TTT student's chances of clerking Forum

[lavarman84]

Not the OP, but I have a similar inquiry

I go to a TTT school around T70-80. I am top 3%. I am potentially either top 2 or top 3 student in my entire class, but I will not know the official result until June. (My school frustrating does not release the actual order until graduation) How do you find the judges that are interested in top students?

As of now, after my many applications for the 2020 term, I feel like I am being docked for not coming from a T14 school. My resume and cover letter have been reviewed, and I have good letters of recs. I don't know how to get myself out of the pile and into an interview. I have a legal job lined up for after law school (DOJ Honors), but I still hope to clerk someday in either the 2022 or 2023 term.

Any tips for finding judges interested in students outside the T14 range? Thank you so much!

You are. That's how the cookie crumbles. You have to find the judges who will overlook your school's ranking. Part of that is strategy. Part of that is relentlessness. What has your strategy been?

[nixy]

If you already landed DOJ Honors, there are some scenarios where it wouldn't make sense to clerk because of the way litigating components do mentorship, assign cases, and require some minimum number of years of practice with them. The only one where it definitely WOULD make sense to clerk is if you're doing a temporary position like EOIR-OCIJ, in which case you should apply for the term immediately after your program finishes.

As for how to find the judges, it depends where you are, but most judges not located in NYC, DC, SF, LA, Chicago, and maybe Boston (as well as many judges in those places) have some sort of preference for clerks with ties to the area. Where do you have ties? Did you grow up/work before law school in the same city that your law school is in? Where is your DOJ Honors spot placing you? Any of these locations would render you a "local" pick for a judge in that area, and your grades are good enough to qualify you for the "local clerk spot" to the extent any given judge saves one. Also, it is likely that at least one federal judge went to your law school; you should apply to every federal judge that went to your law school (assuming they're in a location you could stand). Do you have any personal connections that could yield an "in" with any judges? Those are worth exploring if you do. Finally, I imagine your law school's career office would enthusiastically help you strategize your clerkship search, seeing as you're one of their few students most likely to land one. Those resources definitely vary, but it is worth a meeting to see what those people can do for you.

I was going to write basically exactly all of this, so I'll just co-sign it all instead. The only thing I'll add is also to look for judges who went to your undergrad (this is more helpful the more distinctive the undergrad is - a generic Directional State U may not offer as much of a hook - but it's certainly worth exploring).