Functional difference in experience between EDNY/SDNY? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I understand that SDNY is (slightly?) more prestigious. For someone interested in securities litigation/financial crimes would SDNY be a clear preference over EDNY. I hear people talk about these two districts as if they are functionally equivalent but every time I follow a big securities lit case it is always in SDNY.

[Anonymous User]

Highly judge-dependent and luck-dependent. Some judges get assigned more securities cases, others less. Your experience will vary wildly depending on who you are clerking for. There's a higher chance that you are assigned a securities litigation case if you are in SDNY versus EDNY, but no guarantees. Its entirely possible that a big chunk of your clerkship experience will be writing about Section 1983, Title VII, and run-of-the-mill breach of contract cases which make up the bulk of dockets in both districts.

[Anonymous User]

SDNY has a significantly larger docket of major civil litigation than EDNY. SDNY’s docket is overwhelmingly civil—I would guess the most civil-tilted in the country besides DDC.

Another big difference is that administratively, EDNY magistrates do much more of the routine case management than SDNY magistrates, who are overloaded. That’s part of why SDNY has such long hours.

[Anonymous User]

Highly judge-dependent and luck-dependent. Some judges get assigned more securities cases, others less. Your experience will vary wildly depending on who you are clerking for. There's a higher chance that you are assigned a securities litigation case if you are in SDNY versus EDNY, but no guarantees. Its entirely possible that a big chunk of your clerkship experience will be writing about Section 1983, Title VII, and run-of-the-mill breach of contract cases which make up the bulk of dockets in both districts.

So I guess if experience is luck of the draw, do securities lit groups look more favorably on one over the other to a significant degree or is it like cool you had a clerkship.

[Anonymous User]

Highly judge-dependent and luck-dependent. Some judges get assigned more securities cases, others less. Your experience will vary wildly depending on who you are clerking for. There's a higher chance that you are assigned a securities litigation case if you are in SDNY versus EDNY, but no guarantees. Its entirely possible that a big chunk of your clerkship experience will be writing about Section 1983, Title VII, and run-of-the-mill breach of contract cases which make up the bulk of dockets in both districts.

So I guess if experience is luck of the draw, do securities lit groups look more favorably on one over the other to a significant degree or is it like cool you had a clerkship.

No meaningful difference. Your judge may matter to a small degree but for hiring purposes. the difference between these two districts is so trivial as to be nonexistent.

[Anonymous User]

I think there's an overoptimistic EDNY clerk posting. It is true that while SDNY has a much larger docket of securities lit, it's still not that big as a percentage of the SDNY docket. It's perfectly possible to clerk on SDNY without writing a significant securities law opinion. You will almost certainly have a good amount of finance-related litigation of one sort or another though, especially if you count white collar. It's pretty unlikely you would get any securities lit on EDNY.

I doubt firms differentiate, but this is one area where the substantive experiences in the two districts are notably different.

[Anonymous User]

I clerked in both Southern and Eastern, and Southern has the more interesting docket overall.

As one poster observed above, it comes down to luck which cases your judge is assigned, and how your judge assigns cases.

One of my judges assigned motions based on clerks' interest. The other did a strict odd-even split. So if all the interesting securities cases end in an even number, and you're the odd clerk, you're out of luck.

So, you're better off aiming for a docket that's overall intersting and challenging. Higher probability at Southern.

(Also, Southern is more selective than Eastern, so it's more prestigious, but Eastern is still highly selective. But this is still speaking in generalities.)