RESOURCES FOR RESEARCHING JUDGES
Whether you are preparing for an upcoming interview or deciding where you should apply, here are some tips for researching the judiciary.
► OSCAR (Online System for Clerkship Application and Review) https://oscar.uscourts.gov. OSCAR is a single, centralized resource for federal clerkship information. It includes a searchable database of federal law clerk hiring information, including the length of the clerkship term, the application period, the preferred method of application, and the required application materials. Judges can also post that their positions are filled or indicate that they are not hiring clerks. There is also general information about clerkship duties, salary, and benefits under the “Resources” tab. In addition, your OSCAR account allows you to save your searches, receive email updates, and apply to participating judges online.
Remember that this is a voluntary system, and some judges may choose not to participate. Approximately two-thirds of the judges have created accounts and more join each year. If a judge has no information listed anywhere in the system, come and chat with members of the Career Center. We can help navigate next steps. Additionally, if you notice a judge that has no positions or has filled them a long time ago and hasn’t given an explicit plan for future hiring, you may wish to investigate further into whether that judge has only career clerks or has any plans to hire.
► Leadership Connect: This is the online version of the Judicial Yellow Book. It contains biographical profiles and contact information for more than 3,500 federal and state judges, including education and previous experience. Staff information, when provided by chambers, includes the names of law clerks and the law schools they attended. WashU Law has a subscription accessible through the library website.
► Federal Judicial Center: www.fjc.gov. You can find biographical information on all past and present federal judges, court histories, educational materials, and links to other legal resources. After selecting “Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, 1789-present,” then “Diversity on the Bench,” you can search for judges based on the characteristics of gender or ethnicity.
► Federal Judiciary: www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts.aspx. On this website, there is information about and links to federal courts. You can also view the online version of The Third Branch at www.uscourts.gov, the federal judiciary’s newsletter. In the “Judicial Milestones” section of the newsletter, you can look for nominations, confirmations, and other status changes.
► Senate Nominations: www.senate.gov/reference/Nominations/Index.htm. You can find the most up- to-date listings of recent nominations and confirmations, judicial and others.
► Senate Judiciary Committee: http://judiciary.senate.gov. The Nominations section includes information about judicial nominees, including their detailed questionnaire, as well as hearing dates, and votes.
► DOJ Office of Legal Policy: www.usdoj.gov/olp. The OLP site provides tables and statistics on nominations, as well as background information on judicial nominees.
► National Center for State Courts: www.ncsc.org/Information-and-Resources.aspx. This website links to numerous state and international court sites.
► The Guide to State Judicial Clerkship Procedures: http://forms.vermontlaw.edu/career/guides.
Produced by the Vermont Law School Career Services Office, this Guide provides information on
clerkship opportunities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Please see the Vermont Law School website for information about subscriptions.
► LEXIS®–NEXIS® and WESTLAW®: www.lexisnexis.com and www.westlaw.com. Reading a judge’s opinions and news articles can give you insight into the judge’s thinking and can provide valuable background for the interview. Lexis also has Courtlink, a new feature for researching the caseload of the circuit and district courts, several state courts, and individual district court judges. The AFJ database in WestLaw also reports on caseloads for the federal judges.