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Hi. I’m wondering if it’s too late for me to clerk in a district court. A few facts:

• I graduated from S or Y in middle of last decade.
• Not sure where I ranked because Y/S. Definitely not great.
• I had several d. court interviews as a 2L, but struck out. IMHO, I fucked up my interviews because of extenuating circumstances I can’t get into here. But perhaps if I had better grades, that might have compensated. I’m generally a decent interviewee, I think, based on other professional achievements, but who knows.
• I have been working in public interest since graduation. A bit of civil litigation, several years in a field that’s more niche.
• Because public interest, clerking for a year would not be a huge financial sacrifice and could conceivably help me “level up” to bigger/better paying public interest organizations in the future.
• I know and have good relationships with two judges who were recently appointed by Biden, but I think they’d still be evaluating me on my merits and not just letting me coast on the relationships.

I want to clerk for a bit of a “reset” on my career, to learn more about different subject matter areas, and to experience more general litigation. Also, let’s be honest, I have some FOMO about failing to get a gold star that so many of my classmates have achieved. (I know this is a stupid reason, but I might as well let you all know so I can get honest advice.)

No reason not to give it a shot, especially with those recent appointees !

I agree. If you can find a judge who 1) likes work experience and 2) has a background in your PI niche, you could look very attractive. You will likely need to be geographically flexible. And the applications don’t take a ton of time, assuming you have people you can ask to write letters.

Per the recent Biden appointees I wouldn't sell yourself short. This is a big connections game and having a relationship with these newer judges would probably lead them to look past grades. Also newer judges tend to want work experience (especially new district court judges). I would 100% defintely try your luck with those two more recent appointees.