Alumni Clerkship Competitiveness Forum

[Anonymous User]

Alumni (2-years of WE), Top 3% T25, Coif, No LR, Secondary E-Board, Published Note. 1 Strong Recommender (former SCOTUS clerk), unique(ish) WE at Federal regulatory agency (Honors Program).

Planning on applying broadly, but curious where I would be competitive?

10th Cir, 8th Cir? Assuming no 2nd/9th/DC Cir.
Assuming not D.D.C./SDNY/NDCal etc., but what about other major cities e.g., NDTX, SDFL, D-Mass, etc.

[Anonymous User]

Alumni (2-years of WE), Top 3% T25, Coif, No LR, Secondary E-Board, Published Note. 1 Strong Recommender (former SCOTUS clerk), unique(ish) WE at Federal regulatory agency (Honors Program).

Planning on applying broadly, but curious where I would be competitive?

10th Cir, 8th Cir? Assuming no 2nd/9th/DC Cir.
Assuming not D.D.C./SDNY/NDCal etc., but what about other major cities e.g., NDTX, SDFL, D-Mass, etc.

School name can make a big difference here, but I’d say you are “competitive” in all the places you mentioned.

[Anonymous User]

Alumni (2-years of WE), Top 3% T25, Coif, No LR, Secondary E-Board, Published Note. 1 Strong Recommender (former SCOTUS clerk), unique(ish) WE at Federal regulatory agency (Honors Program).

Planning on applying broadly, but curious where I would be competitive?

10th Cir, 8th Cir? Assuming no 2nd/9th/DC Cir.
Assuming not D.D.C./SDNY/NDCal etc., but what about other major cities e.g., NDTX, SDFL, D-Mass, etc.

Definitely competitive. T25 suggests a strong regional school (USC, UF, Minnesota, etc.) as opposed to a national school; if that's the case, you will be strongest in your school's section of the country.

[Anonymous User]

You’re very competitive. And selectivity depends a lot on judge vs. circuit; your credentials are comfortably better than e.g. Pooler’s clerks’.

[Anonymous User]

I actually do not think you're not competitive for SDNY/DDC/2d/9th. Those are big districts and circuits and there are some judges in each of those who hire summas from T25s. I would say DC Cir. is out though. In a nutshell, I wouldn't be surprised if you did not end up getting any of SDNY/DDC/2d/9th, but I also wouldn't be floored if you ended up getting one of those courts. All this is to say is apply broadly and that you have circuit potential.

[Anonymous User]

You’re very competitive. And selectivity depends a lot on judge vs. circuit; your credentials are comfortably better than e.g. Pooler’s clerks’.

lol I know it’s popular to shit on Pooler, but I’ve seen a few of her clerk’s credentials and they’re strong? At least from my law school, they’ve been high grades, law review, etc

[Anonymous User]

You’re very competitive. And selectivity depends a lot on judge vs. circuit; your credentials are comfortably better than e.g. Pooler’s clerks’.

lol I know it’s popular to shit on Pooler, but I’ve seen a few of her clerk’s credentials and they’re strong? At least from my law school, they’ve been high grades, law review, etc

Agreed that that was a weird call out to Pooler, although I guess I get it because it is a good example of why Second Circuit is not closed to OP. Pooler's clerks do tend to be below the median of the typical circuit clerk resume-wise that you see from the T6, but that does not mean they're not impressive. They're still noticeably above the median T6er—clerking or non-clerking—by nature of the fact that they have a circuit clerkship. I mean Pooler probably still gets a ton of applications, I think she just undervalues normal clerkship things like grades and overvalues demonstrated progressive bona fide compared to your normal leftist judge.

[Anonymous User]

You’re very competitive. And selectivity depends a lot on judge vs. circuit; your credentials are comfortably better than e.g. Pooler’s clerks’.

lol I know it’s popular to shit on Pooler, but I’ve seen a few of her clerk’s credentials and they’re strong? At least from my law school, they’ve been high grades, law review, etc

Pooler has some clerks with strong credentials, but she also hires quite a few people with weak credentials (relative to CA2) but strong upstate ties. E.g. I don’t think anyone else on CA2 hires from Albany or Syracuse Law.

[Anonymous User]

You’re very competitive. And selectivity depends a lot on judge vs. circuit; your credentials are comfortably better than e.g. Pooler’s clerks’.

lol I know it’s popular to shit on Pooler, but I’ve seen a few of her clerk’s credentials and they’re strong? At least from my law school, they’ve been high grades, law review, etc

Because she doesn’t take from “top” schools, and some gunner assholes on here take it personally that someone got the same job they did/the job they couldn’t get despite their school rank.

[Anonymous User]

You’re very competitive. And selectivity depends a lot on judge vs. circuit; your credentials are comfortably better than e.g. Pooler’s clerks’.

lol I know it’s popular to shit on Pooler, but I’ve seen a few of her clerk’s credentials and they’re strong? At least from my law school, they’ve been high grades, law review, etc

Because she doesn’t take from “top” schools, and some gunner assholes on here take it personally that someone got the same job they did/the job they couldn’t get despite their school rank.

Pooler has a poor reputation because she writes bad opinions, not because she hires bad clerks. But anyway like you note she’s not as credential-conscious as her peers, which was the point of using her as an example.

[Anonymous User]

Alumni (2-years of WE), Top 3% T25, Coif, No LR, Secondary E-Board, Published Note. 1 Strong Recommender (former SCOTUS clerk), unique(ish) WE at Federal regulatory agency (Honors Program).

Planning on applying broadly, but curious where I would be competitive?

10th Cir, 8th Cir? Assuming no 2nd/9th/DC Cir.
Assuming not D.D.C./SDNY/NDCal etc., but what about other major cities e.g., NDTX, SDFL, D-Mass, etc.

Which honors program? One with a more public interest-ey bent?

[Anonymous User]

OP here, not going to get into specifics but think EPA/DOL. Resume and current work experience are very public interest(y).