Picking Judges

Updated July 31, 2008

Students often ask “how many judges should I apply to in order to get a clerkship?” There is no one answer, and the answer will vary from student to student depending upon a number of factors:

• How badly do you want a clerkship? Do you only want to work for certain judges, or in a particular geographic region, or do you just want a judicial clerkship, regardless of where it is and who it’s with? (Don’t apply to a judge unless you are sure you would accept an offer; judges sometimes make on-the-spot job offers, and the only acceptable answer is YES.)

• In deciding where and to whom to apply, keep in mind that some judges, courts, and locations will be highly desirable and thus highly competitive. As a general rule, federal clerkships are more competitive than state appellate court clerkships. If you really want a judicial clerkship and don’t care where it is, be sure to apply to areas where fewer people may want to go. (Lewis & Clark Law School graduates have had consistent success in Alaska and Nevada high courts.)

• How many letters are your references willing to prepare? They will need to prepare individually addressed letters for each judge to whom you are applying. Note that many professors will have their assistants perform a mail merge, but each letter still takes time to process and upload.

• Realistically, how many individualized cover letters and application packets can you prepare? For best results, each must be your best work and each must be specific to the judge, court, and location. You need to think about how you will budget your time for this activity and still keep up with classes, work and your extra curricular activities.

Once you decide the boundaries of your search, compile a list of all the judges in that court, city, etc., and begin your research. Career Services has numerous resources, online and in hard-copy, to help you compile your list and find out more information about each judge. These include lists of judges graduates have clerked with in the past, lists of judges professors have clerked with, and lists of judges who have received environmental law training at Lewis & Clark. In addition, many alumni are themselves judges and are familiar with the school and its quality.

Career Services staff can help you with your clerkship strategy and help you determine how many judges YOU should apply to. To schedule an appointment with Libby, Ellen, or Bill, stop by Career Services or email the office at lscs@lclark.edu.

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