Top Law Schools

Is anyone else, especially those clerking/those who have gone through the application process, surprised by the recent revelations about Rubenfeld/Chua's placement of clerks with Kavanaugh from YLS? I'm wondering if people think this kind of thing is isolated or widespread.

The report seems to suggests that in some cases that application process is not only unfair and deeply screwed up, but is also subject to manipulation by influential professors and alumni. Not just the obvious sexism problems, the fact that apparently everyone knew what Kozinski was doing, etc., but also the idea that loyalty is rewarded, and you have to please/grovel at the feet of the right people for a certain type of clerkship to work out. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... e-amy-chua. I know nothing will change (hence this anonymous post). Interested to hear people's thoughts in here. Are these problems isolated or widespread?

If what you're asking is whether much clerkship hiring is deeply relationship driven rather than a kind of abstract ideal of a meritocratic job market, especially for top feeders, then the answer is no, there's no surprise there. I'm not even sure why you're breathlessly asking about it—this is well known.

As an aside, I had to LOL at Chua allegedly saying that Kavanaugh's female clerks look like models. If she did say that, I think the comment has more to do with Chua than Kavanaugh or his hiring practices. There are judges with noted predilections in hiring female clerks; I never heard Kavanaugh's name mentioned in that conversation before, and based on the former Kavanaugh clerks I've met, they don't all "look like models." In fact, none of the ones I've met look like models.

Yes. Relationships make a massive difference for competitive clerkships. Obviously, you generally have to have the credentials, but outside of the credentials, they're generally the most important thing.

As for Kavanaugh, Zina Bash is quite attractive. Just saying.

Agree with the takes here - pretty much the only effective way to get your app pulled from the stack for a clerkship that competitive is to have absolutely stellar credentials or connections, usually both. Otherwise, I suppose it's possible that a prof could condition a recommendation on something more than just "I know who you are and I know you'll do great work," like loyalty or something, but since the article only makes passing reference to Chua rewarding loyalty, it's hard to say whether she's doing anything outside the norm, never mind whether it might be widespread.