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I'm a 3L who secured a 2022-2023 D.Ct. clerkship and am thinking about trying my luck for a 2023-2024 circuit clerkship. I had two questions:
1) Should i begin applying now and throughout the year to try and get a 2023-2024 circuit clerkship, or wait until I begin my D.Ct. clerkship which would be fall of 2022?
2) I was also wondering the value of a circuit clerkship for federal government work down the line? I plan to work in Big Law for a couple years after clerking, but does getting a circuit clerkship help, for say, an AUSA or DOJ position? Or would it make more sense to just get another year practicing under my belt instead?

Thanks!

Unless you're top 10% HYS, you absolutely must start applying now to cover your bases. A number of judges are already hiring for 2023, and we mere mortals outside of 10% HYS are unlikely to get more than 1 or 2 interviews with circuit judges.

And it's highly valuable- more valuable to main justice or one of the specialty branches, perhaps, but it would help you get AUSA too.

Some judges are already full for 2023-24. I received my '23-24 COA offer within the last couple weeks. Send paper ASAP, especially with your D. Ct. clerkship boosting your application compared to current 2Ls.

Thanks so much for the advice!

I’ll echo everything said in here, but I think that it’s not too late for a lot of 2023 slots for COA judges that aren’t the super competitive ones that hire early. There are a lot of wannabe feeders and Fed Soc folks that are hiring really early, but I’ve had a few that I’ve applied to inform me that they won’t consider any applications until later this year/next year.

j01 wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 30, 2021 12:53 pm

Unless you're top 10% HYS, you absolutely must start applying now to cover your bases. A number of judges are already hiring for 2023, and we mere mortals outside of 10% HYS are unlikely to get more than 1 or 2 interviews with circuit judges.

And it's highly valuable- more valuable to main justice or one of the specialty branches, perhaps, but it would help you get AUSA too.

I would say start now, regardless. For one thing, it is quite uncommon for circuit judges to hire less than one year out. If you're starting the clerkship in ~August, then you'll have already missed the last significant burst of hiring for 2023 appellate in June 2022. I've heard of only a small number of judges, like Frank Hull (11th Cir.), who consistently hire less than 12 months in advance. Beyond that, you've only got the last minute, one-off hires to replace clerks who drop out for whatever reason and newly confirmed judges, which could slow way down after Jan. 2023.

Second, I might recalibrate the expectations from the earlier poster. If my experience is any indication, it's possible to be comfortably within the top 10% at my old school (H) and not get any COA interviews. Applied selectively to circuit judges but not terribly narrow (50+ one year, 25+ another year).

I'm the quoted poster, so let me rephrase. I came from a non-HYS school, and it is unusual for even the best students (5%) to get more than 1-2 circuit interviews. I'm not surprised to hear that it's tough out there for even the HYS students, but it is *really* challenging for non-HYS, so I always advise that anyone from peer schools apply as early as possible and to every sitting judge that is accepting applications.

I don't mean to sidetrack, but you're right that my comment was (sadly) unduly optimistic.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 05, 2021 6:13 pm

I'm the quoted poster, so let me rephrase. I came from a non-HYS school, and it is unusual for even the best students (5%) to get more than 1-2 circuit interviews. I'm not surprised to hear that it's tough out there for even the HYS students, but it is *really* challenging for non-HYS, so I always advise that anyone from peer schools apply as early as possible and to every sitting judge that is accepting applications.

I don't mean to sidetrack, but you're right that my comment was (sadly) unduly optimistic.

Should also add that for non-HYS, even getting four or five COA interviews isn’t any guarantee of a spot (from personal experience, lol.)