EDNY/SDNY fedsoc clerkships Forum

(Seek and share information about clerkship applications, clerkship hiring timelines, and post-clerkship employment opportunities)
Forum rules
Anonymous Posting

Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are sharing sensitive information about clerkship applications and clerkship hiring. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.

Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned."
Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

EDNY/SDNY fedsoc clerkships

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Sep 12, 2022 2:24 pm

Do any of the SDNY or EDNY judges have a fed soc hiring preference?

Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: EDNY/SDNY fedsoc clerkships

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Sep 13, 2022 11:54 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Sep 12, 2022 2:24 pm
Do any of the SDNY or EDNY judges have a fed soc hiring preference?
District court judges (especially those in the SDNY/EDNY) aren't typically viewed as ideological in the same way that appellate judges are. But I would imagine that all the Trump appointees would be receptive and would perhaps give a slight bump to fed soc candidates given that they themselves are fed soc folks (to the extent they were on the fed soc-approved list of judicial candidates from which Trump picked his appointees). The Bush appointees are variable in terms of fed soc-ishness but the Trumpies are pretty much a safe bet.

Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: EDNY/SDNY fedsoc clerkships

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Sep 13, 2022 1:10 pm

The wild-card is that EDNY/SDNY judges would've needed to get blue slip approval from Sen. Gillibrand and Sen. Schumer.

Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: EDNY/SDNY fedsoc clerkships

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Sep 13, 2022 3:51 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Sep 13, 2022 11:54 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Sep 12, 2022 2:24 pm
Do any of the SDNY or EDNY judges have a fed soc hiring preference?
District court judges (especially those in the SDNY/EDNY) aren't typically viewed as ideological in the same way that appellate judges are. But I would imagine that all the Trump appointees would be receptive and would perhaps give a slight bump to fed soc candidates given that they themselves are fed soc folks (to the extent they were on the fed soc-approved list of judicial candidates from which Trump picked his appointees). The Bush appointees are variable in terms of fed soc-ishness but the Trumpies are pretty much a safe bet.
Many of the Trump ED/SDNY nominees are not conservative, this misunderstands how district court appointments work

None of the Trump appointees are all that ideological in hiring, it’s not a coincidence that they got blue slips, but Cronan, Kovner, and Komitee regularly hire Fed Soc clerks (though all also hire liberals)

Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: EDNY/SDNY fedsoc clerkships

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Sep 14, 2022 3:03 pm

Vyskocil indicated on her background check forms that she had been a member of FedSoc for many years, and Halpern also appeared to be one of the Republican picks in the package deal between the White House and the NY Senators. I wouldn't call either a "FedSoc warrior," but I suspect they're among the most conservative members of the court and would be among the most receptive to FedSoc applicants.

Want to continue reading?

Register now to search topics and post comments!

Absolutely FREE!


Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: EDNY/SDNY fedsoc clerkships

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Sep 14, 2022 11:06 pm

Preska and Castel are in Fed Soc, but they keep it quiet and afaik they do not hire ideologically in any way.

Afaik there are no obvious signs whether Halpern is conservative or not unless you can reverse-engineer the package. He’s donated to politicians from both parties. He got the job because he’s a personal friend of Judge Jeanine Pirro, as he was her ex-husband’s law partner, not via the conservative legal world (he had a very interesting “describe how you got nominated” section on his judiciary questionnaire).

Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: EDNY/SDNY fedsoc clerkships

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Sep 16, 2022 12:44 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Sep 14, 2022 11:06 pm
Preska and Castel are in Fed Soc, but they keep it quiet and afaik they do not hire ideologically in any way.

Afaik there are no obvious signs whether Halpern is conservative or not unless you can reverse-engineer the package. He’s donated to politicians from both parties. He got the job because he’s a personal friend of Judge Jeanine Pirro, as he was her ex-husband’s law partner, not via the conservative legal world (he had a very interesting “describe how you got nominated” section on his judiciary questionnaire).
You can mostly reverse engineer the Trump-Schumer package through their questionnaires, which party's Senators voted no on them (several of the Trump NY judges got GOP "no" votes), and whether Obama had previously nominated them. The breakdown has generally been 2 picks for the president for every 1 for the Senators since at least the 1980's. None of the Trump-picked Republicans are hard right, all seem to come from nonpartisan to center-right backgrounds.

Republicans: Cronan, Vyskocil, Halpern, Kovner, Komittee, Sinatra (WDNY)
Democrats: Liman, Brown, Gujurati

Circuit judges Sullivan and Bianco were also consensus, center-right picks. Park and Menashi were the White House acting on its own.

Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: EDNY/SDNY fedsoc clerkships

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Sep 16, 2022 8:37 am

Will any EDNY/SDNY judges hire a top 10% student with Law Review from NYU/Penn straight out of law school, or is work experience/attending HYS practically required?

Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: EDNY/SDNY fedsoc clerkships

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Oct 01, 2022 11:32 am

For most chambers, work experience is practically required. This year, it seemed like most judges on SDNY/EDNY were hiring for at least one year out from graduation, with the most competitive hiring two or three years out. That’s not to say you need to know what you’re doing when you apply, but everyone expects that you’ll have some work experience when you start.

I ended up with a SDNY job on-plan, and based on who my judge has historically hired, it seems like you would be a competitive candidate with the right recommenders.

Want to continue reading?

Register for access!

Did I mention it was FREE ?


Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: EDNY/SDNY fedsoc clerkships

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Oct 01, 2022 1:57 pm

People vastly overestimate the importance of politics, especially conservative politics, for Republican-appointed district court judges, especially in parts of the country that are pedigree focused and generally liberal, like New York.

Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: EDNY/SDNY fedsoc clerkships

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Oct 01, 2022 2:13 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Sat Oct 01, 2022 1:57 pm
People vastly overestimate the importance of politics, especially conservative politics, for Republican-appointed district court judges, especially in parts of the country that are pedigree focused and generally liberal, like New York.
I agree with this generally especially for EDNY/SDNY, but I think if you look at some of these Trump and Biden judges politics are going to matter to a few of them. A very, very rough rule of thumb I tend to have for district judges is that if you go to the nomination vote and it is basically split on party lines I do a little extra research to see what is up.

Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: EDNY/SDNY fedsoc clerkships

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Oct 01, 2022 6:21 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Sat Oct 01, 2022 2:13 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Sat Oct 01, 2022 1:57 pm
People vastly overestimate the importance of politics, especially conservative politics, for Republican-appointed district court judges, especially in parts of the country that are pedigree focused and generally liberal, like New York.
I agree with this generally especially for EDNY/SDNY, but I think if you look at some of these Trump and Biden judges politics are going to matter to a few of them. A very, very rough rule of thumb I tend to have for district judges is that if you go to the nomination vote and it is basically split on party lines I do a little extra research to see what is up.
Blue slips are also helpful for this, which is why the ED/SDNY Trump judges are not extreme.

Register now!

Resources to assist law school applicants, students & graduates.

It's still FREE!


Post Reply Post Anonymous Reply  

Return to “Judicial Clerkships”