Interview with district judge; how to answer "why this court/why this judge"? Forum

(Seek and share information about clerkship applications, clerkship hiring timelines, and post-clerkship employment opportunities)
Forum rules
Anonymous Posting

Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are sharing sensitive information about clerkship applications and clerkship hiring. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.

Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned."
Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Interview with district judge; how to answer "why this court/why this judge"?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri May 12, 2023 11:22 pm

I'm interviewing with a district judge in a couple of weeks. I like the opportunity as it's in a good region of the country and in a place where I could see myself living. Problem is I don't have any substantive ties to the city/division more than a couple of friends and haven't been there personally. The judge is also new and there isn't much on his Wikipedia or other pages which would indicate something particular (FedSoc, law review articles, etc.).

The court itself has a heavy civil docket, and that's about all I know. I want to do civil litigation, so I was thinking I'd rely mostly on saying I'd like to clerk for a DJ in a major city in X region because I see myself living there, and can also get plenty of civil litigation exposure. How does this sound? Should I try to mention anything else?

Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Interview with district judge; how to answer "why this court/why this judge"?

Post by Anonymous User » Sat May 13, 2023 9:11 am

Sounds ok but perhaps you could find and watch their confirmation hearing - surely there's more you can gather about their background so that you're not going in completely cold.

User avatar
BansheeScream

New
Posts: 94
Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2017 11:46 am

Re: Interview with district judge; how to answer "why this court/why this judge"?

Post by BansheeScream » Sat May 13, 2023 9:22 am

What about the judge's background makes you believe they would be a good mentor for you in your career going forward? Were they a PD, prosecutor, state SG, etc.? The best part about a clerkship beyond the resume line is learning from an experienced lawyer. Why do you want to spend a year learning from this particular judge? As a litigator, the judge also likely has public cases she's worked on. If she worked on anything major/interesting to you, read the pleadings.

In terms the district. I think it's fine saying you want to practice in the specific legal market. Some districts also have alot of certain types of litigation. If you're in a border district, you may be doing alot of immigration cases. If you're in Miami, there's alot of first party property insurance cases and mass torts/cruise ship cases. Find out if the district is known for anything and emphasize that.

Laserguy213

New
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:08 pm

Re: Interview with district judge; how to answer "why this court/why this judge"?

Post by Laserguy213 » Sat May 13, 2023 11:26 pm

I know you said that the judge was new, but this is something that past clerks could help out with. I wouldn't hesitate to reach out to former clerks (not current ones) and see if they will chat for 15 minutes and ask them this exact question, sandwiched between how excited you are about the opportunity and the other generalities to make said former clerks feel good.

You can also learn a decent amount about a judge by reading the questionnaires that every judicial nominee has to fill out for senate judiciary (maybe watch their hearing, too, usually those are archived somewhere). A lot of responses are pretty scripted, but there is sometimes some detail that maybe you could latch on to (I would do this subtly and implicitly during the interview, don't tell them you read their questionnaire. Might come off too hardo?).

Heavy civil docket remark is probably fine? But I think it sort of misses the point of a dct clerkship, which is to see really great litigators (the AUSAs and others) all the time and litigators of all type and to learn about what the trial process is like. You're early in your career and just really want to learn, both from the judge and from everyone who comes before the court, etc etc. It's way different from appellate clerking, motions practice especially, so focus on that. I think most districts are fungible, and it's better to be candid and not BS than try and contrive some reason to clerk in some run of the mill district.

Again, i'll emphasize talking to past clerks (or clerks who have already secured a job with the judge but are not yet clerking) as the key if possible.

Want to continue reading?

Register now to search topics and post comments!

Absolutely FREE!


Post Reply Post Anonymous Reply  

Return to “Judicial Clerkships”