Multiple terms? Forum

[tulip718]

Has anyone applied to more than one term for the same judge? As in a judge has an opening for 2 or more terms on OSCAR and you are flexible about when you want to clerk so you apply to more than one opening with the judge. Is this allowed? Frowned upon?

[Anonymous User]

Normally you apply to one term but then you just indicate on your cover letter that you’re open to other terms as well.

[Anonymous User]

Normally you apply to one term but then you just indicate on your cover letter that you’re open to other terms as well.

Absolutely allowed.

I'm sure some chambers prefer what previous anon recommended so they don't get inundated, but there's also a risk that chambers will only review applicants who applied to a particular OSCAR post when hiring for that year. For me the second risk (of my application never getting seen) really outweighed the first (of mildly irking a clerk who remembers my application from the hundreds they received for another year/somehow confusing their sorting system), so I usually applied to multiple OSCAR posts unless the judge requested otherwise.

I actually got a clerkship where I had applied to multiple postings that way and nobody said a thing about it being annoying. But your sense of the risks involved may differ. It really depends on how they screen applications and time their hiring, which you could research but is probably not worth looking into for every single judge you apply to.

[Anonymous User]

Normally you apply to one term but then you just indicate on your cover letter that you’re open to other terms as well.

Absolutely allowed.

I'm sure some chambers prefer what previous anon recommended so they don't get inundated, but there's also a risk that chambers will only review applicants who applied to a particular OSCAR post when hiring for that year. For me the second risk (of my application never getting seen) really outweighed the first (of mildly irking a clerk who remembers my application from the hundreds they received for another year/somehow confusing their sorting system), so I usually applied to multiple OSCAR posts unless the judge requested otherwise.

I actually got a clerkship where I had applied to multiple postings that way and nobody said a thing about it being annoying. But your sense of the risks involved may differ. It really depends on how they screen applications and time their hiring, which you could research but is probably not worth looking into for every single judge you apply to.

As someone recently reviewing apps on OSCAR, I think this is great advice. The risk of only reviewing applicants who applied for a particular year is a real one, and the risk of being annoyed about seeing applications in consecutive years seems to me to be quite low.