written a journal article/treatise and sometimes this will help you find out their interests.