Freshly Baked Crack for the Clerkship Addicts Among You
For the limited but passionate segment of the ATL readership that avidly follows the federal judiciary and clerkship news, the past week has been a good one.
First, there was this very interesting Legal Times article by Joe Palazzolo, about the debacle known as the law clerk hiring process. Executive summary: "As in most family feuds, it's the kids who suffer most. In interviews, newly hired law clerks rated this year's hiring frenzy on a scale from 'unfortunate' to 'an utter mess.'"
At the D.C. Circuit, lights shone in the windows of some judges' chambers before dawn on Sept. 19. They had scheduled their first interviews between 6:45 and 7 a.m.[Yale Law School Professor Christine] Jolls, who is a member of a committee of professors and deans that advises the Judicial Conference on the hiring process, says she got a 2 a.m. e-mail from one of her students who had just emerged from an interview with a 2nd Circuit judge. The judge had scheduled the interview for Sept. 19 at 12:01 a.m.
If you know, feel free to identify the judges who scheduled these insanely early interviews, in the comments.
Second, for those of you follow clerkship bonus developments, on Tuesday the ever-helpful Law Clerk Addict posted an updated Vault 100 clerkship bonus chart. You can access it here.
Third, today the National Law Journal serves up a delightful profile of the nation's #1 judicial superhottie (male), Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit. As of December 1, make that CHIEF Judge Kozinski. Congratulations, Your Honor!
Links to the aforementioned sources, plus excerpts and commentary on the Kozinski profile, appear after the jump.
Update: Also after the jump, some scuttlebutt about which judges were conducting the midnight and early morning interviews.
The profile of Judge Kozinski, by Pamela MacLean, was also picked up by Peter Lattman over at the WSJ Law Blog (in which we get a lovely shout-out). Much of it will be familiar to Kozinski groupies, but there are some new nuggets:
The intellect and intensity he brings to his pursuits can also mean he tires of them and quickly moves on to the next new thing. His latest project: "I'm buying old copies of Playboy magazine on eBay, because everything I learned about writing I learned from Playboy fiction," he said in a recent phone interview.
See? Somebody DOES buy Playboy for the articles!
There are also some surprisingly candid remarks from some of Judge Kozinski's colleagues, like the archliberal Judge Stephen Reinhardt:
Reinhardt said the only difference a chief judge makes is getting a vote on every 11-judge en banc panel, which automatically includes the chief judge. With Kozinski on every en banc "we will have one bad vote instead of one good one right from the start," he said.
And a not-so-veiled allusion to Judge Kozinski's forceful personality, from outgoing Chief Judge Mary Schroeder:
"He has more than enough brains for the job, but he should keep in mind we operate the best when we have the good will of all the judges in the circuit," Schroeder said.
(Although some on the Ninth Circuit say that the allegedly brittle Schroeder could have used such a reminder too....)
Anyway, we're looking forward to the Kozinski era at the Ninth Circuit, which will be nothing if not interesting. We're hoping for no small amount of fireworks and increased internal benchslappery. Exciting stuff!
P.S. Could we be entering an era of larger-than-life, highly charismatic chief judges? Roughly one year ago, another prominent federal appeals court, the Seventh Circuit, was taken over by Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook -- another one of the federal judiciary's leading lights and more colorful characters.
Update: From a tipster:
I have heard from two different sources that the Second Circuit judge who interviewed at 12:01 was Judge Guido Calabresi. It is also my understanding that several DC Circuit judges were interviewing at 7 a.m. or before. I have heard that specifically with respect to Judges Brett Kavanaugh and Merrick Garland, but I think that more than that did it.
We're not surprised. Judges Calabresi, Kavanaugh and Garland get some of the very best law students in the country as their clerks -- and feed many of them into Supreme Court clerkships. The early birds get the worms.
Law Students Navigate Interviews and Cross-Country Travel to Get a Clerkship [Legal Times]
Longtime Rebel Alex Kozinski Prepares to Lead the 9th Circuit [National Law Journal]
Spotlight on the Ninth Circuit’s Alex Kozinski [WSJ Law Blog]
Vault 100 clerkship salary bonus chart [Federal Appellate Judicial Clerks 2008 / Law Clerk Addict]
(33) Comments
first. (sorry, I couldn't bare it!)
think he'd let me mop his floors?
nice, lat! back to your roots!
The Vault 100 bonus list is misleading -- Gibson Dunn's raise to $50K is not effective until Jan. 1. This fall's clerks get $35K.
at and da judge go way back:
See this oldie (2005) from Legal Pad:
http://legalpad.wordpress.com/2005/11/16/judge-had-the-skinny-on-a3g/
“The identity of the blogger behind the judicial gossip site “Underneath Their Robes? was outed by the New Yorker this week to much fanfare.
First off — and in contradiction to his online persona — the blogger known as “Article III Groupie��? is not a gossip-hungry female lawyer (he’s a man).
And second, he doesn’t work at a big firm. In fact, David Lat is a federal prosecutor in New Jersey. This came as a big surprise to most Article III Groupie groupies, although many news outlets (including the New York Times) pointed out that Richard Posner, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judge, last year speculated that the blogger was a man.
>>>>>But for one Ninth Circuit judge, there was no mystery.
“I knew about a year ago,��? said Judge Alex Kozinski, who bestowed the nickname “A3G��? on Lat’s online persona. It turns out that during Kozinski’s attempt to get nominated to the list of federal judiciary “superhotties��? (he eventually won), one of the judge’s clerks — a Lat law school classmate — had a hunch. And an e-mail trace proved him right. But Kozinski kept quiet, he said, out of fear that outing the blogger would bring her — um, him — professional repercussions.<<<<<
Eighteenth!
We lost Jolls? Damnit .. she was a hottie.
Kozinski didn't interview prospective clerks at dawn or midnight on 12/19 - he just interviewed them a full 10, 11 days before. nice.
he'll be a fun chief judge, though.
Why does the brooks brothers ad on your page say you can buy 3 shirts for $189, but when you click on it, there's no way to get that discount?
Wouldn't a lesser judge who wanted to poach the bright-lights who Calabresi is hiring be the one interviewing at 12.01am? What am I missing here?
I interviewed with a lawyer who kept me waiting in his office until 8:00 p.m., presumably so I could see how late everyone worked.
12:01 a.m. is a tad extreme.
Was there an exploding offer at the end if the interview?
6:10
i sure hope so
cadwalader only 15K?!?! really?!?!
I don't have a problem with these Judges setting early AM interviews. In fact, I give them props for (1) being willing to follow the letter of the rules (unlike some of their colleagues) and (2) being willing to drag themselves to the office for a midnight or pre-7AM interview.
At least these judges are honorable enough to follow the rules the judiciary ostensibly agreed to. These are the judges that can be considered the true strict constructionists / anti-judicial activists. The others follow the rules only when it suits them, I guess.
It was my understanding that "the rules" required judges to wait until 1 p.m. EDT. Wrong?
"At least these judges are honorable enough to follow the rules the judiciary ostensibly agreed to."
The "judiciary" didn't agree to these rules. Certain judges did, while others didn't and don't opt in. It is a completely voluntary system, notwithstanding what the law schools say. And what's wrong with that, anyway?
Actually, the rules didn't require them to wait until 1 p.m.; that rule was rescinded shortly before the hiring day. See http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/lawclerk.nsf/Content/CriticalDates?OpenDocument ; no 1 p.m.
The person whom Calabresi interviewed at 12:01am is my classmate. Calabresi extended that interview time so that that student could make a flight to the west coast for more morning interviews. He did not extend an offer until the end of the day of interviews (which I understand is standard protocol for him).
10:43 is correct. Heard it from the clerk herself.
ZZZzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
xoxoGuy--
that time only applied to the day for contacting students... there was some misleading stuff sent out from OSCAR at some point
Isn't scheduling an interview at 12:01 am the red flag sign that this is a wacko judge you don't want to do time with? It would be to me.
Sheesh (so glad I'm 25+ yrs. down the road from this insanity).
I just finished up a clerkship on the DC Circuit. Judge Kavanaugh has amazing hair -- like his first should be, well, Brett.
Calabresi had at least one clerk from UCLA set for next year weeks ago.
Thanks for the updates! I've updated the chart!
http://lawclerkaddict2008.blogspot.com/2007/08/chart-below-indicates-clerkship-salary.html
"MANY (maybe 50% of circuit clerks) can't hack it in private practice"
Enjoyed that one.
12:47--
Either that or they realize being a slave to billables isn't worth it. But I guess there's no distinction in your mind between being able to "hack" something and not wanting to.
12:47-
Yeah, that or circuit clerks have the credentials to move on to something better after they pay their debts off.
Lawclerkaddict:
Gibson Dunn needs an asterisk on the chart -- the bonus remains $35K for associates starting this fall. $50K doesn't go into effect until Jan. 1...
I don't understand this clerkship thing. Why don't they "match" like medical residencies do? After interviews, etc. the residency program lists their favorites and the aspiring resident lists his/her favorites in order. Then a computer matches them up--finished! They all find out on "match" day. I don't know what happens to those programs who break the rules--perhaps the schools won't send recommendations, grades, etc. to them anymore.
6:56: who said the interviews were in their offices?
Bomp chicka bomp bowwww
"Bomp chicka bomp bowwww"
Laughing out loud here.