Skadden Fellowship & other prestigious PI opportunities relevance for clerkship apps? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi TLS,

2L at a T6 with about 3.45. Law Review, decent recommenders, probably likely to call on my behalf. Public interest and planning to do public interest after I graduate. I’m hoping to clerk in somewhat, but not super, competitive districts (think Illinois, Massachusetts, etc., but not NY, DC).

Looking ahead to what I’ll do after I graduate, I’m wondering if certain prestigious public interest jobs, like the Skadden Fellowship, ACLU internal fellowship, etc., could make up for my GPA? Obviously these fellowships are competitive, and not certain I’d get them, but just want to know if these opportunities are as well regarded by judges as they are in the public interest world? Could someone with my stats get a clerkship in one of these districts with that type of work experience on their resume?

[Wild Card]

If you go to NYU, you can look up the names of past fellowship winners, and then Ctrl+F their names in the Appendix published by the Judicial Clerkships Office.

3.45 is not bad at all. It's top 40% or so. And you have Law Review, which is harder to get at a place like NYU.

Also, some judges will tell you outright in their clerkship postings that they strongly prefer those with public interest ambitions. And the Appendix also shows you their past hiring practices.

(Also, you can start off by clerking for an SDNY/EDNY magistrate judge, then use that experience to strengthen your application. With 3.4X, LR, fancy fellowship, AND MJ clerkship, you'd be an extremely strong candidate for a DJ clerkship. And after that, for a COA clerkship.)

[T3TON]

Hi TLS,

2L at a T6 with about 3.45. Law Review, decent recommenders, probably likely to call on my behalf. Public interest and planning to do public interest after I graduate. I’m hoping to clerk in somewhat, but not super, competitive districts (think Illinois, Massachusetts, etc., but not NY, DC).

Looking ahead to what I’ll do after I graduate, I’m wondering if certain prestigious public interest jobs, like the Skadden Fellowship, ACLU internal fellowship, etc., could make up for my GPA? Obviously these fellowships are competitive, and not certain I’d get them, but just want to know if these opportunities are as well regarded by judges as they are in the public interest world? Could someone with my stats get a clerkship in one of these districts with that type of work experience on their resume?

Sure they help. But Skadden and ACLU are both far more competitive than the district courts you'll be applying to. Pursue those fellowships if they interest. If you get one know you likely would have gotten a clerkship anyways.