Many circuit judges have a great record of sending clerks to the Supreme Court.Aside from this, the application is relatively labor-free it's as brief as a resume and a cover letter., Your circuit court judge can help in other ways too:Often he can put you in touch with the SCOTUS Justice's previous clerks so you can talk with them about their experiences.There's a lot to learn, as interviewing style varies as much as the Justices' personalities. Stuck Drafting A Tough Brief? Four justices have law degrees from Yale Law School and four from Harvard Law School. We want to know your views on law firm policies and culture. Get in-depth analysis of current trends in the legal community, profiles of fascinating professionals, academic issues and lifestyle discussions for law school students, and a few out-of-the-ordinary goings on in the world delivered to your inbox. That's very thoughtful of you.Things at Vedder are great. Supreme Court consists of 9 Justices, a Chief Justice and 8 associate justices, who employ . You can read his latest writing about law and the legal profession by subscribing to Original Jurisdiction, his Substack newsletter. Bijan Aboutorabi, '18. The four clerks for Justice Amy Coney Barrett are Libby Baird, Mike Heckmann, Max Schulman and Zachary Tyree. The second source of data comes from political scientists Andrew Martin . During that period, Harvard sent 491 law clerks to the high court and Yale sent 378. Yeah, and I'm the Queen of Sheba. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. 2023 Breaking Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Aaron Sibarium. The Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court each appoint a law clerk for the 2023-2024 court year. As depicted on the chart below, the Harvard-Yale trend we see with Supreme Court justices also applies with SCOTUS law clerks. All under the guise of viewpoint diversity, which is kinda problematic. The University of Chicago 2 is an interesting outlier. Much To Delaware's Chagrin, Justice Jackson's First Opinion Is In! We find that educational pedigree, as opposed to academic performance or any other qualification, often distinguishes the winners from the also-rans. At the time of writing, all of our interviewees were working at Jones Day. for these positions is 2.2. Are there not enough conservatives at Duke these days? Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. Reach her at karen.sloan@thomsonreuters.com. As the article states, the law of the land should reflect the experiences, education, and ways of understanding and interpreting the Constitution of many different types of qualified jurists. I went to that school and thats correct, (@fawkyearVA) July 22, 2022. 2023 BCG Attorney Search. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. The Top 10 law schools account for 85%, and just 15% of Supreme Court clerks graduated from the more than 200 remaining U.S. law schools. Which Law Schools Produce the Most SCOTUS Law Clerks? As the nation's top court hears arguments today on President Biden's controversial $400 billion student-loan forgiveness program, here is a breakdown of what is at issue and at stake. Subscribe and get breaking news, commentary, and opinions on law firms, lawyers, law schools, lawsuits, judges, and more. Both trial and appellate courts hire clerks. A January analysis of retired justice Stephen Breyers 120-plus clerks found that about a third of them pursued careers in large law firms, some leading nationwide appellate practices. Heres How To Get Yours Right. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Jackson's first Supreme Court clerks include judiciary workplace reform advocate, U.S. Supreme Court launches probe into leak of draft abortion opinion, Where Breyer's clerks are now, from animal rescue to Meta and (lots of) law firms. It is a four-year program designed to provide educational and practical experience through a combination of work and study with an experienced lawyer or judge. Sri Srinivasan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Learn. No other law school can come close to comparing with their numbers. In the past 40 years, only a single Justice was appointed who never attended Harvard or Yale. Judicial Clerkships. Oh, but dont worry gender diversity is *far* from the only diversity issue this class of clerks has. Ive always thought of UVA as a great school for aspiring clerks, but its actually Michigan that outperforms its U.S. News rank the most. It's up to you and your Justice when you start to interview at firms usually it's in June or July. By Becky Beaupre Gillespie. Only 5 schools are more represented than GMU. Do you think there is a problem with the Supreme Court being affiliated with only Harvard and Yale students? The court clerkship selection process, like other elite labor But again, its interesting to note which schools outperform their rank. Six justices have undergraduate degrees from Harvard, Yale or Princeton. The Supreme Court justices in the past century who did earn formal law degrees obtained them from a variety of public and private schools. Since 1960, Harvard has sent 480 graduates to clerk for Supreme Court justices, with Yale close behind with 371. The Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, ranked No. Clerking for the Supreme Court is viewed by many law school graduates as the ultimate achievement, and it can be the catalyst for a highly successful legal career and in some cases, result. Based on interviews with junior lawyers and expert analysis from the Chambers team. //]]> David Thomas reports on the business of law, including law firm strategy, hiring, mergers and litigation. CLERKING at the Supreme Court of the United States is the holy grail, the most prestigious gig any law grad can get. All the metrics and rankings to help you shortlist firms. The chief justice gets $277,700. Clerks read briefs, hear arguments, write memoranda, and make recommendations about how issues and cases ought to be resolved. Sure makes reading them more interesting though. Hoglund graduated from Stanford Law School, and Wacks is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School. Some question if it is a good thing that only two law schools are supplying the majority of the members of the Supreme Court and even the law clerks. . Consequently, neither "seat 5" nor "seat 7" has a list article. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was previously a board member at Georgetown Day School, where tuition for high school seniors approaches $50,000. 66% male84% whitefrom 5% of law schools, More here:https://t.co/1SPp2dm2CA #AppellateTwitter. Ed. Chicago is at #4, with three clerksentirely respectable, but not the bumper crop it enjoyed last year. Of course, Im talking about ASSLaw otherwise known asGeorge Mason Universitys Antonin Scalia Law School, for the uninitiated. New York Times: "Each justice typically hires four law clerks per term. A Supreme Court clerkship is a one- or two-year period of service during which the clerk assists one or more of the justices in researching cases, writing opinions, and maintaining the justice's chambers. [1] Most readers of this publication understand the desirability and prestige of Supreme Court clerkships and the important role that clerks play in helping the justices go about their work, so I wont belabor that here. The latest round of SCOTUS clerks received golden hellos of $300,000 or more from their BigLaw firms (in addition to an approx $185,000 base salary) on arrival as third-year associates. Clerks can command signing bonuses worth $400,000 at major U.S. law firms after their stint ends at the court. Over the years, concerns have been raised re: clerk diversity. Advocates of a less homogenous Court believe that diversity will enhance the evolution of the law and ensure that seminal decisions that change lives and move society in different directions are as fair and representative as possible. I had asked a former SCOTUS clerk I met at a cocktail party how they applied because I was genuinely curious, and this is basically it, especially the last bit. [1], Before the advent of modern law schools in the United States, justices, like most attorneys of the time, completed their legal studies by "reading law" (studying under and acting as an apprentice to more experienced attorneys) rather than attending a formal program. The Law Clerk Program is an alternative to law school authorized under rule 6 of the Washington Supreme Courts Admission and Practice Rule (APR) 6. Five other schools in the so-called top-14 or T14 schoolsNYU, Michigan, UVA, Berkeley, and Columbiaare also in the top ten for SCOTUS clerks. [2], Associate Justice James F. Byrnes, whose short tenure lasted from June 1941 to October 1942, was the last Justice without a law degree to be appointed; Stanley Forman Reed, who served on the Court from 1938 to 1957, was the last sitting Justice from such a background. The study, which collected data on the 1,426 former clerks in the 40-year period ending in 2020, found that more than two-thirds of them attended just five law schools: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia and the University of Chicago" The trend of Yale and Harvard leading the pack continues when looking at SCOTUS law clerks. Of the 38 clerks, 25 are men and 13 are women, making for a class thats 66 percent male and 34 percent female. Neutral reporters? The pool of realistic SCOTUS clerk candidates are a truly niche within a niche group, and they run in very specific circles. Critics of the elite composition of the Court believe that the law of the land should reflect the experiences, education, and ways of understanding and interpreting the Constitution of many different types of qualified jurists, including those who were educated within the intellectual bubbles of Harvard or Yale, but also including many other brilliant and insightful people who were educated at places besides Harvard and Yale. A graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School, she was an editor of the law review and . Justices each work with four clerks. It's the most basic task, and the constant thing that you do during the summer it's practically your only task.The petitions that lawyers write very cleverly argue why their cases should be granted; the clerk's job isto screen out those that are legitimate and write bench memos on what we think about the case.On top of this, there'spreparing your Justice for argument and conference. There are a number of better public law schools that dont have any clerks on the Court, see, e.g., Berkeley, UCLA, Florida, Minnesota, UNC, Alabama, Iowa, Georgia. The Supreme Court said Justice Brett Kavanaugh had brought on Alexa Baltes, Athanasia Livas, Jennifer Pavelec and Sarah Welch. Justice Elena Kagan's clerks were identified as Jennifer Fischell, Alexandra Lim, Christine Smith and Andrew Waks. Biden's student loan relief faces its biggest test yet at the Supreme Court. The Balls and Strikes blog also covered the study. There are over 200 law schools in the United States, yet the current United States Supreme Courtthe highest court in the land and one of the three branches of our federal governmentis comprised of jurists who attended just two of the most elite law schools: Harvard Law School and Yale Law School. Interviews with junior lawyers and expert analysis from the only diversity issue this class clerks... 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