Journal Board Position: Editor in Chief Forum

[Anonymous User]

Some background info first.

Current 2L at DNCG with an SA coming up at Cleary. Grades are inside the top 10% cutoff. I am currently leaning towards corporate work, as that is where I believe I will enjoy the work the most. But I have not closed off litigation. I would like to keep my options open for clerking if I find litigation to be the work I prefer.

Currently on a secondary journal. Several of the senior board members have mentioned I should run for EIC. I am torn. I don't want the extra work next year if I decide corporate work is what I want. But at the same time, if I do litigation, I would want to clerk. I would only be looking at district courts in SDNY, EDNY, and NJ (northern part of the state). Reason being is I would work at Cleary for a year or two before heading over. My wife would be set up in her job as well, and I would not want to uproot her again.

Being that I am limited to the districts above, would being editor in chief make a difference? Or is my GPA the only thing that matters, along with having two professors who said they would make calls for me? If it makes no difference, I would not run for any position next year.

Thank you in advance.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I think the easy answer is that for some judges, being EIC would be a big plus, and for other judges, it wouldn't make a difference. Unfortunately I don't know enough about those districts to tell you if any of the judges there care, but hopefully someone else will be able to comment.

That said, plenty of people with amazing grades get clerkships without being EIC of LR. And being EIC is a shitload of work - if you don't think you'd enjoy the work for its own sake at least on some level, and you're EIC, you will be MISERABLE. (As will probably the other board members.)

[ClerkAdvisor]

Some background info first.

Current 2L at DNCG with an SA coming up at Cleary. Grades are inside the top 10% cutoff. I am currently leaning towards corporate work, as that is where I believe I will enjoy the work the most. But I have not closed off litigation. I would like to keep my options open for clerking if I find litigation to be the work I prefer.

Currently on a secondary journal. Several of the senior board members have mentioned I should run for EIC. I am torn. I don't want the extra work next year if I decide corporate work is what I want. But at the same time, if I do litigation, I would want to clerk. I would only be looking at district courts in SDNY, EDNY, and NJ (northern part of the state). Reason being is I would work at Cleary for a year or two before heading over. My wife would be set up in her job as well, and I would not want to uproot her again.

Being that I am limited to the districts above, would being editor in chief make a difference? Or is my GPA the only thing that matters, along with having two professors who said they would make calls for me? If it makes no difference, I would not run for any position next year.

Thank you in advance.

You should only go for EIC if you want to do the work. The bump for EIC of the flagship law review is often marginal, especially as compared to the amount of work, and I think the bump for EIC of a secondary will be very marginal.

[Anonymous User]

I was an EIC on a secondary with mediocre grades from a T30. I'm currently clerking at a fed d. ct. and my judge told me my being EIC was a substantial boost.

People overestimate the amount of work required because, really, it's all up to you and how much you care about how well your journal that no one is going to read is Bluebooked.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I was an EIC on a secondary with mediocre grades from a T30. I'm currently clerking at a fed d. ct. and my judge told me my being EIC was a substantial boost.

People overestimate the amount of work required because, really, it's all up to you and how much you care about how well your journal that no one is going to read is Bluebooked.

I think the amount of work varies a LOT. And to be honest, my impression was that the secondaries at my school were way less work than LR was (in part because we got serious 100x the submissions of at least one of our secondaries). There's a crapload more than Bluebooking.