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I have an upcoming interview with a respected CoA judge. I put several applications in a couple of weeks ago with other judges expected to move in the next month or two. Can I ping their chambers to notify them about my upcoming interview? If so, do I drop the judges name, their circuit, or just say "another judge"? Thanks

What would be the purpose of pinging them? If the other judges are in the same courthouse and you are writing to ask for an interview around the same time, I would mention the name of the first judge. If you are writing to say "Dear 2d Cir judge, I have an interview with a 5th Cir judge because I'm amazing," I would just not bother unless you already know they plan to interview you.

Lincoln wrote:What would be the purpose of pinging them? If the other judges are in the same courthouse and you are writing to ask for an interview around the same time, I would mention the name of the first judge. If you are writing to say "Dear 2d Cir judge, I have an interview with a 5th Cir judge because I'm amazing," I would just not bother unless you already know they plan to interview you.

OP here - hope is that I would be able to get an interview with another judge that I might prefer

I think that only works, as noted, if you know the other judge wants to interview you and you want to push it up to get it done before the other interview. You could call up to find out where the judge is in their hiring process, maybe, but more for your info so you can weigh your options - if you tell them you have another interview they’re most likely to say “that’s great, good luck.”

If it is the same courthouse then that gives you a reason to ask them to consider your application now. But otherwise I wouldn’t. So basically, what Lincoln said.

Thirded. Unless you're already on their radar, they're pretty unlikely to make a special trip to the app pile just for you. (In some chambers I suspect your request wouldn't even make it to the judge.) There will almost certainly be enough qualified candidates in the pile whenever they choose to look.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:I think that only works, as noted, if you know the other judge wants to interview you and you want to push it up to get it done before the other interview. You could call up to find out where the judge is in their hiring process, maybe, but more for your info so you can weigh your options - if you tell them you have another interview they’re most likely to say “that’s great, good luck.”

If it is the same courthouse then that gives you a reason to ask them to consider your application now. But otherwise I wouldn’t. So basically, what Lincoln said.

Another data point--I was able to use an interview from one judge to get an in-person interview with another judge who had phone-screened me months earlier but had been radio silent since. The judges were in different states but were in the same general geographic area.

I was able to do this with other judges on the same circuit. I was going to law school in a different geographical area, and a judge on my home circuit invited me to interview. I was able to schedule three additional interviews with other judges on the same circuit (but not all in the same state) that I had applied to. I had a fourth judge who would have tried to schedule an interview except that he was out of town that week. I had only had contact with one of those four additional judges before then.

How did you word it? Just curious.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:How did you word it? Just curious.

I followed up on an email chain with one of the clerks from a week before, where I had sent a general letter of continuing interest and had been told the judge wasn't going to be making any decisions for a while:

Dear Clerk,

I wanted to reach out to let you know that I will be flying [direction] to interview with Judge Y of the Z Circuit next week. I know that Judge X will not be making decisions until later this year, but if s/he would be interested in meeting with me, I would be able to stop in City on my way to or from my interview with Judge Y.

Thanks,

Rhododactylos

Thanks. (That seems more in the vein of "I'm going to be in the area, would you like to interview me?" which I think is pretty common, but I guess the dividing lines aren't that clear.)

rhododactylos wrote: Dear Clerk,

I wanted to reach out to let you know that I will be flying [direction] to interview with Judge Y of the Z Circuit next week. I know that Judge X will not be making decisions until later this year, but if s/he would be interested in meeting with me, I would be able to stop in City on my way to or from my interview with Judge Y.

Thanks,

Rhododactylos

That's about as well as something like this can be done. Some judges might find it a little off-putting, but it could work for certain judges, as it did for Rhododactylos.

I called chambers but I used very similar wording.

So I’m kind of picking nits, I realize, but I feel like if you can spin it as part of your travel to a general region you’re going to have better luck than if not. So saying “I’m traveling to Miami to interview with Judge X and can interview with you in Orlando/other SE location before flying back” is going to be received differently than “Dear Judge sitting in Atlanta, I wanted to update my application to let you know that I have an interview with Judge X in California, but would still be interested in working for you.” There may well be a way to handle the latter that helps you, but it’s a bit trickier.

I totally agree.