Northern District of Illinois Clerkships Forum

[Anonymous User]

Any tips on judges who are particularly good or bad to work for? I'm just looking for a smart judge who's a good writer and boss, ideally with an interesting docket.

[Anonymous User]

Having clerked in the District, here are some quick thoughts on the judges with whom I have experience or whose clerks I know. I can PM if you're interested in hearing more.

-Pallmeyer (Chief): sound reputation, tough on criminal defendants
-Blakey: slow to issue opinions, poor track record in IP cases
-Coleman: will seemingly do anything to avoid issuing a decision, prefers to hire women, low-ish hiring standards
-Dow: very bright, seems to prefer hiring clerks with several years' experience
-Ellis: seems pleasant, not great on the law (struggles with class actions)
-Feinerman: feeder, one of the most brilliant district court judges in the U.S., gotta be top 2% at H/Y/S or top 2 or 3 students at CCN to land the job
-Gettleman: seems to be easing back his caseload somewhat, very sound reputation and well-liked
-Kennelly: notoriously ill-tempered from the bench, generally good on the law
-Kocoras: not the best on the law, prefers to hire Greeks
-Leinenweber: values speed and efficiency, lenient sentencer, tries lots of cases, pretty gender- and school-egalitarian in hiring
-Norgle: prefers to hire men, low-ish hiring standards
-Pacold: new judge, former Bartlit Beck partner, doesn't have trial procedures down yet, will do a lot of learning on the job
-Wood: does not give clerks much autonomy, takes an eternity to issue opinions, prefers to hire women, high hiring standards

[Wild Card]

Having clerked in the District, here are some quick thoughts on the judges with whom I have experience or whose clerks I know. I can PM if you're interested in hearing more.

This hilarious and helpful--if only clerks from other selective districts were as candid and generous.

My Q: Do non-Midwesterners and non-Midwestern law school graduates have any chance of landing a NDIL clerkship? I think the NDIL really takes care of its own.

[ninthcircuitattorney]

You would love the Northern District. It's a small community where everyone knows and generally likes each other, like a small district, but still sees top cases and has world class practitioners, like the SDNY.

[Anonymous User]

Having clerked in the District, here are some quick thoughts on the judges with whom I have experience or whose clerks I know. I can PM if you're interested in hearing more.

-Pallmeyer (Chief): sound reputation, tough on criminal defendants
-Blakey: slow to issue opinions, poor track record in IP cases
-Coleman: will seemingly do anything to avoid issuing a decision, prefers to hire women, low-ish hiring standards
-Dow: very bright, seems to prefer hiring clerks with several years' experience
-Ellis: seems pleasant, not great on the law (struggles with class actions)
-Feinerman: feeder, one of the most brilliant district court judges in the U.S., gotta be top 2% at H/Y/S or top 2 or 3 students at CCN to land the job
-Gettleman: seems to be easing back his caseload somewhat, very sound reputation and well-liked
-Kennelly: notoriously ill-tempered from the bench, generally good on the law
-Kocoras: not the best on the law, prefers to hire Greeks
-Leinenweber: values speed and efficiency, lenient sentencer, tries lots of cases, pretty gender- and school-egalitarian in hiring
-Norgle: prefers to hire men, low-ish hiring standards
-Pacold: new judge, former Bartlit Beck partner, doesn't have trial procedures down yet, will do a lot of learning on the job
-Wood: does not give clerks much autonomy, takes an eternity to issue opinions, prefers to hire women, high hiring standards

I know two Feinerman clerks and neither of them meet that description fwiw. He’s not Sri Srinivasan selective.

Tharp is veteran-friendly and Chang is very selective. Shah has the credentials to be very selective but he doesn’t do one-year clerkships, which could be a good opportunity for someone open to a two-year. I know one of Pacold’s clerks will go on to a conservative megafeeder.

[Libya]

Can the former NDIl clerk PM me?

[Anonymous User]

Does the former ND Ill clerk (or anyone else) have information on judges Lee or Rowland by any chance?

[Wild Card]

I'd also like to hear more about Lee, as well as Kendall.

[clownpatrol]

Anyone else surprised by how few NDIL judges have open 2021 clerkship postings on OSCAR less than a week before the plan open date?

[Anonymous User]

Anyone else surprised by how few NDIL judges have open 2021 clerkship postings on OSCAR less than a week before the plan open date?

Yeah, I have no idea what's wrong with them. Also Judge Wood until today and she's one of the major forces behind the Plan. If you're clerking for an NDIL judge, please tell them to make a posting on OSCAR! You're going to lose a lot of applicants who would rather clerk for you to other judges if you wait until after the 15th.

[Anonymous User]

Anybody who applied last year have any idea what to expect timingwise with the plan? I know a lot of competitive districts/circuits moved in the first two days last year, but not sure if NDIL was included in that.

[Anonymous User]

Does the former ND Ill clerk (or anyone else) have information on judges Lee or Rowland by any chance?

Lee's well-respected and supposed to be a great person to work for. He's one of the more competitive judges on NDIL with Chang, etc. but he's not Feinerman.

[Anonymous User]

Chang - highly selective (hires clerks of COA caliber), excellent and conscientious judge, reputation as a good boss and an incredibly nice guy
Dow - very selective, thoughtful judge, seems super nice
Feinerman - highly selective (probably most on the district), 'fancy' reputation, supposedly pretty tough clerkship
Pacold - right-of-center for the district, brand new, probably will be excellent (she had a great reputation as a lawyer in the Chicago legal community)
Palmeyer - I've heard only good things about her as a judge and as a boss, but I know less

[Anonymous User]

Any updates on which judges have started interviewing? The only ones I've seen confirmed are Feinerman and Lee, but I imagine most have already begun that process.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard updates about Judge Feinerman re: whether he has interviewed/filled his spots?

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard updates about Judge Feinerman re: whether he has interviewed/filled his spots?

There are posts on this thread and the other indicating that he has but I have no firsthand knowledge

[Anonymous User]

Pacold has filled per OSCAR.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know if Chang has made any movement?

[Anonymous User]

Pacold has filled per OSCAR.

She was essentially full before the Plan started which is presumably why she posted so late. She interviewed at least one person for consideration for 2022 though.

[Anonymous User]

Feinerman is apparently not hiring this year.

[Anonymous User]

Feinerman is apparently not hiring this year.

Confused; there were reports of Feinerman interviews? Did he not get the #1 student at Yale and gave up in favor of trying again next year or something?

[Anonymous User]

Anything on Shah? Hear that he moves super slowly to interview, curious if that means that he reads now interviews later, or if he's a "wait until July" kinda guy

[Anonymous User]

Anything on Shah? Hear that he moves super slowly to interview, curious if that means that he reads now interviews later, or if he's a "wait until July" kinda guy

I've been told that it's mostly the latter (ie, he won't start looking at applications until later this summer). His OSCAR post says he might even wait until early fall to start interviewing.

[Anonymous User]

Pacold has filled per OSCAR.

She was essentially full before the Plan started which is presumably why she posted so late. She interviewed at least one person for consideration for 2022 though.

She hired at least one person for 2022, I'm told.

[Anonymous User]

Pacold has filled per OSCAR.

She was essentially full before the Plan started which is presumably why she posted so late. She interviewed at least one person for consideration for 2022 though.

How do people know stuff like this?