When To Apply

Knowing when to apply for a clerkship has become extremely difficult in the past few years. Traditionally, the most prestigious clerkships were filled first. Most federal appellate, state supreme and federal district court judges selected their law clerks in the candidate's second year of law school. State trial courts waited until a candidate's third year of law school to begin screening applications. Recently, however, the federal appellate courts agreed to a "Law Clerk Hiring Plan." In theory, they have essentially decided to wait until a candidate's third year of law school before interviewing them. For those judges participating in the Law Clerk Hiring Plan, applications cannot be received until the Tuesday after Labor Day each year.

There are several problems with the Federal Hiring Plan:

1) Not all the federal appellate courts agreed to honor it. Although the majority agreed to the moratorium, there were those who remained silent on the issue and those who objected. In addition, the original plan did not include federal district courts or any state courts.

2) There is no way to enforce the Hiring Plan. Each judge manages his or her own chambers, and determines his or her own hiring practices.

3) The early hiring issue has been a problem for the past decade or two and at least 6-7 other proposals have been made to try and solve the problem. All have failed. What to do:

a) State courts will most likely continue to hire during your third year so if you are interested in a state court, there is probably no change in the time line.

b) Once you get your list of judges, check for hiring dates and deadlines by looking in the Federal Law Clerk Information System at https://lawclerks.ao.uscourts.gov/.

c) In all cases, it is best to simply call chambers and ask the judge when they are taking applications.

What about just sending applications in spite of the Hiring Plan? There are several problems with this approach. First, there is the expense. The clerkship application is not just a résumé and cover letter. It is expensive to apply for clerkships, and sending them to judges who may not be hiring is a complete waste of money. Second, several judges have indicated that they intend to keep a "blacklist" of students who break the Hiring Plan. Although it is unlikely that very many judges will do this, you could significantly decrease your chances by applying too early.