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I'm applying to district court clerkships and have been reaching out to former clerks who went to my law school to learn about their clerkship experience. Is it acceptable to have them reach out to the judges and if so how should I go about asking?

I wouldn’t ask directly. One thing that might work is have a professor reach out on your behalf. This worked on me, as the prof had made a call on my behalf in the past, and I drew the judge’s attention to the application and he got an interview.

Unless you have a preexisting relationship with these clerks, I wouldn't ask them to reach out to various judges. If you do have a preexisting relationship, such that you think that they would be comfortable risking their reputation to give you a plug, then it may be appropriate to ask...but honestly, if they're that excited about the prospect of you applying, they would likely broach it themselves.

Clerk checking - while it is totally appropriate to call a former clerk to do some research on the job, I wouldn't ask the clerks to put in a good word with the judge. If the clerk really likes you that much, they'll do it on their own. Otherwise it's not really appropriate, IMO.

objctnyrhnr wrote:I wouldn’t ask directly. One thing that might work is have a professor reach out on your behalf. This worked on me, as the prof had made a call on my behalf in the past, and I drew the judge’s attention to the application and he got an interview.

Are you referring to a prof calling a clerk or calling a judge?

Anonymous User wrote:

objctnyrhnr wrote:I wouldn’t ask directly. One thing that might work is have a professor reach out on your behalf. This worked on me, as the prof had made a call on my behalf in the past, and I drew the judge’s attention to the application and he got an interview.

Are you referring to a prof calling a clerk or calling a judge?

In the situation I referenced above, a professor I knew contacted me (a clerk) about a student who wanted a clerkship. Since I owed the professor a favor, I drew judges attention to the resume.

I wouldn't ask. It is a serious favor to ask someone to put themselves out on a limb with their Judge for you, particularly if you don't have a preexisting relationship with these people. Also, there's a significant chance that they will share their impressions of you with the Judge already (for better or for worse). Treat these as mini-interviews rather than informational sessions and you'll put yourself in the best position that you can.

Anonymous User wrote:I wouldn't ask. It is a serious favor to ask someone to put themselves out on a limb with their Judge for you, particularly if you don't have a preexisting relationship with these people. Also, there's a significant chance that they will share their impressions of you with the Judge already (for better or for worse). Treat these as mini-interviews rather than informational sessions and you'll put yourself in the best position that you can.

I agree with this. I went on a handful of "interviews" with former clerks when I had interviews scheduled with judges. Most of them offered to reach out to the judge or did so on their own. As a clerk now, if someone asked me to reach out to the judge, I would think that is weird and presumptuous. It would give me a negative impression of the person and I would probably decline to recommend that person to the judge.