Top Law Schools

chances for slightly above median (10H, 7P) at hys & eic of secondary journal? not sure what is reasonable

Anonymous User wrote:chances for slightly above median (10H, 7P) at hys & eic of secondary journal? not sure what is reasonable

These are more or less my stats, so feel free to PM. I’m a current COA (non-2/9/DC) clerk. The short answer is that you can definitely clerk, but in my experience this resume will get passed over for competitive districts/circuits. If you’re set on clerking, it’s worth putting in some extra effort to find judges worth clerking for outside the usual cities, because your HYS school will stand out from the pile more. Also, hit up former EICs from your journal who have clerked.

Edit to add: I went to H. My guess is if you’re at one of the other two of Y/S, especially Y, your clerkship prospects are better than I suggested above.

At YLS, this would be competitive for the chambers I’ve worked in (SDNY/2d Cir), although on the low end, so other factors like pre-law school experience would have to impress. We would not interview an HLS student with those grades. But many other districts and some circuits outside the most competitive regions would.

op: thanks for your input! unfortunately i have a very strong preference for the dc area because of family so i was hoping for dmd/4th cir/dc ct of appeals - are those worth applying to for 2020/2021? (currently a 2l, open to working first)

more speculation: if i get straight or majority hs for rest of law school, do i substantially improve my chances or do my ps already disqualify me?

2/9/DC clerk from HYS. With those grades from Y, you would be competitive, though on the lower end. (That said, given how little information is conveyed by YLS grades, your writing sample, recs, work experience would be more important.) Slightly less competitive from S, though in the same general boat. I don’t think we would interview someone from H with those grades unless something else makes you stand out.

Regardless, you should apply.

HLS grad here. I think you should blanket DC Court of Appeals, MD Court of Appeals, DDC, DMD, the parts of EDVA near DC, and the 4th Circuit judges near DC. I think your grades will probably disqualify you from DC Circuit but I think you're at least reasonably competitive for the others. For whatever it's worth, I had 10 H/7 P after two years at HLS and got several interviews (albeit not in your geographic area).

HLS grad here at SDNY. Those grades will likely be passed over here, unless there is some strong recommendation/the application pool is particularly weak. Having said that, if you broaden your search, I have certainly seen people with stats clerking even on CoA level (but less competitive geographic areas).