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Hi,

I'm hoping someone can provide some information on the function of a typical magistrate judge in the Central District of CA, and what their docket/case load would look like. I know magistrates can have very different functions depending on the district. For instance, they're essentially treated as DJs in N.D. Cal. and civil consent cases make up the bulk of their work, but they do primarily discovery and criminal/habeas in S.D. Cal. and have significantly less consented civil cases.

In other words, is C.D. Cal. more akin to S.D. Cal. or N.D. Cal?

I'm interested in pursuing biglaw civil litigation in LA after clerking, so I'm wondering if a magistrate clerkship in C.D. Cal. would help with that (I know it would be useful if I wanted to do criminal work).

Closer to SD than ND, based on your description. A few consent trials, but much more discovery/habe/1983/soc sec.

Closer to SD Cal than ND Cal. A friend of mine clerked for MJ Rosenbluth and worked almost exclusively on social security appeals.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 20, 2021 4:54 pm

Closer to SD than ND, based on your description. A few consent trials, but much more discovery/habe/1983/soc sec.

I know a few former CD MJ clerks and can confirm this. They also rarely do R&Rs for civil motions.

Some DJs won't even refer stuff to MJs. I also consented once, as did opposing counsel, and the DJ denied the consent and kept it. A colleague had the same thing happen with the same DJ a few months later. I've never heard of that happening outside of CDCA.