Anonymous User wrote:clerk1251 wrote:
I disagree with this advice.
Maybe it varies chambers to chambers, but I cant imagine how it could hurt to mass mail applications. The worst that would happen (at least in my chambers) is the application gets thrown away unopened. The best that could happen is that it gets opened and something catches the opening-clerk's eye, which gets the application some further review. Not all judges use OSCAR, and even among those that do, some will interview people who mail them paper applications before even opening an OSCAR posting for that term.
What do you think is wrong with this advice? I cant imagine being so angry that someone mailed us an unsolicited application that I would go out of my way to blackball that applicant, but maybe thats a bad assumption?
So many reasons. First and most obviously, I imagine that keeping some aspect of control over his applications is important to this poster. I imagine he hasn't told his firm he is planning on leaving, or unhappy there. So he will want to keep a degree of anonymity to this process. If he wants to call judges that don't already state on OSCAR they have filled a position, to inquire if they are still interviewing, that's one thing - but to blanket every judge in the country, that's just absurd. Also, I don't know how your school did it, but at the top tiered schools, most paper applications need to be mailed from the law school, that way they can include official copies of transcripts and LORs. It seems silly to apply to judges you find on wikipedia, who very clearly state on OSCAR they have already completed hiring. Thirdly, when you have someone who is willing to go just about anywhere - they usually still do some sort of methodical approach, in the sense that they'd still prefer some locations over others. If you just apply everywhere, you are stuck taking whatever comes your way and close out any other possibilities. And last but not least, some chambers might actually take an approach like this to be a poor reflection on both the candidate and the law school (specifically when he has stated he only has career law clerks, or has completed hiring until x year).
Therefore, as I said, blanket mailing is a very poor approach and a lazy approach. Put in the time, cross reference wikipedia with OSCAR, get the chambers phone numbers from your school's database, and call any that don't clearly indicate they have already completed hiring or are not hiring.