Have a few questions, hoping you guys can help. Thanks in advance for your time.
Is there any general difference in competitiveness between SDNY judges in White Plains vs. Manhattan? Or in EDNY judges in Brooklyn vs. Central Islip?
How important are ties for COA clerkships?
The hiring timeline seems pretty random. For judges filled up for 2017 but not accepting apps for 2018, there's no way to tell when apps will open up, right? I should just keep checking into Oscar every week or so to see if they've started accepting apps?
I'm planning on using my 1L brief as a writing sample. The introduction is pretty strongly worded and potentially alienating, but my LRW professor thought it was compelling. Should I edit this section to be more dispassionate? Or does this depend on the judge?
Some clerkship questions Forum
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deuceindc
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Re: Some clerkship questions
Yes, or set an email alert.Anonymous User wrote:The hiring timeline seems pretty random. For judges filled up for 2017 but not accepting apps for 2018, there's no way to tell when apps will open up, right? I should just keep checking into Oscar every week or so to see if they've started accepting apps?
You shouldn't use a law school brief as your writing sample.Anonymous User wrote:I'm planning on using my 1L brief as a writing sample. The introduction is pretty strongly worded and potentially alienating, but my LRW professor thought it was compelling. Should I edit this section to be more dispassionate? Or does this depend on the judge?
Those are based on things I've heard from my clerkship advisor. I haven't looked into your first two questions, but gut calls:
It seems like the competition for district judges is based on their geographic location, not which court they sit in.Anonymous User wrote:Is there any general difference in competitiveness between SDNY judges in White Plains vs. Manhattan? Or in EDNY judges in Brooklyn vs. Central Islip?
Very little at most, and falling sharply with the prestige of the court.Anonymous User wrote:How important are ties for COA clerkships?
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A. Nony Mouse
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Re: Some clerkship questions
The thing with clerkship writing samples is that the earlier the hiring goes, the fewer decent samples people are going to have. So if your law school brief is your best writing, then use it. If you have something real-world that you can use, though, that's probably better, if possible (also, you will need to explain the degree of editing by a third-party - judges often want to see something you've written that no one else has edited; I used a moot court competition brief for this purpose, since you can't get help for a competition).
Wrt to the impassioned opening - I can't say whether you should edit it or not. Just keep in mind that writing a brief and writing for a judge are very different. It will be clear that your brief is advocacy rather than judicial writing, so the judge won't expect it to be something it's not. I guess the thing to think about is, if the brief were a real world brief, and was going to be filed with a real court, would you be willing to stand behind that opening? or, would you only submit something like that in the artificial context of a law school class? One thing a judge will probably be thinking about when reading a writing sample is what it shows about your judgment.
Wrt to the impassioned opening - I can't say whether you should edit it or not. Just keep in mind that writing a brief and writing for a judge are very different. It will be clear that your brief is advocacy rather than judicial writing, so the judge won't expect it to be something it's not. I guess the thing to think about is, if the brief were a real world brief, and was going to be filed with a real court, would you be willing to stand behind that opening? or, would you only submit something like that in the artificial context of a law school class? One thing a judge will probably be thinking about when reading a writing sample is what it shows about your judgment.
