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Hey y'all. I'm a 3L and was lucky to land a D. Ct. clerkship in a decently competitive market (EDPA, NDIL, CDCA, WDTX) for right out of law school. I want to clerk at a COA following my D. Ct. clerkship, preferably in the same circuit as my D. Ct. I'm looking for some advice on how to secure a COA. I come from a good school but not T14, so I feel like even with a D. Ct. clerkship, I'm still facing an uphill battle. I'm top of class/LR/working at a v10, so I'm not necessarily worried about my qualifications.

I've read around here that some D. Ct. judges will recommend their future clerks to their colleagues on the COA, even though you haven't worked for your judge yet. Any advice on how to approach my judge about this?

I’m in the process now and just told the judge that I’m clerking for about my interest in passing. They are very invested in setting clerks up for subsequent clerkships/jobs, so they are being exceedingly supportive and reaching out for me. Still, this varies from judge to judge. You could mention it in passing or ask the JA/career clerk if you don’t feel comfortable approaching the judge you’re clerking for, but they may be a lot more supportive than you’d expect—helps them look good to place clerks at COA.

FWIW, my school is abysmal (even though I have top stats), so this could all be for naught. But I wouldn’t count yourself out of the running so quickly with your stats.