Nuts and Bolts
Now is the time to get ready to apply for clerkships! The faculty and CCD have put together the information that you need to apply in this post. Every judge is looking for something slightly different, so we can’t cover everything here. But if you work through the Clerkship Application Checklist , you’ll be ready to apply to most judges as soon as you have your spring grades and receive the results of the write-on competition. Your goal should be have your application ready to send out as soon as you receive your spring grades and learn the journal results since many judges have recently started hiring in early summer.
If you have any questions, you should email Professors Epps, D’Onfro, Finneran, Magarian, and Keating! We’ll update this blog with FAQs as they come in and we’re always happy to answer individual questions as well. We want you to put together the best application possible.
Resume. You should have a resume that is in good shape from your summer job hunt. Now, just add your summer position(s) and any new honors or activities, such as journal membership. Once you have lined up a job for your 2L summer, add that as well. Unless you have significant pre-law school work experience, keep it to one page. If you’d like an example, this is Prof. D’Onfro’s resume from when she applied for clerkships.
References. You should plan to ask 2-3 people for references. Some positions only require two references, but more competitive judges, especially at the federal appellate level, typically prefer three. Ideally, two of your references will be faculty members from your first-year or upper-level substantive classes. We ask that you fill out the Judicial Clerkship Reference Request Form and include that when you ask faculty for a reference. Once you have confirmed your faculty recommenders, email their names to jcrecommendations@wulaw.wustl.edu along with copies of your Judicial Clerkship Reference Request Forms.
Cover Letter. You will send a short, generic cover letter to most judges. It should convey the basic information about you, but it isn’t a personal statement about why you want to clerk. And it won’t impress the judge for you to extol your virtues in the letter. Here is a sample of what we recommend. For judges where you have some real connection—most importantly, a personal geographic connection to where the judge sits—you should add a sentence or two explaining that fact. Your goal in including this information is to make the judge realize why you might be particularly interested in clerking in, say, Wyoming—and thus why you’re likely to accept an offer. If you intend to stay in their geographic region after clerking, you should mention that where applicable. For clerkships where you have no geographic connection or interest, focus on your general interest in clerking, and the specific court you are applying to where possible.
Transcripts. Make sure you have a few official undergraduate transcripts on hand for the judges who request them. (We only know of a handful of state clerkships that ask for official transcripts, but since these can take a few weeks to get from your prior institutions, get them now!) Spend time now making an unofficial law school transcript so that you don’t have to do it later.
Writing Sample. Make sure you have something that has not been edited by anyone else. If you’re just finishing 1L, your legal writing assignments are probably your best bet until you have a chance to develop a better writing sample though your summer position, a clinic, moot court, or a seminar paper. Pay attention to what judges on your list are asking for, since some ask for persuasive writing while others prefer law review-style notes. Fortunately, most don’t have a preference.
List of Judges. To maximize your chances of success, apply broadly—a list of 50+ judges is a good start, but you should even go broader than that. If you have strong recommendations and interview well, anything is possible—and, for better or for worse, luck plays a significant role.
Clerkships are nationally transferable credentials that will propel you to the highest echelon of the legal profession. Given that, it’s not a good idea to limit your search to a narrow geographic area. Even if you want to practice long-term in, say, San Diego, it isn’t a good strategy to only apply to San Diego-based judges. That will significantly limit your options—and make it a lot less likely you’ll get a clerkship.
You should also consider state court clerkships, which are often somewhat less competitive than federal clerkships but no less rewarding. We have some excellent resources for researching state court opportunities on the judicial clerkships website.
But don’t stop there! If you love criminal law or crave trial experience, consider federal magistrate clerkships. If you see yourself working in banking, securities, consumer, or commercial law down the road, consider federal bankruptcy clerkships. And don’t overlook the other specialized courts like the Federal Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the United States Court of Federal Claims, and the various administrative courts. NALP has a great guide covering opportunities with ALJs.
In short, no matter where you are in the class, there is a clerkship for which you’re a viable candidate. Make an appointment with one of us to discuss your best strategy if you are not sure.
Once you have a list, fill out the State and/or Federal Judicial Clerkship Applications Spreadsheet and send it to jcrecommendations@wulaw.wustl.edu. May 18, 2018 is the deadline for priority handling of applications over the summer. All other requests will be processed in the order they are received. You can make changes to this spreadsheet after you submit it, but please be considerate of the administrative staff.