Advice for COA Interview Forum

[Anonymous User]

Interviewing in three weeks for a COA clerkship. I was wondering what advice y'all have for preparing for an interview. I know judges can be quite idiosyncratic with their interview process and how substantive it is, so I'm looking for more generalized advice. It sounds like I'm interviewing with the judge and her clerks separately.

Should I spend time prepping for substantive law questions? Is it okay to ask the judge a lot of questions about how they operate their chambers? Is it true that clerks are more likely to grill an applicant on substantive law knowledge? Any insights would help. Thanks.

[mjb447]

Definitely best if you can talk to a prior clerk about what the process is like because, as you pointed out, it varies a lot from judge to judge.

I think it's okay to try to prepare for substantive legal questions, but not at the expense of anything you're more likely to be asked about (e.g., your answer to why you want to clerk for this judge in particular, or anything on your resume and transcript or yourself as a person).

It's good to ask about how chambers runs - it shows your interest and can give you important insight into whether this clerkship will give you the things you want. Just don't ask questions that you could've answered easily on your own or that betray some fundamental misunderstanding. Fortunately, most judges' chambers are pretty opaque, and any good judge should expect you to come in not knowing very much.

[Anonymous User]

You're unlikely to get questions about particular areas of substantive law outside of the topic of your writing sample, student comment, maybe recent major Supreme Court decisions, and other areas you probably know well anyway. You may get questions about your jurisprudential views on constitutional or statutory interpretation to the extent that you consider those "substantive." In general, yes, clerks tend to be rougher than judges on interviewees.

That said, all of this is idiosyncratic to the particular judge--some ask nothing remotely substantive and some give take-home exams. You have way more time than most people do to prepare so you should definitely reach out to former clerks, ideally ones you have some connection with like your firm or your law school, to talk to them. These are pretty basic questions so I'm guessing you don't have a competent clerkship office helping you, but to the extent you do, they can help. You might also talk to your recommenders, who probably have at least a friend of a friend who's a connection or something, the elite legal world is small.

You can ask about chambers practices, but you should try to ask more interesting questions about the judge's background, views on law, former cases, etc. as well.

[Anonymous User]

I would echo a lot of what has already been said. Reaching out to a former clerk of that judge is truly the first step you should take. Look in your school's alumni clerkship directory and if no former students have clerked for this judge, look for former clerks on Linkedin and send a message. I did that and found people friendly and willing to get on a quick call with me to discuss their experience clerking for the judge and what they remember from the interview process.

Again, judges all vary, but I've now had two interviews (1 COA and 1 Dct and got offers from both). In each, the judge just wanted to see if we jived personally (the test is honestly do they want to eat lunch with you or not). In my Dct interview, the clerks did ask substantive questions about an area of the law that it was obvious I had experience in from my resume. In my COA, the clerks only asked softball questions about my background and time in law school.

Be prepared to talk about anything on your resume (literally anything) and know your writing sample well. Additionally, I think it's good to have a few books, tv shows, movies, podcast that you recently watched and would recommend on your mind. I know judges differ but both judges I interviewed with seemed to really care about personality.

Good luck!

[Anonymous User]

I'll add a partial caveat to the discussion of substantive law questions. If this is a conservative COA judge there's a reasonable chance they're fairly heavy on the substance compared to some of the existing comments. If so, would come prepared with complete and defensible explanations of your interpretive methods and a process for how you would work through common big-picture legal issues. You can usually figure out if this is the case by asking someone else that has interviewed, and they can give more specific advice from there.

[Anonymous User]

In both of my COA interviews I was asked variations on "What is a Supreme Court case from this last term/you read in law school that you disagree with" and, similarly, what was one I agreed with. I'd advise having a couple recent cases and a couple of past cases you can talk about. Read the dissents well, and maybe look up scholarship on the case for other perspectives, too.

I've also heard of judges/clerks asking for a favorite class and then asking about specific cases from that class. Pick a couple of classes you liked and review the big cases from that class to talk about.

I would also add on to the chorus recommending you reach out to past clerks. They can be very helpful in getting a sense of what judges look for, how to prepare, and also if there are any particular questions the judge likes to ask. My COA judge always asks a particularly odd constitutional hypothetical that I definitely would have biffed had I not spoken with former clerks beforehand.

[Anonymous User]

Would you recommend cold emails to previous clerks if you do not know any/ none went to your school?

[Anonymous User]

Would you recommend cold emails to previous clerks if you do not know any/ none went to your school?

Yes 100% -- either email or LinkedIn. I am always happy to talk to people interviewing with my judge(s). It's possible that someone might be too busy or something, but there is really no downside to it. And the upside is huge, any nugget of info you get about the judge's interviewing or hiring practices can be really helpful.

Plus, it will almost always get back to the judge (former clerk messages the JA/career clerk), and it will come across that you're serious, prepared, and willing to go the extra mile to get the job. This was a big deal for one judge that I worked for.

[mjb447]

Would you recommend cold emails to previous clerks if you do not know any/ none went to your school?

Yes 100% -- either email or LinkedIn. I am always happy to talk to people interviewing with my judge(s). It's possible that someone might be too busy or something, but there is really no downside to it. And the upside is huge, any nugget of info you get about the judge's interviewing or hiring practices can be really helpful.

Plus, it will almost always get back to the judge (former clerk messages the JA/career clerk), and it will come across that you're serious, prepared, and willing to go the extra mile to get the job. This was a big deal for one judge that I worked for.

+1. Even just getting a better sense of what the judge is like as a person can help you prepare.

[lavarman84]

Would you recommend cold emails to previous clerks if you do not know any/ none went to your school?

Yes. I did that and had no trouble finding people willing to talk.

[Anonymous User]

Would you recommend cold emails to previous clerks if you do not know any/ none went to your school?

Yes. I did that and had no trouble finding people willing to talk.

I also did this in preparation of my COA interviews last year. Mostly reached out via Linkedin.