2021-2022 Clerkship Application Thread Forum

[Anonymous User]

Any news on Chutkan for 2021? Her OSCAR hiring practices/chamber information was updated today. I received the early August check-in email (inquiring if I had secured another clerkship or was still interested), but have not heard anything since...

Just got the form check-in email too. Says she's hired 2022-23 but not 2021-22.

[Anonymous User]

New confirmations update: Taylor McNeel (S.D. Miss) and J. Philip Calabrese (N.D. Ohio) have been confirmed. The latter was a biglaw partner at Porter Wright. Most likely three district judges (two in E.D. Tenn and one in D.S.C.) and one circuit judge (Thomas Kirsch) left that will be confirmed before Biden takes office, though Biden may re-nominate some of Trump's picks in NY, CA, etc. There's a chance Raúl M. Arias-Marxuach will also be confirmed to the First Circuit, he could be scheduled for a Judiciary Committee hearing. There's another vacancy on the Seventh but it will probably not be filled before Biden takes office and most likely puts Gary Feinerman or Andrea Wood in it.

Also, congratulations to Raymond Lohier and Judith Rogers for becoming the first circuit judges to list for 2024-25. Good God. Lohier is accepting email apps and doesn't list a required number of years of grades--is it possible he's abandoned the Plan?

[Anonymous User]

There's another vacancy on the Seventh but it will probably not be filled before Biden takes office and most likely puts Gary Feinerman or Andrea Wood in it.

I don't know, I just assumed when I saw Flaum's vacancy that McConnell would manage to ram someone through before January, but I guess the clock is ticking and there's still no nominee (which I suppose could have something to do with his seat being in Illinois as opposed to Barrett's in Indiana). If the vacancy lasts until January, Feinerman in particular might make a lot of sense, because, in addition to his sterling reputation, he's a former Flaum clerk himself.

On another note, does anyone have recent intel on Pregerson in CD Cal and his hiring dates? I've heard he's still considering applications "for 2021" but it looks like he's only ever posted on OSCAR for January, and I'm a 3L so I never could have applied for that. My understanding is he staggers starts and only hires about 6 months out. I've also heard he hates unsolicited calls to chambers, so I'm afraid to just call and ask.

[Anonymous User]

Received an email from one of the judges on the Court of International Trade today that they are still reviewing applications. Not sure if this is indication of a wider trend or just an isolated instance but it seems like there is a chance some judges are still reviewing applications.

[Anonymous User]

New confirmations update: Taylor McNeel (S.D. Miss) and J. Philip Calabrese (N.D. Ohio) have been confirmed. The latter was a biglaw partner at Porter Wright. Most likely three district judges (two in E.D. Tenn and one in D.S.C.) and one circuit judge (Thomas Kirsch) left that will be confirmed before Biden takes office, though Biden may re-nominate some of Trump's picks in NY, CA, etc. There's a chance Raúl M. Arias-Marxuach will also be confirmed to the First Circuit, he could be scheduled for a Judiciary Committee hearing. There's another vacancy on the Seventh but it will probably not be filled before Biden takes office and most likely puts Gary Feinerman or Andrea Wood in it.

Also, congratulations to Raymond Lohier and Judith Rogers for becoming the first circuit judges to list for 2024-25. Good God. Lohier is accepting email apps and doesn't list a required number of years of grades--is it possible he's abandoned the Plan?

They may be the first to officially post positions for '24 but I know a bunch of people who have positions for '24-25 and even one who has '25-26.

[Anonymous User]

New confirmations update: Taylor McNeel (S.D. Miss) and J. Philip Calabrese (N.D. Ohio) have been confirmed. The latter was a biglaw partner at Porter Wright. Most likely three district judges (two in E.D. Tenn and one in D.S.C.) and one circuit judge (Thomas Kirsch) left that will be confirmed before Biden takes office, though Biden may re-nominate some of Trump's picks in NY, CA, etc. There's a chance Raúl M. Arias-Marxuach will also be confirmed to the First Circuit, he could be scheduled for a Judiciary Committee hearing. There's another vacancy on the Seventh but it will probably not be filled before Biden takes office and most likely puts Gary Feinerman or Andrea Wood in it.

Also, congratulations to Raymond Lohier and Judith Rogers for becoming the first circuit judges to list for 2024-25. Good God. Lohier is accepting email apps and doesn't list a required number of years of grades--is it possible he's abandoned the Plan?

They may be the first to officially post positions for '24 but I know a bunch of people who have positions for '24-25 and even one who has '25-26.

How is it possible to already know "a bunch" of people who have 2024 positions, which is 2.5 years ahead of the main market and even ahead of SCOTUS? Zero students at my (major clerkship feeder) school have been hired for 2024 from our list. And why would those judges not be on OSCAR? Are these off-plan feeders or something?

[Anonymous User]

What happened in each one of these cases was they interviewed with a judge for an earlier year who then filled up but offered them a position for a later year.

[Anonymous User]

It appears that no more judges will be confirmed who haven't already passed Judiciary, including the Puerto Rico CA1 seat and Flaum's CA7 seat.

https://www.rollcall.com/2020/12/18/wit ... -congress/

On the other hand, it looks like district court nominees who made it through committee and are not being blocked by blue slips may be confirmed. One of those, Aenlle-Rocha on CDCA (former White & Case partner, confirmed overwhelmingly, seated in LA, so debatably the most attractive confirmee in quite a while), got confirmed today.

The three more who could (and probably will?) be confirmed are Togliatti (D. Nev.), Jongbloed (D. Conn.), and Matthews (S.D. Cal.).

[Anonymous User]

It appears that no more judges will be confirmed who haven't already passed Judiciary, including the Puerto Rico CA1 seat and Flaum's CA7 seat.

https://www.rollcall.com/2020/12/18/wit ... -congress/

Honestly shocked that they didn't try to ram someone through for the Flaum seat, or especially that they're giving up on the Torruella seat. Maybe I just don't understand the dynamics of the Senate well enough, but I had cynically assumed this would be a full-court press right up to January 19. Probably isn't out of the question that Biden would re-nominate the same guy for CA1, as his district-court nomination was extremely uncontroversial. Fingers crossed Feinerman will get elevated to Flaum's seat; he should be a relatively easy confirmation (as easy as they can be these days), and he's hired quite a bit from my school. Anyway, it looks like one way or another there could be a small wave of confirmations in the first couple of months of the year in need of clerks, depending on Mitch's mood.

[Anonymous User]

It appears that no more judges will be confirmed who haven't already passed Judiciary, including the Puerto Rico CA1 seat and Flaum's CA7 seat.

https://www.rollcall.com/2020/12/18/wit ... -congress/

Honestly shocked that they didn't try to ram someone through for the Flaum seat, or especially that they're giving up on the Torruella seat. Maybe I just don't understand the dynamics of the Senate well enough, but I had cynically assumed this would be a full-court press right up to January 19. Probably isn't out of the question that Biden would re-nominate the same guy for CA1, as his district-court nomination was extremely uncontroversial. Fingers crossed Feinerman will get elevated to Flaum's seat; he should be a relatively easy confirmation (as easy as they can be these days), and he's hired quite a bit from my school. Anyway, it looks like one way or another there could be a small wave of confirmations in the first couple of months of the year in need of clerks, depending on Mitch's mood.

I saw @fedjudges speculate that the decision to give Biden the Flaum seat may be linked to it being an Illinois seat and the Republicans on Judiciary not wanting to antagonize Durbin in case he gets the gavel. Or maybe it's a show of good faith after Durbin and Duckworth were willing to play ball on deals for Scudder, St. Eve, and the district court seats throughout the Trump presidency. I'm surprised too though especially re: CA1.

Yeah I would think Feinerman would be an obvious pick for CA7, if not for the Flaum seat--Feinerman's a white man so maybe Andrea Wood will be the symbolic first nominee--then for Rovner, who will presumably go senior under Biden. If Feinerman gets elevated he may become a full feeder, or at least a bigger semi-feeder.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have a sense of how busy the hiring will be this month? More or less than usual?

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have a sense of how busy the hiring will be this month? More or less than usual?

Less, the bulk of clerkship hiring is in the summer and early autumn for both on- and off-plan judges. This spring should be busier than normal once Biden starts confirming judges who need clerks to start immediately, though.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have a sense of how busy the hiring will be this month? More or less than usual?

Less, the bulk of clerkship hiring is in the summer and early autumn for both on- and off-plan judges. This spring should be busier than normal once Biden starts confirming judges who need clerks to start immediately, though.

Yeah, I know that most of it happens in summer, but I thought there was usually some hiring in Jan too and I remember some had said there were judges that had decided to delay hiring last summer because of COVID, so I was curious what it would look like this month.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard if Diane Humetewa and Larry Hicks are done hiring? Also, has anyone heard if Johnnie Rawlinson has extended interview invites?

[Anonymous User]

New confirmations update: Taylor McNeel (S.D. Miss) and J. Philip Calabrese (N.D. Ohio) have been confirmed. The latter was a biglaw partner at Porter Wright. Most likely three district judges (two in E.D. Tenn and one in D.S.C.) and one circuit judge (Thomas Kirsch) left that will be confirmed before Biden takes office, though Biden may re-nominate some of Trump's picks in NY, CA, etc. There's a chance Raúl M. Arias-Marxuach will also be confirmed to the First Circuit, he could be scheduled for a Judiciary Committee hearing. There's another vacancy on the Seventh but it will probably not be filled before Biden takes office and most likely puts Gary Feinerman or Andrea Wood in it.

Also, congratulations to Raymond Lohier and Judith Rogers for becoming the first circuit judges to list for 2024-25. Good God. Lohier is accepting email apps and doesn't list a required number of years of grades--is it possible he's abandoned the Plan?

They may be the first to officially post positions for '24 but I know a bunch of people who have positions for '24-25 and even one who has '25-26.

How is it possible to already know "a bunch" of people who have 2024 positions, which is 2.5 years ahead of the main market and even ahead of SCOTUS? Zero students at my (major clerkship feeder) school have been hired for 2024 from our list. And why would those judges not be on OSCAR? Are these off-plan feeders or something?

You'd be surprised. I know someone who was offered, and accepted, a 2024-25 clerkship in 2018! I don't think there even was a plan at that point, but the judge was indeed a prominent feeder.

[Anonymous User]

Bit of a longshot, but has anyone heard if Judge Gould on the 9th Circuit has hired for 2022? He opened applications early in January and I was curious if he had filled the slots.

[Anonymous User]

Any chatter from Gerard Lynch? Supposed to start interviewing in February, posting just expired.

[Anonymous User]

Bit of a longshot, but has anyone heard if Judge Gould on the 9th Circuit has hired for 2022? He opened applications early in January and I was curious if he had filled the slots.

I imagine he will go senior soon which may affect things.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard anything from the Mass. SJC? Haven't received a notification that hiring is complete, but also haven't heard anything. Not sure if interviewing has been pushed back due to COVID. Any insights?

A classmate and I both applied back in June and neither one of us have heard back (and we're both within our school's historic average ranking to get an SJC interview).

I also haven’t heard anything yet about interviews, but I did hear from a supervisor that Justice Ganta recently had a heart attack (don’t worry, he’s fine!). It might be that he still needs to complete his selections before the other justices get a look at the applications, since it goes in order of seniority. (No basis for this, just wishful thinking I guess.)

Bumping this Q. Anyone hear anything?

I also applied and haven’t heard anything. I was wondering if maybe hiring got pushed back after CJ Gants passed away — maybe they wanted to wait to hire/interview until the new CJ was appointed and confirmed. As I understand it, though, the new judge is in. Would be interested to know if anyone else heard anything or got contacted for an interview/offer.

Almost scared to ask at this point--has anyone been contacted, or accepted, an interview/offer at the SJC? Still haven't heard that they've finished hiring, but other than that, no news.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard anything from the Mass. SJC? Haven't received a notification that hiring is complete, but also haven't heard anything. Not sure if interviewing has been pushed back due to COVID. Any insights?

A classmate and I both applied back in June and neither one of us have heard back (and we're both within our school's historic average ranking to get an SJC interview).

I also haven’t heard anything yet about interviews, but I did hear from a supervisor that Justice Ganta recently had a heart attack (don’t worry, he’s fine!). It might be that he still needs to complete his selections before the other justices get a look at the applications, since it goes in order of seniority. (No basis for this, just wishful thinking I guess.)

Bumping this Q. Anyone hear anything?

I also applied and haven’t heard anything. I was wondering if maybe hiring got pushed back after CJ Gants passed away — maybe they wanted to wait to hire/interview until the new CJ was appointed and confirmed. As I understand it, though, the new judge is in. Would be interested to know if anyone else heard anything or got contacted for an interview/offer.

Almost scared to ask at this point--has anyone been contacted, or accepted, an interview/offer at the SJC? Still haven't heard that they've finished hiring, but other than that, no news.

My HYS has >1 accepts of 2021 SJC clerkships, with at least one of those coming this past fall (Sept. or Oct., IIRC). Could have been all of them at that time, but I wasn't tracking closely.

[Anonymous User]

Is Denny Chin as hyper-competitive as most CA2 judges? I ask because he only just posted his 2021 position and seems like a decent candidate to go senior soon (Clinton appointee originally to the district court then bumped up by Obama, approaching his late 60s).

[Anonymous User]

Is Denny Chin as hyper-competitive as most CA2 judges? I ask because he only just posted his 2021 position and seems like a decent candidate to go senior soon (Clinton appointee originally to the district court then bumped up by Obama, approaching his late 60s).

He's already announced he's going senior status. I think he's pretty competitive, but not feeder-level

[Anonymous User]

Is Denny Chin as hyper-competitive as most CA2 judges? I ask because he only just posted his 2021 position and seems like a decent candidate to go senior soon (Clinton appointee originally to the district court then bumped up by Obama, approaching his late 60s).

He's already announced he's going senior status. I think he's pretty competitive, but not feeder-level

Yes. Chin is less competitive than some others by CA2's very high standards but well-regarded and in Manhattan so that's still very competitive.

[Anonymous User]

Any idea on how fast the 3 open DJ judgeships in N.D. Cal. will be filled, and any speculation on who might be appointed?

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know at this point in the cycle when judges post 21-22 spots how competitive they are? Like I know people say on plan judges get hundreds of apps even in flyover places, but I am curious if people have a late open spot if there are fewer applicants at all or if it is still mobs of people applying.