You are a strong applicant. These types of questions really come down to your own internal balance of how badly you want to clerk, though. If you want to fedclerk no matter what and will make jurisdictional sacrifices, of course you want to apply to every judge. If you would like to clerk, but only if it is in a limited number of spots, and are fine with the alternative of not clerking, only apply to those spots. It’s pretty simple.Anonymous User wrote:So here's a piggybacking question because I'm at the weird CCN where GPAs are lol, but otherwise similarly interested clerking-wise to earlier anon. If I think I'm in the bottom half of the top 10%, is that basically the same for purposes of D. Ct clerkships chances? Is narrowing to just NDCA/CDCA way too optimistic?
Personally, I only applied to clerk within say 70 miles of the metro area of the major market to which I had ties because I did not feel the need to clerk that badly (though, in hindsight, I’m so happy I did) and I had a really solid post-grad alternative. My ties were so strong that, on balance, I decided to only apply to something like 30 judges...and I wasn’t as strong as you on paper.
Remember—this isn’t like predicting oci results based on school/grades. It’s consiserably less predictable. Even if you are great on paper, maybe you get several interviews then strike out. In that scenario, will you have wished that you had applied more broadly? Maybe that’s the question you should be answering for yourself to assist with your decision.