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At one of UVA/Mich/Duke. How bad does my B+ in fed courts look for clerkships with otherwise high grades?

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 12, 2023 10:42 am

At one of UVA/Mich/Duke. How bad does my B+ in fed courts look for clerkships with otherwise high grades?

I’ll offer one data point. I went to one of those schools and fed courts was one of a few classes I scored below an A. It did not seem to affect my clerkship prospects.

It's unlikely to affect anything. People who know how law school works don't typically interpret your grades in specific classes as reflective of your ability to do effective legal work in that one specific area. It's more important that you took fed courts, and a B+ isn't so bad as to raise any red flags so long as all the other grades are really good. Of course, someone identical to you but with an A in fed courts would be a stronger candidate, but such is life.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 12, 2023 10:42 am

At one of UVA/Mich/Duke. How bad does my B+ in fed courts look for clerkships with otherwise high grades?

I got a COA clerkship and received
multiple interview invitations despite a B in Con Law. Almost all of my other grades were A level and no one ever asked me about the Con Law grade. I would not worry about a B+ in a doctrinal that is known to be difficult.

Agree with others; went to a school in that range, got a B+ in Fed Courts, had multiple CoA interviews (but this was after having a district court clerkship). For district court, that grade never came up in interviews. Sucks that it happened but you're still in the game for all but judges that require essentially perfect grades.