Interviewing with fed district judge after fed magistrate clerkship? Forum

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Interviewing with fed district judge after fed magistrate clerkship?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Mar 26, 2023 1:34 pm

Both are federal clerkships, current in a relatively rural district and the next position in a more active district. I'm in the middle of a mag clerkship (first job out of law school), and have an interview soon with a district judge in a different district. How should I best prepare? I think most of the general questions would be the same as with the initial interview, but surely questions like "Why do you want to clerk?" might not need to be asked.

I'm thinking I'll look up the DJ's opinions/orders and maybe articles they've written. I also want to be able to answer why I want to now clerk for a DJ after clerking for an MJ, and probably whether I have connections to the DJ's state. I'll look over my writing sample and think of memorable cases I've worked on plus teamwork experience I've gained. Is there anything else I should try to take note of?

Thanks!

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Re: Interviewing with fed district judge after fed magistrate clerkship?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Mar 26, 2023 10:14 pm

The answer to this question will depend on the specific division of labor in the district court that you're in. For example, in some district courts, magistrate judges handle all discovery disputes, and, in some district courts, district judges hardly ever refer dispositive motions to magistrates for reports and recommendations. If you worked on discovery disputes in your magistrate clerkship and are hoping to clerk in a district court where district judges don't handle discovery disputes and the only motions they resolve are primarily dispositive ones, you could frame your interest in the district court clerkship with something like, "I enjoyed helping parties resolve discovery disputes to advance litigation, but am interested in resolving dispositive motions" or something like that.

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