2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread Forum

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jun 12, 2021 3:26 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 4:16 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 2:32 pm
One of the above CLS posters - so I'm in the high-stone 1L, 2L Kent, Sec. journal with all black-letters but not v useful recommenders. Let's say I strike out this go-around, is the move to find a 3L class to get to know one of these recs or is there any chance you can still luck out?
I think the move is to go take a class with one of these profs and do well. It isn't either a necessary nor a sufficient condition for SDNY/EDNY, but it would certainly be helpful.
List anon.

If I was a 2L/3L at CLS interested in getting a clerkship, the BEST thing I could do for myself would be to kill it in a Richman class and build a relationship with him. I mean, obviously, do well in all of your classes -- he can't snap his fingers and get a 3.5 SDNY or something crazy -- but the RoI on building a relationship with Richman >>> anyone else.

The contrast between Richman and the other excellent recommenders I pointed to on the list is how much time Richman will take with you. Merrill et al are happy to suggest a few judges they know well and to call 3-5 judges on your behalf, and those calls will be very persuasive. Richman will do much more, both on the front end (strategizing about everything, figuring out judges you would be a good fit for) and on the back end (he's incredibly proactive and willing to make LOTS of calls on your behalf). He also has a really unbelievable network / a lot of juice nationwide: he just knows a great deal of judges and they all take him seriously. Richman is what a functional clerkships office should be.

N.B. on cheesing Kent: are we sure? I know someone who "cheesed" 2L/3L Kent (one hard doctrinal, one soft doctrinal, joke seminars/externships) and was a secondary journal / straight white male who got a liberal CA2 spot because he had Richman + another power recommender go to bat for him. You definitely don't need to take only FedCourts, Advanced Admin, etc.

Also Livingston will interview anyone who fits in either category (1L LR or 2L/3L Kent) if you get an A in her class, though my sense is she's not a great recommender. Unclear if an A in Lynch's CivPro or Sullivan's interpretation seminar will get that for you. Anyone have thoughts on if acing Seo's crim class will get you a Park interview? (And does CLS have any other CA2/SDNY/EDNY connections? Legit have never heard of anyone having a relationship with Sack even though he runs the CA2 externships.)

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jun 12, 2021 4:46 pm

To provide another anecdote (I haven't posted in this thread yet and am a recent Columbia grad) I was a single -/+ away from Kent 1L, have expressed clerkship interest from an early point, and was given little to no support or proactive help from the clerkship office besides the spreadsheets of judges they send out and the rare alert about a judge hiring that they send out. The Dean seems more concerned with making sure we don't share "confidential" info from the office than actually supporting students (or at least non-LR students). I would HIGHLY encourage anyone who wants to clerk to assume the office will do nothing on your behalf beyond the minimum and reach out to the aforementioned professors/take their classes/etc. I wish I did...

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jun 12, 2021 10:53 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Sat Jun 12, 2021 4:46 pm
To provide another anecdote (I haven't posted in this thread yet and am a recent Columbia grad) I was a single -/+ away from Kent 1L, have expressed clerkship interest from an early point, and was given little to no support or proactive help from the clerkship office besides the spreadsheets of judges they send out and the rare alert about a judge hiring that they send out. The Dean seems more concerned with making sure we don't share "confidential" info from the office than actually supporting students (or at least non-LR students). I would HIGHLY encourage anyone who wants to clerk to assume the office will do nothing on your behalf beyond the minimum and reach out to the aforementioned professors/take their classes/etc. I wish I did...
CLS clerk here:

It remains unclear what the CLS clerkship office does all year. Given my experience, I doubt they provide much help to 1L Kents or Law Review members.

Other notes for CLS Students from reviewing this thread.

2nd Circuit specific:
1. Livingston definitely prefers double Kent-Law Review students who get an A in her class.
2. Park has so far only hired FedSoc from CLS and given his past affiliations is political in hiring.
3. I can't think of anyone that has a relationship with Sack. The only person he's hired in recent memory was the #1 student in the class.
4. Walker, Raggi, and Jacobs are great senior judges that look for CLS apps.

General thoughts:
1. If you can apply outside of the popular circuits and district courts, you should. There are amazing judges outside the 2nd Circuit that receive very few applications from CLS. And speaking from personal experience and reviewing the alumni lists, your odds of clerking go up a substantial amount.
2. Merrill is very hit and miss as a recommender, but his name carries weight if he wants to help you. Huang was somewhat standoffish, but Mann and Greene are very helpful. I also believe all of the 1L Con Law professors will make calls if you broach the topic appropriately.
3. My judge does not understand CLS's honors system. I recommend including your GPA on your resume. My judge stopped caring about Law Review too, which seems to be a pattern for a number of other judges.
4. We can tell when someone is trying to juice their resume with easy classes. You don't need to take all doctrinal classes but aim for at least 2.
5. The information on Richman is great (and which I didn't know when I applied), although it will turn Criminal Adjudication into another gunner-filled class a la Fed Courts & Admin Law.
6. I know a good number of the CLS Fedsoc clerks, and I don't recall Hamburger doing anything for them.
7. Really, just ignore the Clerkship office-- I still remember they tried to push me heavily toward the New York Court of Appeals.

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Jun 13, 2021 3:33 pm

Anyone have any insight on whether judges are waiting until the plan opens to interview alums/recent grads too? Not sure if I'm out of luck now that the plan opens tomorrow or if there's a chance that judges are just waiting to interview everyone at the same time.

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Jun 13, 2021 4:13 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Jun 13, 2021 3:33 pm
Anyone have any insight on whether judges are waiting until the plan opens to interview alums/recent grads too? Not sure if I'm out of luck now that the plan opens tomorrow or if there's a chance that judges are just waiting to interview everyone at the same time.
I've heard of very, very few interview offers to alums within the past 4-6 weeks. And, of those, many were for interviews that will take place this week. So I'm guessing most judges are lumping the interview process together, even if they began their review of alums' apps earlier.

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 9:16 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Jun 13, 2021 4:13 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Jun 13, 2021 3:33 pm
Anyone have any insight on whether judges are waiting until the plan opens to interview alums/recent grads too? Not sure if I'm out of luck now that the plan opens tomorrow or if there's a chance that judges are just waiting to interview everyone at the same time.
I've heard of very, very few interview offers to alums within the past 4-6 weeks. And, of those, many were for interviews that will take place this week. So I'm guessing most judges are lumping the interview process together, even if they began their review of alums' apps earlier.
A friend had a couple interviews last week for what it's worth. Seems like there was some early movement for recent grads.

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:40 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 9:16 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Jun 13, 2021 4:13 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Jun 13, 2021 3:33 pm
Anyone have any insight on whether judges are waiting until the plan opens to interview alums/recent grads too? Not sure if I'm out of luck now that the plan opens tomorrow or if there's a chance that judges are just waiting to interview everyone at the same time.
I've heard of very, very few interview offers to alums within the past 4-6 weeks. And, of those, many were for interviews that will take place this week. So I'm guessing most judges are lumping the interview process together, even if they began their review of alums' apps earlier.
A friend had a couple interviews last week for what it's worth. Seems like there was some early movement for recent grads.
Recent grad - I had two interviews last week with district judges in east coast, non-SDNY/DDC districts

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:56 am

The ripple effects of displaced Katzmann clerks are already being felt

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:57 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:40 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 9:16 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Jun 13, 2021 4:13 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Jun 13, 2021 3:33 pm
Anyone have any insight on whether judges are waiting until the plan opens to interview alums/recent grads too? Not sure if I'm out of luck now that the plan opens tomorrow or if there's a chance that judges are just waiting to interview everyone at the same time.
I've heard of very, very few interview offers to alums within the past 4-6 weeks. And, of those, many were for interviews that will take place this week. So I'm guessing most judges are lumping the interview process together, even if they began their review of alums' apps earlier.
A friend had a couple interviews last week for what it's worth. Seems like there was some early movement for recent grads.
Recent grad - I had two interviews last week with district judges in east coast, non-SDNY/DDC districts
Class of 2020 -- I had a Circuit Court interview last week but no word re: decision yet

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:58 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:56 am
The ripple effects of displaced Katzmann clerks are already being felt
I assume Livingston, Rakoff, Oetken, Lohier??, or one of the moderate Fed Soc Actives picks them up. I don't think they affect non-feeders really.

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:59 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:56 am
The ripple effects of displaced Katzmann clerks are already being felt
Can you explain?

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 3:23 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:32 pm
GoneSouth wrote:
Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:46 am
:D
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:13 pm
CLS Rising 3L with ~3.8 but no real connections checking in - shooting my shot at 2nd C and SDNY/EDNY for 2023/2024 - will see how this goes but not that optimistic given what I've read on this forum lol.
I know several CLS students with lower grade than this that have gotten SDNY/EDNY clerkships. Even if you don’t get something this summer, you’ll have a good shot next year when you’re not stuck with the plan timeline and can get your app in front of judges when they’re not looking at 300 others at the same time.
CLS alum chat: my sense is that you can get SDNY/EDNY by either the 1L Kent + Law Review route or the 2L/3L Kent + fantastic recommenders route.
NYU student here. Does it really take Kent + LR to get EDNY? That seems quite at bit harder than at NYU, but also I'm not entirely clear what Kent really means in terms of cumulative GPA/class rank. Certainly a 3.8 seems high.

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 5:43 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 3:23 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:32 pm
GoneSouth wrote:
Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:46 am
:D
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:13 pm
CLS Rising 3L with ~3.8 but no real connections checking in - shooting my shot at 2nd C and SDNY/EDNY for 2023/2024 - will see how this goes but not that optimistic given what I've read on this forum lol.
I know several CLS students with lower grade than this that have gotten SDNY/EDNY clerkships. Even if you don’t get something this summer, you’ll have a good shot next year when you’re not stuck with the plan timeline and can get your app in front of judges when they’re not looking at 300 others at the same time.
CLS alum chat: my sense is that you can get SDNY/EDNY by either the 1L Kent + Law Review route or the 2L/3L Kent + fantastic recommenders route.
NYU student here. Does it really take Kent + LR to get EDNY? That seems quite at bit harder than at NYU, but also I'm not entirely clear what Kent really means in terms of cumulative GPA/class rank. Certainly a 3.8 seems high.
Kent means very little after 1L. About 3% of 1Ls are Kent Scholars, but it's so easy to game 2L/3L that I would estimate 10-20% of CLS graduates with Kent Honors at some point.

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:10 pm

Any alums/recent grads hear anything today?

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:15 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 5:43 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 3:23 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:32 pm
GoneSouth wrote:
Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:46 am
:D
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:13 pm
CLS Rising 3L with ~3.8 but no real connections checking in - shooting my shot at 2nd C and SDNY/EDNY for 2023/2024 - will see how this goes but not that optimistic given what I've read on this forum lol.
I know several CLS students with lower grade than this that have gotten SDNY/EDNY clerkships. Even if you don’t get something this summer, you’ll have a good shot next year when you’re not stuck with the plan timeline and can get your app in front of judges when they’re not looking at 300 others at the same time.
CLS alum chat: my sense is that you can get SDNY/EDNY by either the 1L Kent + Law Review route or the 2L/3L Kent + fantastic recommenders route.
NYU student here. Does it really take Kent + LR to get EDNY? That seems quite at bit harder than at NYU, but also I'm not entirely clear what Kent really means in terms of cumulative GPA/class rank. Certainly a 3.8 seems high.
Kent means very little after 1L. About 3% of 1Ls are Kent Scholars, but it's so easy to game 2L/3L that I would estimate 10-20% of CLS graduates with Kent Honors at some point.
Recent clerking CLS Alum - eh that's a bit harsh. I'd say high stone 1L + 2 years of Kent would put in top 10%, maybe top 30 people in the class. For clerking purposes, if you do that while taking real classes I think you're pretty competitive for SDNY/EDNY/2nd C non-feeders but you need someone to go to bat for you.

There are about 15-20 RBG scholars per year so at least half of the top 10% had to have Stone 1L

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:39 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:10 pm
Any alums/recent grads hear anything today?
Yes, one interview request for COA. But clerkship office has said they haven't heard much movement at all for 2023 today.

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:56 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:39 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:10 pm
Any alums/recent grads hear anything today?
Yes, one interview request for COA. But clerkship office has said they haven't heard much movement at all for 2023 today.
Congrats! Mind sharing rough stats or the nature of the judge/court (e.g. 2d Cir, 8th Cir, etc.)? Did your clerkship office happen to mention anything about movement for 2022 either?

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 7:57 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:57 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:40 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 9:16 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Jun 13, 2021 4:13 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Jun 13, 2021 3:33 pm
Anyone have any insight on whether judges are waiting until the plan opens to interview alums/recent grads too? Not sure if I'm out of luck now that the plan opens tomorrow or if there's a chance that judges are just waiting to interview everyone at the same time.
I've heard of very, very few interview offers to alums within the past 4-6 weeks. And, of those, many were for interviews that will take place this week. So I'm guessing most judges are lumping the interview process together, even if they began their review of alums' apps earlier.
A friend had a couple interviews last week for what it's worth. Seems like there was some early movement for recent grads.
Recent grad - I had two interviews last week with district judges in east coast, non-SDNY/DDC districts
Class of 2020 -- I had a Circuit Court interview last week but no word re: decision yet
Another recent grad chiming in -- I had a Circuit Court interview last week (not 2/9/DC) and received an offer soon after.

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:43 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:56 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:39 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:10 pm
Any alums/recent grads hear anything today?
Yes, one interview request for COA. But clerkship office has said they haven't heard much movement at all for 2023 today.
Congrats! Mind sharing rough stats or the nature of the judge/court (e.g. 2d Cir, 8th Cir, etc.)? Did your clerkship office happen to mention anything about movement for 2022 either?
Thank you! For anonymity purposes I rather keep details to myself. But clerkship office didn't mention anything about 2022. I assume there will be some movement tomorrow.

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:22 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:43 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:56 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:39 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:10 pm
Any alums/recent grads hear anything today?
Yes, one interview request for COA. But clerkship office has said they haven't heard much movement at all for 2023 today.
Congrats! Mind sharing rough stats or the nature of the judge/court (e.g. 2d Cir, 8th Cir, etc.)? Did your clerkship office happen to mention anything about movement for 2022 either?
Thank you! For anonymity purposes I rather keep details to myself. But clerkship office didn't mention anything about 2022. I assume there will be some movement tomorrow.
Both this year and last year I know of some movement on the day before the plan opens from off-plan judges jumping the gun to get some on-plan students, or backchannel tapping up from judges to students they plan to interview, but it's not particularly common, just not unheard of

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:23 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:15 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 5:43 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 3:23 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:32 pm
GoneSouth wrote:
Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:46 am
:D
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:13 pm
CLS Rising 3L with ~3.8 but no real connections checking in - shooting my shot at 2nd C and SDNY/EDNY for 2023/2024 - will see how this goes but not that optimistic given what I've read on this forum lol.
I know several CLS students with lower grade than this that have gotten SDNY/EDNY clerkships. Even if you don’t get something this summer, you’ll have a good shot next year when you’re not stuck with the plan timeline and can get your app in front of judges when they’re not looking at 300 others at the same time.
CLS alum chat: my sense is that you can get SDNY/EDNY by either the 1L Kent + Law Review route or the 2L/3L Kent + fantastic recommenders route.
NYU student here. Does it really take Kent + LR to get EDNY? That seems quite at bit harder than at NYU, but also I'm not entirely clear what Kent really means in terms of cumulative GPA/class rank. Certainly a 3.8 seems high.
Kent means very little after 1L. About 3% of 1Ls are Kent Scholars, but it's so easy to game 2L/3L that I would estimate 10-20% of CLS graduates with Kent Honors at some point.
Recent clerking CLS Alum - eh that's a bit harsh. I'd say high stone 1L + 2 years of Kent would put in top 10%, maybe top 30 people in the class. For clerking purposes, if you do that while taking real classes I think you're pretty competitive for SDNY/EDNY/2nd C non-feeders but you need someone to go to bat for you.

There are about 15-20 RBG scholars per year so at least half of the top 10% had to have Stone 1L
That's way more RBG Scholars than I would've expected, but then again CLS is a huge school

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:25 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:58 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:56 am
The ripple effects of displaced Katzmann clerks are already being felt
I assume Livingston, Rakoff, Oetken, Lohier??, or one of the moderate Fed Soc Actives picks them up. I don't think they affect non-feeders really.
Katzmann hired way into the future so I'd expect many would go to colleagues who haven't hired yet for the terms he had. E.g. Barron doesn't hire ridiculously far in advance. No inside info though.

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:56 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:23 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:15 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 5:43 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 3:23 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:32 pm
GoneSouth wrote:
Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:46 am
:D
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:13 pm
CLS Rising 3L with ~3.8 but no real connections checking in - shooting my shot at 2nd C and SDNY/EDNY for 2023/2024 - will see how this goes but not that optimistic given what I've read on this forum lol.
I know several CLS students with lower grade than this that have gotten SDNY/EDNY clerkships. Even if you don’t get something this summer, you’ll have a good shot next year when you’re not stuck with the plan timeline and can get your app in front of judges when they’re not looking at 300 others at the same time.
CLS alum chat: my sense is that you can get SDNY/EDNY by either the 1L Kent + Law Review route or the 2L/3L Kent + fantastic recommenders route.
NYU student here. Does it really take Kent + LR to get EDNY? That seems quite at bit harder than at NYU, but also I'm not entirely clear what Kent really means in terms of cumulative GPA/class rank. Certainly a 3.8 seems high.
Kent means very little after 1L. About 3% of 1Ls are Kent Scholars, but it's so easy to game 2L/3L that I would estimate 10-20% of CLS graduates with Kent Honors at some point.
Recent clerking CLS Alum - eh that's a bit harsh. I'd say high stone 1L + 2 years of Kent would put in top 10%, maybe top 30 people in the class. For clerking purposes, if you do that while taking real classes I think you're pretty competitive for SDNY/EDNY/2nd C non-feeders but you need someone to go to bat for you.

There are about 15-20 RBG scholars per year so at least half of the top 10% had to have Stone 1L
That's way more RBG Scholars than I would've expected, but then again CLS is a huge school


List CLS Clerk:
15 RBG Scholars out of a class of 400 students that are eligible works out to the top 3-4% of the class.

But my chambers is very grade and class sensitive. We don’t care about Kent designation if the classes we want aren’t present.

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jun 15, 2021 12:26 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:56 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:23 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:15 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 5:43 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 3:23 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:32 pm
GoneSouth wrote:
Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:46 am
:D

I know several CLS students with lower grade than this that have gotten SDNY/EDNY clerkships. Even if you don’t get something this summer, you’ll have a good shot next year when you’re not stuck with the plan timeline and can get your app in front of judges when they’re not looking at 300 others at the same time.
CLS alum chat: my sense is that you can get SDNY/EDNY by either the 1L Kent + Law Review route or the 2L/3L Kent + fantastic recommenders route.
NYU student here. Does it really take Kent + LR to get EDNY? That seems quite at bit harder than at NYU, but also I'm not entirely clear what Kent really means in terms of cumulative GPA/class rank. Certainly a 3.8 seems high.
Kent means very little after 1L. About 3% of 1Ls are Kent Scholars, but it's so easy to game 2L/3L that I would estimate 10-20% of CLS graduates with Kent Honors at some point.
Recent clerking CLS Alum - eh that's a bit harsh. I'd say high stone 1L + 2 years of Kent would put in top 10%, maybe top 30 people in the class. For clerking purposes, if you do that while taking real classes I think you're pretty competitive for SDNY/EDNY/2nd C non-feeders but you need someone to go to bat for you.

There are about 15-20 RBG scholars per year so at least half of the top 10% had to have Stone 1L
That's way more RBG Scholars than I would've expected, but then again CLS is a huge school


List CLS Clerk:
15 RBG Scholars out of a class of 400 students that are eligible works out to the top 3-4% of the class.

But my chambers is very grade and class sensitive. We don’t care about Kent designation if the classes we want aren’t present.
Which classes do you generally look for?

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Re: 2023-2024 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jun 15, 2021 12:55 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 15, 2021 12:26 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:56 pm

List CLS Clerk:
15 RBG Scholars out of a class of 400 students that are eligible works out to the top 3-4% of the class.

But my chambers is very grade and class sensitive. We don’t care about Kent designation if the classes we want aren’t present.
Which classes do you generally look for?
I assume this is chambers specific, so take with a grain of salt:

Legislation and Regulation — we aren’t going to look at a 2L application without it, let alone a 3L, but almost no otherwise serious candidates apply without it anyway.

Like everyone else, we like FedCourts and Admin Law, but it’s pretty rare to find 2Ls with one of them, let alone both. They aren’t dealbreakers in any case.

Other than those, we just look to make sure you have real classes -- at least 4 doctrinal classes a year at a minimum. These could be anything from Trusts & Estates, Labor Law, Conflict of Laws, IP, etc. The Advanced Con Law classes that are sometimes offered are always appealing.

We just need to make sure you were taking real classes and not padding your GPA with your note, seminars, and externships. Some seminars do look better than others — the one taught by Judge Sullivan, Waxman is good too. It’s not too hard to figure out.
Classes with professors that are willing to write good recommendations and call — as listed prior, are best.

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!


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