2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread Forum
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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.
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
The only movement I've seen has been the judges updated their positions to "filled" on OSCAR. It's been radio silence other than that, I'm afraid.
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
That and rejection/acknowledgement letters have been it for me.Anonymous User wrote:The only movement I've seen has been the judges updated their positions to "filled" on OSCAR. It's been radio silence other than that, I'm afraid.
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
Officially at 50 days since interview for COA clerkship. OSCAR spot still shows as available. I'm holding out hope!
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
In a similar boat, though it's only been about half as long. What explanation is there?Anonymous User wrote:Officially at 50 days since interview for COA clerkship. OSCAR spot still shows as available. I'm holding out hope!
- nothingtosee
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
Anonymous User wrote:In a similar boat, though it's only been about half as long. What explanation is there?Anonymous User wrote:Officially at 50 days since interview for COA clerkship. OSCAR spot still shows as available. I'm holding out hope!
The judge has more important things to do with his/her time and will have excellent quality clerks regardless
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- mjb447
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
Yeah, it may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to you, but a judge can fill three or four positions every year for a career that can span decades. There are also dozens, possibly hundreds, of applicants who can fill the spot competently. The result is that getting back to any individual candidate usually isn't nearly as urgent to the judge as it is to that candidate. (If a judge is hiring for years down the road, fifty or twenty-five days also isn't a huge amount of time to let a candidate twist in the wind while he reviews other apps or interviews other people if he wants to ensure a good fit.)nothingtosee wrote:Anonymous User wrote:In a similar boat, though it's only been about half as long. What explanation is there?Anonymous User wrote:Officially at 50 days since interview for COA clerkship. OSCAR spot still shows as available. I'm holding out hope!
The judge has more important things to do with his/her time and will have excellent quality clerks regardless
Keep holding on!
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
For what it's worth, I'll share my similar story. Last year, I straight up OSCAR'd my way into an interview - no local ties, faculty assistance, or other connections to the judge. I had what I thought was a great 90-minute interview with the judge. The judge said, "I'll let you know within a month and, in the interim, let me know if you'd like to be considered for subsequent terms." Then the waiting game began. After a week or so, I sent a "Thank You" email to chambers that also expressed my interest in subsequent terms. After 7 weeks post-interview with nothing but radio silence, I called and politely asked the judge's secretary whether she had a sense of where the judge was at in his hiring timeline. She said only that the judge was still deciding. Within a week I got a rejection email followed by a snail-mail ding. My OSCAR applications for the judge's subsequent terms have met with no success.Officially at 50 days since interview for COA clerkship. OSCAR spot still shows as available. I'm holding out hope!
Moral(s) of the story? Judges don't give a rip about the representations they make to candidates in interviews, and calling chambers even well after the projected deadline for hearing back is unlikely to help your chances. I suspect that I didn't absolutely blow the judge's hair back during the interview, so s/he kept me waiting on the expectation that s/he would eventually interview someone who did.
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
Interviewed with a district judge for this term. It took almost 90 days exactly from the date of the interview to receive an offer. COA hiring might be somewhat different but it's not unheard of for a candidate who's waited this long to still ultimately receive an offer.Anonymous User wrote:For what it's worth, I'll share my similar story. Last year, I straight up OSCAR'd my way into an interview - no local ties, faculty assistance, or other connections to the judge. I had what I thought was a great 90-minute interview with the judge. The judge said, "I'll let you know within a month and, in the interim, let me know if you'd like to be considered for subsequent terms." Then the waiting game began. After a week or so, I sent a "Thank You" email to chambers that also expressed my interest in subsequent terms. After 7 weeks post-interview with nothing but radio silence, I called and politely asked the judge's secretary whether she had a sense of where the judge was at in his hiring timeline. She said only that the judge was still deciding. Within a week I got a rejection email followed by a snail-mail ding. My OSCAR applications for the judge's subsequent terms have met with no success.Officially at 50 days since interview for COA clerkship. OSCAR spot still shows as available. I'm holding out hope!
Moral(s) of the story? Judges don't give a rip about the representations they make to candidates in interviews, and calling chambers even well after the projected deadline for hearing back is unlikely to help your chances. I suspect that I didn't absolutely blow the judge's hair back during the interview, so s/he kept me waiting on the expectation that s/he would eventually interview someone who did.
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
Don't stress. There's nothing you can do about it at this point. Just keep applying elsewhere and see if you can't scoop a clerkship with a different judge. If you get an interview elsewhere - you can call this judge and let him know - might get him to make a decision on the spot, otherwise, try for someone else!Anonymous User wrote:Officially at 50 days since interview for COA clerkship. OSCAR spot still shows as available. I'm holding out hope!
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
I interviewed with prominent State S. Ct. judge and didn't hear anything for 2+ months until I withdrew my application because I accepted another offer. Judicial Assistant said the judge had been dragging his feet with the hiring--not an uncommon thing.Anonymous User wrote:In a similar boat, though it's only been about half as long. What explanation is there?Anonymous User wrote:Officially at 50 days since interview for COA clerkship. OSCAR spot still shows as available. I'm holding out hope!
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
Matheson is done, per email.
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
Am I too late for 2019 term if I haven't done a thing with applications yet? I want to do a clerkship (hopefully district ct but I don't know if I have the resume – I'm top 25% at a lower T14 w/LR), but I feel super behind and like I've already screwed myself by waiting this long.
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
I have a similar question. I am considering applying for a district clerkship in January and then applying for a circuit clerkship for the 20-21 term either in January or June. I have the sense, somewhat confirmed by OSCAR, district judges take a bit longer to hire.Anonymous User wrote:Am I too late for 2019 term if I haven't done a thing with applications yet? I want to do a clerkship (hopefully district ct but I don't know if I have the resume – I'm top 25% at a lower T14 w/LR), but I feel super behind and like I've already screwed myself by waiting this long.
On a slightly related note, what are the chances of landing a circuit clerkship (non-feeder) with a 3.6 for CCN w/ LR and pretty strong recs. Like I noted above, this would be for the 20-21 term.
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- RSN
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
Not at all too late if you're good with a little lower interest district. SDNY/DDC/N.D. Ill. etc. are pretty full but there are a good number of judges elsewhere that haven't opened yet. Take a look at OSCAR and get your recommenders together before school starts, start getting apps out in September.
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
Who is full on N.D. Ill.?RSN wrote:Not at all too late if you're good with a little lower interest district. SDNY/DDC/N.D. Ill. etc. are pretty full but there are a good number of judges elsewhere that haven't opened yet. Take a look at OSCAR and get your recommenders together before school starts, start getting apps out in September.
- radio1nowhere
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
As of about a week and a half ago, no judge on N.D. Ill. had hired for 2019–2020. Even Feinerman is still open.Anonymous User wrote:Who is full on N.D. Ill.?RSN wrote:Not at all too late if you're good with a little lower interest district. SDNY/DDC/N.D. Ill. etc. are pretty full but there are a good number of judges elsewhere that haven't opened yet. Take a look at OSCAR and get your recommenders together before school starts, start getting apps out in September.
OP, I would say: You're not even close to too late — this is a little on the early side for many/most district judges, actually. According to my school's clerkship office as of a week or two ago, almost a third of district judges haven't even hired for 2018–2019 yet. That being said, the earlier you apply, the better!
- RSN
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
Whoops, apologies re N.D. Ill., thought I had read that recently but apparently misremembered. But yes, regardless, applying sooner rather than later is always the right call.
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
SDNY, EDNY, NDCA, DMD, DDC, and the small handful of feeder-ish district judges elsewhere like Feinerman/Brinkema/Thompson/Ellison are interviewing/hiring already. You're early for elsewhere though. Even on those aforementioned courts, there are still plenty of judges who haven't hired yet.
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
So waiting for first semester 2L grades wouldn't be the end of the world?
- RSN
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
No, but there's no good reason to wait if judges you're interested in are hiring, or open during the fall, unless you need those grades to make up for some weaker grades last year.Anonymous User wrote:So waiting for first semester 2L grades wouldn't be the end of the world?
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
Any sense of where we are in COA hiring? Which circuits are lagging behind and which are all nearly done? The OSCAR postings have been few and far between so it's hard to really know where things stand.
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- radio1nowhere
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
My rough guesstimate is that about a third of COA judges (counting senior judges) have hired for 2019–2020. The D.C. and Second Circuits seem to be the only ones with over half the judges filled.Anonymous User wrote:Any sense of where we are in COA hiring? Which circuits are lagging behind and which are all nearly done? The OSCAR postings have been few and far between so it's hard to really know where things stand.
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
OP from above. Thanks all – I wasn't dead set on the more competitive districts since I didn't think I could get a clerkship there anyway. Trying to stay geographically flexible, so I'm glad to hear I can still apply.
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
FYI on Feinerman - heard from a recommender 3 weeks ago that he had already hired 2/3 and was looking for a specific type of candidate for the 3rd.radio1nowhere wrote:As of about a week and a half ago, no judge on N.D. Ill. had hired for 2019–2020. Even Feinerman is still open.Anonymous User wrote:Who is full on N.D. Ill.?RSN wrote:Not at all too late if you're good with a little lower interest district. SDNY/DDC/N.D. Ill. etc. are pretty full but there are a good number of judges elsewhere that haven't opened yet. Take a look at OSCAR and get your recommenders together before school starts, start getting apps out in September.
OP, I would say: You're not even close to too late — this is a little on the early side for many/most district judges, actually. According to my school's clerkship office as of a week or two ago, almost a third of district judges haven't even hired for 2018–2019 yet. That being said, the earlier you apply, the better!
- radio1nowhere
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Re: 2019-20 Clerkship Application Thread
Ah gotcha, my statement that no one had "hired" was confusing; I meant that no one had completed all their hiring. Thanks for the Feinerman update!Anonymous User wrote:FYI on Feinerman - heard from a recommender 3 weeks ago that he had already hired 2/3 and was looking for a specific type of candidate for the 3rd.radio1nowhere wrote:As of about a week and a half ago, no judge on N.D. Ill. had hired for 2019–2020. Even Feinerman is still open.Anonymous User wrote:Who is full on N.D. Ill.?RSN wrote:Not at all too late if you're good with a little lower interest district. SDNY/DDC/N.D. Ill. etc. are pretty full but there are a good number of judges elsewhere that haven't opened yet. Take a look at OSCAR and get your recommenders together before school starts, start getting apps out in September.
OP, I would say: You're not even close to too late — this is a little on the early side for many/most district judges, actually. According to my school's clerkship office as of a week or two ago, almost a third of district judges haven't even hired for 2018–2019 yet. That being said, the earlier you apply, the better!
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