D. Ct. Clerkships 2022-2023/24 Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm wondering how clerkship hiring for D.Cts. will look for the 2022 term, since I have a friend who wants to apply. I managed to secure one in our market right around the time everything shut down, but I at least had three semesters of grades. My friend only has two semesters total worth of grades because we were on a P/F system for one their 1L spring semester.

Does anyone have any insight on how hiring will work 1) if 2Ls only have two semesters of grades and 2) when the right time to apply will be? Assume that we're talking flyover-ish instead of the larger markets and that our school has zero name value outside of the immediate area.

[Iowahawk]

Most district court judges hire on the Federal Clerkship Hiring Plan, meaning that you apply June 15, but depending on where you are your local courts and judges may or may not follow it. OSCAR is the place to start and has hiring information for most judges. Since all schools were P/F last spring it shouldn’t matter that yours was. For judges not on OSCAR, who are generally older, you will need to figure it out based on word of mouth, etc.

[Anonymous User]

Most district court judges hire on the Federal Clerkship Hiring Plan, meaning that you apply June 15, but depending on where you are your local courts and judges may or may not follow it. OSCAR is the place to start and has hiring information for most judges. Since all schools were P/F last spring it shouldn’t matter that yours was. For judges not on OSCAR, who are generally older, you will need to figure it out based on word of mouth, etc.

I know that a few of the judges around me don’t follow it and took applications as early as March/April. I suppose that I can try to parse it out for myself.

I just wanted to see if there was any indication on how hiring would be this year with a lot of prospective applicants only having 2 semesters worth of grades at this point.

[Anonymous User]

You said your school has zero name value outside of the immediate area; this would make me think you're at a regional school. I was able to secure my D. Ct. clerkship from my T50 by leveraging contacts with professors. See who's clerked for who before and figure out which professor best knows the judge that they clerked for and get them to forward your application or call the judge and ask when they'll start looking at hiring/forward your application. Most follow OSCAR, but some don't (I was under the impression my judge followed it, but he actually started hiring about a month before OSCAR opened. Had I not had a professor pass my resume on before then, I would not have gotten the clerkship).

As far as grades, I don't think the two semesters/three semesters question makes much of a difference. The judges who care will just wait until after spring semester grades are released, but that doesn't change much for your application strategy.