2018-2019 Clerkship Application Thread Forum

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Re: 2018-2019 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Aug 29, 2017 12:39 pm

I feel I'm a bit late to this process and am just now figuring things out, so these are probably a couple of stupid questions. For paper apps, do I request that my recommenders email me their letters, then send them on to the judge myself, or do I request they send them directly to the judge?

Also for paper apps, is there a page limit for the writing sample? On OSCAR, all I see is file size limit. I have three samples, but the best one by far is a 25 page appellate brief I wrote during my internship this summer. The other two samples are 10 and 15 pages, but fairly unimpressive (shown by median LW grades). There's no information about writing sample requirements in the judge's info.

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Re: 2018-2019 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by HeedMyWarning » Tue Aug 29, 2017 12:45 pm

Anonymous User wrote:I feel I'm a bit late to this process and am just now figuring things out, so these are probably a couple of stupid questions. For paper apps, do I request that my recommenders email me their letters, then send them on to the judge myself, or do I request they send them directly to the judge?

Also for paper apps, is there a page limit for the writing sample? On OSCAR, all I see is file size limit. I have three samples, but the best one by far is a 25 page appellate brief I wrote during my internship this summer. The other two samples are 10 and 15 pages, but fairly unimpressive (shown by median LW grades). There's no information about writing sample requirements in the judge's info.
The usual practice is that you send your application without letters of recommendation and then request that your recommenders submit their letters directly. However, if your recommenders feel comfortable sharing their letter with you, you can send their letters with your applications.

There's usually no page limit distinction between writing samples for OSCAR vs. paper apps. The advice I always received was to send a writing sample between 10 and 15 pages. Judges (or their clerks) usually do not want to read a very long writing sample. Ideally, if you can excerpt parts of the longer writing sample to make it fall within 10 and 15 pages and still make sense, I would do that.

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Re: 2018-2019 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by mjb447 » Tue Aug 29, 2017 12:49 pm

Anonymous User wrote:I feel I'm a bit late to this process and am just now figuring things out, so these are probably a couple of stupid questions. For paper apps, do I request that my recommenders email me their letters, then send them on to the judge myself, or do I request they send them directly to the judge?

Also for paper apps, is there a page limit for the writing sample? On OSCAR, all I see is file size limit. I have three samples, but the best one by far is a 25 page appellate brief I wrote during my internship this summer. The other two samples are 10 and 15 pages, but fairly unimpressive (shown by median LW grades). There's no information about writing sample requirements in the judge's info.
Letters typically arrive separately unless the judge specifies otherwise, with a note in your cover letter that that's the case. If your letters are already written, sometimes your school's clerkship office maintains them and coordinates with your profs, but you usually don't get the letters yourself during the process. (I think it's generally better this way so that you're not holding off on applying in anticipation of receiving recs, and I also wonder if some profs wouldn't be comfortable sending you a copy of a candid rec.)

There's no formal page limit unless the judge sets one, but be mindful of how much writing is necessary to showcase your writing and analytical skills and how much writing you're willing to proofread to perfection. May wish to do an excerpt of the 25-page brief; that's a little lengthy.

(Scooped, mostly.)

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Re: 2018-2019 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Aug 29, 2017 1:33 pm

Thanks!

Is there a preferred way to shorten the WS? Do I just note in the cover letter that I am sending the first 15 pages of my sample, or should I try to edit content from the entire brief? (or maybe just send the argument?)
Last edited by Anonymous User on Tue Aug 29, 2017 1:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 2018-2019 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by radio1nowhere » Tue Aug 29, 2017 1:39 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Thanks!

Is there a preferred way to shorten the WS? Do I just note in the cover letter that I am sending the first 15 pages of my sample, or should I try to edit content from the entire brief?
As long as whatever section you send in is coherent on its own. If you just blindly send the first 15 pages, the sample might end right in the middle of an argument section, which wouldn't be optimal. What I did for mine is excerpt a ~10 page argument section and write a cover page that explains the background/facts and where the excerpt fits into the brief.

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mjb447

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Re: 2018-2019 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by mjb447 » Tue Aug 29, 2017 1:46 pm

radio1nowhere wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Thanks!

Is there a preferred way to shorten the WS? Do I just note in the cover letter that I am sending the first 15 pages of my sample, or should I try to edit content from the entire brief?
As long as whatever section you send in is coherent on its own. If you just blindly send the first 15 pages, the sample might end right in the middle of an argument section, which wouldn't be optimal. What I did for mine is excerpt a ~10 page argument section and write a cover page that explains the background/facts and where the excerpt fits into the brief.
Yes: if you have multiple arguments, try to cut a few less important ones. If you have a long fact section or long recitations of well-known standards (e.g. SJ or MTD standard), condense or omit them. Just make sure it hangs together on its own - if you just cut right at 15 pages you might omit the third element of a three-part test or something, which is not good for showing off your analytical skills. (It doesn't have to be 15 pages - if you can naturally cut down to 10 pages of good analysis, don't feel like you have to work to include more if it doesn't flow naturally.)

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Re: 2018-2019 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Aug 29, 2017 1:55 pm

Thanks again!

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Re: 2018-2019 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Sep 19, 2017 6:08 pm

Anyone hear from Mass SJC for next year? I know this board tends to focus on A.III judges, but figured I'd ask. SJC app closes on 9/29, not sure if they're waiting until then to move.

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Re: 2018-2019 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Aug 07, 2018 10:44 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Curious--what exactly is Klienfeld's four-round process?
1. Phone interview with clerk about resume/why Kleinfeld/etc.

2. Long phone interview on about 5 of his opinions given beforehand similar to a 1L coldcall

3. Similar to 1, clarify any remaining questions etc.

4. Flown out to dinner with Kleinfeld while he is in civilization for oral arguments. Offer on the spot if given.
Does anyone know if this has changed?

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Re: 2018-2019 Clerkship Application Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:30 am

Anonymous User wrote:Anyone hear from Mass SJC for next year? I know this board tends to focus on A.III judges, but figured I'd ask. SJC app closes on 9/29, not sure if they're waiting until then to move.
I applied last year and got an interview in early August. No idea what the other Justices' timing preferences are, but rolling interviews/offers typically means that they aren't waiting for apps to close.

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