- T14
- Good but probably not magna grades (I'm 3.75+)
- Law Review
- Clinics/pretty nice externship
- V50 Biglaw both 1L and 2L Summers
- Mediocre pre-law work experience
- TA for two 1L doctrinals
Chance me for COA/District Court Forum
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Chance me for COA/District Court
I'd be interested in what people think my chances are for either a 7th Circuit or Northern District of Illinois clerkship (I'd actually prefer a district court clerkship at least at first, personally). My stats:
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Anonymous User
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Re: Chance me for COA/District Court
The issue with CA7 is that almost all of the judges are some mix of highly grade-selective (Sykes, Wood, Hamilton), highly Fed Soc-focused (Sykes, Kanne, Brennan, probably Kirsch), and highly UChicago-affiliated (Easterbrook, Wood, Scudder are faculty and often hire 2+ UChicago clerks per term), which makes it hard if you don't hit any of those three. You're pretty much down to Flaum and St. Eve.
NDIL is relatively more attainable, while some some judges are highly grade-selective or highly aligned with UChicago, others aren't, it's a big court. But it's still one of the most selective district courts in the country. Only Kness and Kovner are fairly Fed Soc-aligned as far as I know. And if you get NDIL, I believe St. Eve generally hires NDIL clerks.
If your T14 is Northwestern, your chances will obviously be better than if it's e.g. Berkeley or Cornell, I'm sure it has excellent relations with some CA7 and NDIL judges--Scudder is also on the Northwestern faculty and regularly hires from there, for example.
For district courts, you minimally also should be applying to N.D. Ind., W.D. Wis., and E.D. Wis, which are good districts fairly close to Chicago. A bit further out from Chicago, N.D. Iowa, S.D. Iowa, and S.D. Ind. too. All of those have some highly-regarded judges. C.D. Ill. and S.D. Ill. are more rural.
NDIL is relatively more attainable, while some some judges are highly grade-selective or highly aligned with UChicago, others aren't, it's a big court. But it's still one of the most selective district courts in the country. Only Kness and Kovner are fairly Fed Soc-aligned as far as I know. And if you get NDIL, I believe St. Eve generally hires NDIL clerks.
If your T14 is Northwestern, your chances will obviously be better than if it's e.g. Berkeley or Cornell, I'm sure it has excellent relations with some CA7 and NDIL judges--Scudder is also on the Northwestern faculty and regularly hires from there, for example.
For district courts, you minimally also should be applying to N.D. Ind., W.D. Wis., and E.D. Wis, which are good districts fairly close to Chicago. A bit further out from Chicago, N.D. Iowa, S.D. Iowa, and S.D. Ind. too. All of those have some highly-regarded judges. C.D. Ill. and S.D. Ill. are more rural.
