DNJ Clerkship Questions Forum

[Anonymous User]

I've heard DNJ judges are very sensitive to ties to NJ. I'd like to get a DNJ clerkship, but I have no NJ ties. Also, the DNJ website doesn't have much information, and very few judges have listings on OSCAR. If I'm applying for, say, 2021, can I just mail applications to judges' chambers? Or do I have to wait for a listing to pop up on OSCAR?

Also, does anybody know which DNJ judges precisely are on the Patent Pilot Program? I can't seem to find recent information online, and I know designated judges change.

Thanks for any help you guys have for me.

[Tofukid]

Unless your school's clerkship office happens to be familiar with the hiring practices of DNJ judges, I would recommend calling chambers to ask about their schedule (at least for those who are not listed on OSCAR). For the ones with OSCAR listings, you can usually tell the time of the year that they start accepting applications. I would recommend not waiting past this summer to reach out if you are applying to 2021, because the DNJ judges are not "on plan." I'm applying for 2020 and waited until the fall of this year to begin applying (because our clerkship office was trying to convince us that the vast majority of judges are on plan) and a lot of judges had already hired.

[Anonymous User]

Unless your school's clerkship office happens to be familiar with the hiring practices of DNJ judges, I would recommend calling chambers to ask about their schedule (at least for those who are not listed on OSCAR). For the ones with OSCAR listings, you can usually tell the time of the year that they start accepting applications. I would recommend not waiting past this summer to reach out if you are applying to 2021, because the DNJ judges are not "on plan." I'm applying for 2020 and waited until the fall of this year to begin applying (because our clerkship office was trying to convince us that the vast majority of judges are on plan) and a lot of judges had already hired.

Thanks for your response. I've always intended to apply for 2021, but there are very few 2021 listings on OSCAR. The judges with listings on OSCAR mostly still list 2020. For the judges with a 2020 listing, would it be safe to assume they haven't hired for 2021?

[Sls17]

The only thing you risk by mass mailing clerkship applications across a district with a cover letter specifying the 2021-22 term is not getting a clerkship.

[Tofukid]

Unless your school's clerkship office happens to be familiar with the hiring practices of DNJ judges, I would recommend calling chambers to ask about their schedule (at least for those who are not listed on OSCAR). For the ones with OSCAR listings, you can usually tell the time of the year that they start accepting applications. I would recommend not waiting past this summer to reach out if you are applying to 2021, because the DNJ judges are not "on plan." I'm applying for 2020 and waited until the fall of this year to begin applying (because our clerkship office was trying to convince us that the vast majority of judges are on plan) and a lot of judges had already hired.

Thanks for your response. I've always intended to apply for 2021, but there are very few 2021 listings on OSCAR. The judges with listings on OSCAR mostly still list 2020. For the judges with a 2020 listing, would it be safe to assume they haven't hired for 2021?

Depends. Some judges hire for 2 year terms so they won't be hiring for 2021 at all, others hire only clerks with experience, others hire locally and may never post on OSCAR. You could blanket apply by mail to all judges for 2021 without knowing who is hiring and when (like the poster above me suggested), but you risk 1) wasting your time preparing a cover letter and other materials that could eventually just get thrown away 2) missing out on them actually reviewing your application if they are not currently hiring and therefore throw your application away when it's received 3) including the wrong materials.

One more plug for calling: occasionally the person you speak to will ask for your name and be on the look out for your application. It's so hard to get an interview, let alone have your application be seen at all, that it's worth taking a minute to possibly make a connection with the people who will be reviewing your material before you apply.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for all the help. What number should I typically call? The "courtroom deputy"? Or the Chambers number?

[Tofukid]

Thanks for all the help. What number should I typically call? The "courtroom deputy"? Or the Chambers number?

Call chambers first if they provide a number.

[Anonymous User]

Former DNJ clerk here.

First, a word of warning: my judge would pretty much automatically ding you for calling, as his OSCAR page screams "DO NOT CALL CHAMBERS"--and he means it. If you have some other way of getting the same information, such as a friend at a law school with a clerkship office that does call everyone on your behalf, use that instead. Or at least don't call from your actual phone!

Second: while the DNJ bench historically likes candidates with some NJ ties, the effect has been diminishing recently and is less pronounced outside of DNJ Newark. As long as you make it clear that you want to be there, and aren't just thinking of DNJ as a backup in case you strike out at EDPA/SDNY/EDNY, you'll probably be fine with most of the judges.

[Anonymous User]

Former DNJ clerk here.

First, a word of warning: my judge would pretty much automatically ding you for calling, as his OSCAR page screams "DO NOT CALL CHAMBERS"--and he means it. If you have some other way of getting the same information, such as a friend at a law school with a clerkship office that does call everyone on your behalf, use that instead. Or at least don't call from your actual phone!

Second: while the DNJ bench historically likes candidates with some NJ ties, the effect has been diminishing recently and is less pronounced outside of DNJ Newark. As long as you make it clear that you want to be there, and aren't just thinking of DNJ as a backup in case you strike out at EDPA/SDNY/EDNY, you'll probably be fine with most of the judges.

So, the problem is my current address is in Manhattan and I'm a litigator in NYC. For family reasons, I can't move out of the tri-state area, and I want to clerk. DNJ is a particularly good fit because certain judges there have a fair amount of cases in my practice area--more so than SDNY or EDNY, and I would obviously immediately accept an offer to clerk DNJ even if I had pending SDNY/EDNY interviews. Is there some way to communicate this to the judge in a cover letter without expressly stating that I'm not viewing DNJ as a backup, but as a primary choice? Honestly, I would rather live in Jersey City than Brooklyn.

I am already addressing the practice area/caseload overlap in cover letters to judges where this is true.

Put another way, is my address/location of my firm going to be a problem that I should attack head-on, or save it for an interview (if I'm lucky enough to get one)?

[Anonymous User]

I'm not sure there's much you can do or much you need to do. DNJ has plenty of clerks who are clearly NY-centric, but it's traditionally looked inward. Outside of manufacturing ties or connections you don't actually have for the sole purpose of mentioning in a cover letter, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I just googled the Newark clerks whose names I remember from my clerkship year. Most are at NJ firms, prosecutors' offices, etc. Many were Rutgers/Seton Hall grads. Hochberg's aren't, but she's not on the bench anymore. This is anecdata, and it's just a year, but it comports with my gut feeling about hiring patterns at that particular courthouse.

[Anonymous User]

I know from personal and friend interviews with Newark DNJ judges last fall, several were already long hired for 2020 (including at least one who had a recent OSCAR posting for 2020) and were actively hiring for 2021. So I would be more flexible based on date if you can and are really set on NJ.