District Court Clerkship/COA chances Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey y'all,

I was wondering if anyone had any insight on whether attempting to clerk would be worth a shot for me. Ideally, I'd love to one day get a COA- but I assume that I would not be able to get this (and honestly, most likely would not be able to get a dist court clerkship).

Stats: top 40% at a T1 school in the south (think Bama, Emory, UGA, UNC), fedsoc (conservative leaning but not a trumper), minority, first gen, secondary journal prez, published articles.

Background- worked at a big law firm in a small market for a year (think Lincoln, Omaha, Grand Rapids), am now a DOJ/AUSA type role (where I've been for a year).

Ideally, I'd like to stay in this role a couple years longer to garner xp and then do my clerkship(s) (especially, I'd like to switch to a different market, like FL/TX/NC/IL/VA). Here's the thing though, after my clerkship(s), I'd like to probs go back to the same role I have (I think, at least); I really enjoy the job and think it would/will be a solid career. So the clerkship would really be for my unicorn outcome goal of being a judge and for my own enjoyment. I realize I do not have the pedigree for fed bench, but will probs try to put down roots in whatever market I move to. My mentor told me to not plan on getting on the bench, which I agree with, but I really would like to do a COA purely for enjoyment purposes, I'm not as interested in getting a dist ct clerkship but still am interested in it to a degree on its own.

I appreciate the help and insight. Just looking for a sounding board and some outside internet advice and have had luck on TLS so far!

[Anonymous User]

Worth a shot, sounds like you have really good experience, minority, Fed Soc—all those can make up for pedigree to an extent. If you were willing to apply to district courts, esp in your market, I’d say you have a good shot but COA is obviously harder.