Suppose you transfer to any of HYS, and your aim is for a Supreme Court clerkship. Does being a transfer student affect your chances of getting one? I know these clerkships are extremely tough to get anyway, but I don't know how transfer student applicants are viewed, if differently at all from 3-year HYS students.

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Unless you are currently outside the T14, I think transferring in the hope of getting a SCOTUS clerkship would be crazy. If you are one of the handful of students whose chance of getting a SCOTUS clerkship is not zero after 1L year, you doing extremely well at your school. You will grade on to law review, and graduate at or near near the top of your class if you continue to do as well. Transferring forces you to abandon your place near the top of the class, and your spot on law review. You will have to climb to the top again and successfully write on to law review at YHS, neither of which is a guarantee.

That being said, I doubt it would count against you. If you actually have the credentials to join "the Elect," I don't think the justices are going to care where your first year was spent. Can you really imagine them looking down on an applicant currently clerking for a feeder judge because he spent his first year at UCLA or GW?

After thinking about this more, I suppose that the only situation in which transferring could possibly be wise is if you miss law review but still have the GPA necessary to transfer. This gives you one last chance to put yourself in the "law review + top of the class" place that you need to be in. But, IMO, if you failed to make law review at a non-YHS school, your chances of doing it at YHS are quite slim. If I were in that situation I would feel depressed about never being able to clerk for SCOTUS for a split second before realizing that I'd be making $160,000 upon graduation. Then I'd celebrate by going to Chipotle.

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+1

Wait...is this just a purely speculative matter or is someone actually trying to arrange their lives with the goal of landing a Supreme Clerkship?

Edit: I refuse to say "SCOTUS"

You dont have to be in HYS to get a SCOTUS clerkship. Cardozo has a few and I am sure a couple other outside the top 14 do.

But, I am assuming most of the SCOTUS clerks from Cardozo have graduated and have JD and are not trying to do it after 1l

ooohhhh so that's how Cardozo keeps getting a leg up - they have their students graduate before clerking on SCOTUS.

Clerks come from all schools. However, a disporportionate amount come from the top 14. Actually, more like top 5 or so.

I looked up former Supreme Court Clerks and its a mixed bag. A few years back Thomas hired someone from Creighton. Pretty amazing.

If you're curious, check it out online. Its actually very interesting.

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Yea that quotes retarded. I hate it more and more everytime I hear it.

Thomas is an anomoly, but there are other justices that tend to stray away from HYS. Although, this pasy year it seems like most the justices went the HYS route.

The supreme court needs someone like Thomas that gives opportunities to all types of grads. Looking at his previous clerks, he really does hire from all schools. Utah, GState, George Mason, etc. I dont agree with Thomas' idealology, but I wouldnt mind working for him at all. Plus, its all about the legal aspect of stuff. No politics. haha.

This is like asking what state you should move to so that the lottery gives you the best odds of winning.

+1

I suggest UVA for this reason. We have both Powerball and Mega Millions here.

Seriously, this explains everything!!! My mistake was I tried to get a Supreme Court clerkship after 1L!!! Man, if only I'd known you had to wait until you graduate. . . Cardozo is really onto something.*





*please note sarcasm.