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Recently, President Trump nominated an attorney for a district court seat in my district. I am currently applying for clerkships, and I am an acquaintance of the nominee (kind of).

Backstory (because it’s important for context): Last year, I was writing a LR article. At the time, nominee was a law professor in my state and specialized in the area for which I was writing. So, I reached out to him and asked if he would read a draft of the article when I finished—he abliged. After that, he e-mailed me giving me positive feedback and offered to send my article to his school’s LR board for review, with his recommendation. Also, he told me to connect with him if I was ever in town.

Long story short, he was nominated to the federal bench. I would like to apply for a clerkship for him, but wondered what my next steps would/should be. Would it be alright to e-mail him regarding a prospective clerkship, along with sending an application pack?

I would say yes. I don't think it'll hurt you if you're tactful. But if he was just recently nominated, he might not be confirmed for at least another 6+ months. If you've already had contact before all this, it might not hurt to just ask when he will consider applications instead of sending the application pack now. Maybe send a congratulatory email and ask in the email.

This is always a tough call because there can be a pretty long gap between when judges are nominated and when they get confirmed, so it may come off as premature to reach out now. But I think since you've already been in touch with him and have gotten positive feedback, it would be fine to send a quick congratulations email letting him know that you know it could be some time but that you'd be interested in a clerkship once he takes the bench. That way you'll be on his radar. Then, maybe around the time he has his confirmation hearing, you could follow up a full application.

It's no problem to apply to the nominee, but given that this batch of nominees was just announced this week, it may be a bit soon to apply. If you want to talk a bit more personally, feel free to PM me, as I too kind of know this nominee.

dcg0120 wrote:It's no problem to apply to the nominee, but given that this batch of nominees was just announced this week, it may be a bit soon to apply. If you want to talk a bit more personally, feel free to PM me, as I too kind of know this nominee.

May bad—wrong e-mail:

hunterlaw14@yahoo.com

Through connections I have obtained an interview with a judicial nominee (on the district court). I would be interested in hearing of anyone's stories of something that they wish they knew about clerking for a newly appointed judge before they started the job.

lawskewl wrote:Through connections I have obtained an interview with a judicial nominee (on the district court). I would be interested in hearing of anyone's stories of something that they wish they knew about clerking for a newly appointed judge before they started the job.

Not quite what you’ve asked, but I interviewed with a few judges right after they got confirmed, and I would recommend watching their confirmation hearing (if it’s happened already) and reading their SJQ. Depending on the nominee, info out there may be limited, so those will give you good context and I think they’re usually impressed when you say “in your confirmation hearing you mentioned...”

I’ve heard secondhand that it can be a really cool experience because the judge doesn’t have set opinions on a lot of issues yet, or it’s not just like “oh I already wrote on this, go look at that,” but you actually get to help them figure it out. You also get to help shape how chambers works, which can be good or bad I guess. But I know the judge I interned for would still talk very fondly of his early clerks.

lawskewl wrote:Through connections I have obtained an interview with a judicial nominee (on the district court). I would be interested in hearing of anyone's stories of something that they wish they knew about clerking for a newly appointed judge before they started the job.

Not quite what you’ve asked, but I interviewed with a few judges right after they got confirmed, and I would recommend watching their confirmation hearing (if it’s happened already) and reading their SJQ. Depending on the nominee, info out there may be limited, so those will give you good context and I think they’re usually impressed when you say “in your confirmation hearing you mentioned...”

I’ve heard secondhand that it can be a really cool experience because the judge doesn’t have set opinions on a lot of issues yet, or it’s not just like “oh I already wrote on this, go look at that,” but you actually get to help them figure it out. You also get to help shape how chambers works, which can be good or bad I guess. But I know the judge I interned for would still talk very fondly of his early clerks.