I am currently interviewing for a District Court in 2022, which would be a year after my graduation. I'm wondering--if I get it will COA judges be wary about my candidacy in 2023? I've heard COA judges prefer clerks on the very early side of their careers; but with the new plan, I'm worried about my chances at a COA in 2021 as opposed to 2023 since a substantial portion of judges are already hired through 2021. Will I be too 'old' by then for a significant portion of judges or will most if not all not really care that I'd be clerking for them 3 years out as opposed to 1 or 2?
Additionally, I'm wondering when the District Court helps for getting a COA. If I got the offer, would it help for getting a COA before the District Court clerkship? Alternatively, would it help upon offer but only for terms after the District Court clerkship? Is it only helpful once you've clerked and the Judge is willing to be a recommender?
How late to clerk before COA judges get wary? Forum
Forum rules
Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are sharing sensitive information about clerkship applications and clerkship hiring. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned."
Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are sharing sensitive information about clerkship applications and clerkship hiring. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned."
-
Anonymous User
- Posts: 428403
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
How late to clerk before COA judges get wary?
Last edited by Anonymous User on Wed Feb 12, 2020 6:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
lavarman84
- Posts: 8503
- Joined: Thu May 28, 2015 5:01 pm
-
Anonymous User
- Posts: 428403
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: How late to clerk before COA judges get wary?
Great thanks. Hopefully the offer comes through thenlavarman84 wrote:No.
-
lavarman84
- Posts: 8503
- Joined: Thu May 28, 2015 5:01 pm
Re: How late to clerk before COA judges get wary?
It could. I saw the greatest benefit after I received a strong LOR from my D. Ct. judge. But having the clerkship will still be a boost before you have the LOR (but that boost is more for the term after than the term before).Anonymous User wrote:Additionally, I'm wondering when the District Court helps for getting a COA. If I got the offer, would it help for getting a COA before the District Court clerkship? Alternatively, would it help upon offer but only for terms after the District Court clerkship? Is it only helpful once you've clerked and the Judge is willing to be a recommender?
-
BansheeScream
- Posts: 94
- Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2017 11:46 am
Re: How late to clerk before COA judges get wary?
Agree with above that you won't be too old to clerk. I got a CoA clerkship for 2022-23 and the judge still has the rest of his spots open. Seems like a lot of judges value work experience and almost all will value a D. Ct clerkship before.
In terms of your second question, if you get the D. Ct, I would put that on your resume and mention it in your cover letter. It could help, like you mentioned, for subsequent terms because they will know you will be coming to them after a year of practice. It could also help just get your name pulled off the pile for an earlier clerkship because it's an impressive credential or maybe the CoA judge knows the D. Ct judge or something along those lines. If you still don't have CoA lined up by the time you're at your D. Ct clerkship, your judge could make calls or write letters on your behalf to help. So it could be helpful in any of the ways you mentioned.
In terms of your second question, if you get the D. Ct, I would put that on your resume and mention it in your cover letter. It could help, like you mentioned, for subsequent terms because they will know you will be coming to them after a year of practice. It could also help just get your name pulled off the pile for an earlier clerkship because it's an impressive credential or maybe the CoA judge knows the D. Ct judge or something along those lines. If you still don't have CoA lined up by the time you're at your D. Ct clerkship, your judge could make calls or write letters on your behalf to help. So it could be helpful in any of the ways you mentioned.
-
Anonymous User
- Posts: 428403
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: How late to clerk before COA judges get wary?
Great responses. So then the consensus is that having a District Court lined could help for terms starting after the District Court clerkship ends, but probably won't do much for COA applications (apart from being a general credential or potential boost where the COA judge knows the District Court judge) for the prior term (2021)?
Want to continue reading?
Register now to search topics and post comments!
Absolutely FREE!
Already a member? Login
