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.
7 comments:
You seem to be suggesting that judges who hire grads before September are disregarding the terms of the hiring plan. However, the plan expressly provides that it "does not cover applicants who have graduated from law school. Therefore, judges may interview and hire law school graduates at any time."
Judge Bea on the Ninth Circuit has never, and probably will never, hired anyone from Golden Gate to clerk for him. You need to remove that reference because it is inaccurate. He hired one extern from Golden Gate, but only because she is a former Vice President of General Electric. Judge Bea only hires from the top ten law schools. Others need not apply.
Uhh, aren't two of Bea's current clerks from non top-10 schools (UCLA and Iowa)?
How do we contact you to give you new information?
I agree with the first poster-- judges who hire graduates before September ARE following the plan. The second paragraph of this post definitely indicates that this is not the case. Thus, your post is misleading.
Your information actually suggests that a relatively small number of judges are not "following the plan" by hiring rising 3Ls before September. Meaning that the vast majority of federal judges appear to be following "the plan."
However, your information does validate the general theory that the plan has worked to the benefit of graduates, and to the harm of law students, at least in regard to circuit clerkship hiring. (Chances are, these students will make better circuit clerks after completing a previous, lower-level clerkship, or working in private practice beforehand.)
NYU definitely helped some of its 3Ls (sent in applications) before the plan
But I get the feeling that is only in the case where a professor or judge specifically requests an application. It seems Harvard is helping its students before the plan in a way NYU is not.
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