Federal judges are supposed to follow "the plan" (with respect to rising 3Ls), which means they are not even supposed to receive applications until September 2, 2008. Yet 136 federal appellate clerks have already been hired for 2009-2010, some graduates, some 3Ls. Many 3Ls apply without even knowing that a judge has hired any graduates. A breakdown is below.
While just 23 appellate clerks are 3Ls, a whopping 101 clerks are graduates. Which judges have definitely hired 3Ls so far? (Remember, not all hires may be listed on this site.)
King (4), Benavides (5), Smith (5), Southwick (5), Posner (7), Ikuta (9), Kozinski (9), Gorsuch (10), Hartz (10), Henry (10), Kelly (10), Tymkovich (10), Ebel Sr. (10), Dubina (11), Pryor (11), Cox Sr. (11)
Of course, the Second Circuit already has 18 graduates as clerks (not including, of course, unreported clerks and unknown clerks); the Third Circuit, 16; the Fifth Circuit, 11; the Ninth Circuit, 17; and the DC Circuit, 10.
Contrast that to the Tenth Circuit, which, while hiring just four graduates reported so far, has nine 3Ls. Or the Eleventh, with just four graduates reported so far but five 3Ls.
(Take all analyses with a grain of salt; recall that incomplete data may skew what has been reported. These statistics, at the very least, represent a minimum.)
Which schools have pushed their graduates most successfully before August 10? It's uncertain the effect a school's career services office may have on graduates--are graduates left on their own, or does career services help facilitate graduate clerkship placement? Chicago has six graduates so far; Columbia, four; Georgetown, nine; GWU, four; Harvard, 10; NYU, nine; Stanford, six; Virginia, 11; and Yale, six.
Which schools offer a helping hand if you want to go off-plan before August 10? So far, Harvard has at least four 3Ls placed, and Duke and Michigan each have three 3Ls placed. (None have been reported from Yale, Columbia, or NYU; and one each from Stanford and Chicago.)
EDIT: Some arguably misleading language in the earliest paragraphs has been altered. Also, Reinhardt hired a 3L, not a grad, prior to August 10.
