Wow, GW and UGA make the list. Where my Devils at?

--Devil in Disguise

Justice Thomas returns to the Ivy League, after hiring from GMU, GW, Creighton and Rutgers for OT 2008.

Phil Telfeyan?

NEVER AGAIN SHOULD AN HLS GRAD GO WITHOUT A SCOTUS CLERKSHIP IN A WORLD OF 37 SCOTUS CLERKSHIPS

Hopefully, Kennedy's clerks will be smarter than the one who made the big boo-boo about the death penalty for rapists of young children. Check out Greenhouse's article in this morning's NY Times. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.

How in the F*CK does GW keep getting SCOTUS clerkships?

Oh yeah, they're all with Scalia, Thomas, and Rehnquist. Have fun with that.

Rehnquist is deceased, so expect the number to decrease somewhat.

9:04 - Janice Rogers Brown hasn't fed as much to the Court as one might have expected.

This GW hire is legit. Jonathan is as smart as they come and more deserving than many ivy-league SCOTUS clerks.

OT 09 shaping up to be a good one for O'Scannlain (Lat's former boss).

2clerks1term

Anyone have info on the UGA grad? Want to see if my suspicions are confirmed...

9:49 - Refresh your browser. UGA grad = Merritt McAlister.

Merritt graduated UGA in 2007 and is clerking for Anderson, 11th Circuit

Conservative feeders are all in flux. Is Scalia done with Koz?

GW is a great, underrated school. Sorry folks, but T14 is not a magic threshold.

9:15 - ROFL - b/c I'm SURE you'd turn down a clerkship with Scalia, Thomas, or Rehnquist. Asshat.

I wonder if Jonathan will slow down enough for Scalia to understand him...

But he's a brilliant mind and a terrific guy. And is relatively aligned with Scalia (which is unusual coming from GW). We could see this one coming a mile away.

Hey, where are the Georgetown clerks this year? Oh, wait...

Still though, in the last 6 terms, there have been at least 5 clerks from GW. Any other school that can say the same is T10. Why GW? Why conservative justices?

Josh Deahl is a great guy. Good for him!

It is relatively weird that GW is sending to conservative justices. I've known at least one conservative student who transfered out after first year, in part because of that.

10:09 -- That makes no sense.

10:15 - I think 10:09 was pointint out that GW is not a conservative school. Most of the students are fairly liberal, as are almost all of the faculty. Hardly unusual for a law school.

This is to be contrasted with GMU, which holds itself out to be conservative.

10:08 - seconded. Go Blue!

I thought GW and Georgetown were the same thing???

Has CT only hired one clerk so far? Doesn't he usually hire way in advance?

Because the conservatives at GW are the only ones with a brain at that school. It's like a breath of fresh air passing through a coal-mine.

Because the conservatives at GW are the only ones with a brain at that school. It's like a breath of fresh air passing through a coal-mine.

-AS

Good job Scott!

- hook 'em

Only one Chicago guy?

Columbia and NYU need to start representing, too.

No STANFORD?

NYU, another pathetic early performance. Hey Ricky, get someone who actually knows what they are doing in charge of clerkships!!!

Thanks Bert and Eric (and whomever else played a major role in the protest) for ruining NYU's chance for the foreseeable future of getting a Scalia clerk. That was incredibly selfish of you guys.

These clerks are very lucky. Assuming they network throughout the term and apply to the right firms, they could earn a job and a warm-cooked meal.

Hey Lat,

What happened to the Stevens Northwestern clerk speculation?

Jonathan Bond is definitely one of the sharpest legal minds I have ever encountered and fully deserving of this honor. On top of that, he is a really nice, sincere guy.
Congrats Jonathan!

Michigan is back in business!

UGA has had 4 clerks in the past five years. I guess the legal talent at the top has gotten a little to incestuous. Norther Prep School + Ivy Undergrad + Ivy Law = no chin and overblown

Michigan is back!

Michigan is hardly back in business. It's emitting a feeble, choking death rattle.

So far, there are only 3 schools with more than 1 clerkship slot for this term.

Michigan is not one of those schools.

No one will ever replace Heidi Bond, the greatest student legal blogger of all time, but this new guy might resemble her in some positive way.

[University of Michigan, after losing to tOSU 34-7 instead of the previous year's 34-0]:

Michigan is back!

11:25 - addition's not your strength. UM has 2 (and counting)...

And don't even bother counting the SOD slot.

And don't even bother counting the [O'Connor] slot.

If UM gets another, I'll eat my hat.

And several of Phil Tefelyan's.

11:28 - accurately abbreviating the names of Supreme Court Justices isn't your strength. UM has 2 (and counting)

Elitists tend to underestimate the intellect of those students who finish at the very top of the non T14 state schools. UGA. Florida. UNC. Wisconsin. The curve is harsher; the competition is presumably more cutthroat. I'm sure the kid from UGA is damn deserving. I say this as one of the non-elitist Ivy Leaguers.

Question: Why is GW getting so many SCOTUS clerkships with the conservative wing?

Answer: Professor Bradford Clark.
http://www.law.gwu.edu/Faculty/profile.aspx?id=1748

11:32: we don't underestimate it so much as presume that a similar candidate at a better school had to beat tougher competition.

Would you rather have first at CLS or first at UGA?

11:25/11:28 - neither addition nor spelling are your strength. Must be a Buckeye.

11:25 - Michigan's self proclaimed bread and butter is putting at least 1 or 2 clerks on the court each year. This year we have 1 or 2 clerks, just like almost every year since 1990. Rarely more, never less (until this year). Thanks for the over inflated conception, but we are in exactaly the same position we have always been in.

UM will soon rightly assume its place in the top 3

11:37; I'd take the one with the better personality/ other achievements, especially if the one at UGA went there to escape 150K in loans.

11:42: nobody with CLS credentials ends up at UGA. They could probably take a full-ride at Cornell or another lower-T14.

Does anyone know what supplements they used? I'm wondering how they excelled in Law School.

Expect at least one more for UMich, if not two!

If the Justices had to pick blindly, based solely on resumes and transcripts, then the only rational choice would be to take the similarly ranked applicant from the more prestigious school because on average they will be smarter and better prepared for the clerkship. But that is not how the system works. The choice between number one at CLS and a person with astronomical grades and stellar recommendations from UGA is not the real choice. The answer is to interview both and hire the one who shows more intelligence in the course of a rigorous interview.

11:44 - That is absurd. I got into HLS, SLS and CLS, but did not get a single full ride from a T14 school. Good scholarships, yes, but no full rides. There are a number of reasons one might choose to attend a state law school in addition to the monetary benefits, especially if one is interested in state politics. I chose a higher ranked law school, but I know people who have made the opposite choice.

11:37 - I'd take the one who had the best overall package (personality, writing ability, etc). Fair enough to say that the one from CLS has probably beaten out stiffer competition, but the one from UGA could be every bit as bright.

I know a kid from the south who applied only to his state law school, in spite of numbers that would have surely gotten him into a T14 school. He just doesn't have any interest in leaving his home state. There seem to be some people like that at places like UGA. Bright enough to go elsewhere and succeed, but just opted to stay home.

I'd hire the better fit, whether UGA or CLS.

Seconding, thirding, or whatever 10:08 and all the others saying Josh Deahl is a great guy. He is a great guy. And really damn sharp. Hee! My grad. year prediction came true, I said that he and Heidi were Supreme Court Clerk material. (Pats self on back.)

Josh Deahl is an amazing guy. He's a total ladies' magnet. We were so jealous of him at the law school.

What is Heidi Bond doing these days?

12:33:
Not sure. Haven't seen her on IM or kingdomofloathing for a long time. And qiken has been offline forever it seems.

I guess Ginsburg doesn't read ATL:
http://abovethelaw.com/2008/06/follow_up_on_phil_telfeyan.php#comment-610110

Lat, did you ever get any any resolution on that little scandal?

12:33:
Not sure. Haven't seen her on IM or kingdomofloathing for a long time. And qiken has been offline forever it seems. She might be in Chicago where her b/f is doing his residency.

Does Lat want to do a follow-up story on everybody's favorite former blogger and SCOTUS clerk?

I hope Heidi gets back to blogging, too.

Profile of Katherine Twomey:
http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2008_sum/grad_awards.htm#twomey

10:18 AM:

GW is not a conservative school, but it's not overwhelmingly liberal, as you suggest. It's no George Mason, for sure, but most law schools aren't. I'd say that conservatives are better-represented at GW than most comparable law schools (say top 30-40).

And Brad Clark is definitely reason #1 that GW has gotten so many SCOTUS clerkships over the last couple of years. That's not to denigrate GW's students---all of the students who got clerkships deserved them (particularly Jon Bond)---but without Clark pulling strings, I doubt their talent would have been fully appreciated.

11:32 - Don't forget about Maggs:
http://www.law.gwu.edu/Faculty/profile.aspx?id=1769

"Last weekend, after handing down the last opinions of October Term 2008..."

Isn't the October Term defined by the year the term begins? If so, then the term just concluded was October 2007.

See, for example,
http://www.volokh.com/posts/1120073603.shtml

12:53 - and John Duffy:
http://www.law.gwu.edu/Faculty/profile.aspx?id=5945

Barchas also made it to Miss America. Sometime G*D gives with both hands :-)

Uh, GWU fans, just about every T-14 (indeed, even T-25 probably) school has a faculty filled with former SCOTUS clerks. Those profs all may be great, but I'm not sure they're the reason. I mean, it could be that they are incredibly effective lobbyists for their students, but it's not like all the other top schools have faculties that lack such credentialed potential lobbyists.

Stevens really likes the (Bullman-)Pozen family... first JBP and now Dave!

1:32, NYU has only liberal clerks of both conservative and liberal judges. As such, NYU has no pull with any conservative justice. We had Duffy as a visitng professor but the liberal law students at our school could not stomach his views, including a certain Calabresi clerk.

I bet that Roberts will pick:

Yale
Yale
Harvard
Harvard

1:17, word. And she is a genuinely nice person to boot. Crazy!

1:32 is right in one respect. Maggs and Duffy are awesome legal scholars in addition to being former SCOTUS clerks, but they probably don't have "clerk-making" power. Tom Colby is just as bad-ass, but also probably doesn't have much sway. Not yet anyway.

On the other hand, Brad Clark is genuinely a heavyweight when it comes to influence with Scalia and other major conservative judges. Clark is supposedly Scalia's favorite former clerk, and still maintains a strong relationship with Bork, and his former colleagues at OLC.

His influence can take an applicant to the next level- at least with the conservative wing of the Court.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2006/12/11_barchas.php

The word "accomplished" is understated when describing this woman. I'm not surprised to see her clerking for SCOTUS -- the real question is when we'll see her on the bench itself.

Yay Vince (Levy)! Smartest guy I ever met and super nice too.

Why does SDO get clerks when she's retired? What are these clerks doing?

I believe each retired Justice is, for the rest of his/her life, entitled to one clerk.

What that clerk actually does is anyone's guess. I suspect they pay the Justice's bills, make tea, vaccuum, and draw the Justice's bath.

Way to go, UMich. Keep chugging along. I'm only giving you 1/2 a clerkship for the O'Connor spot.

Ah, vacuum only has one c, doesn't it. I always screw that up.

O'Connor sits on circuit COA panels. And she travels and gives speeches.

So she still writes opinions and preps. for oral arguments.

I wonder whether anyone told the non-T14 clerks that Law School was a mistake beforehand. I guess that anonymous internet tipsters aren't always correct about school rankings and potential.

::rolls eyes::

Her clerk is also loaned out to and works for one of the other justices on the Court each term

1:56, is she single?

1:17: and to Miss USA (I think she was Miss Idaho Teen USA, Miss Idaho USA, and Miss Idaho). She apparently can impress both pageant judges and Supreme Court justices!

1:17: and to Miss USA (I think she was Miss Idaho Teen USA, Miss Idaho USA, and Miss Idaho). She apparently can impress both pageant judges and Supreme Court justices!

FYI, the O'Connor clerk splits their time with another justice's chambers. And they get the hiring bonus. So I'm saying they count. Does anyone know if they have to do the cert pool, though?

3:24, Elizabeth Barchas is now known as Elizabeth Barchas Prelogar, very recently married.

anyone know if that's Rice alum Merritt McAlister?

4:57, Yes, that's her.

3:05, the argument isn't that a degree from a lowly-ranked law school (and I wouldn't consider all non-T-14 schools lowly-ranked) is worthless. It's that attending a lowly-ranked law school is a bad risk unless one gets a substantial scholarship. The fact that a few Pepperdine and Cardozo students have earned a SCOTUS clerkship doesn't alter that fact.

1:53, Colby is bad ass, and a super good guy. While young(er), he'll get there I think.

Jonathan Bond is gifted with a first-class legal mind. No one should be surprised to find him clerking for Scalia.

I would add that GW is far more moderate than its reputation on this board would suggest. There are many conservatives on the faculty and in the student body.

Given that GW is proud to be the first eco-friendly school, I believe its conservative credentials are greatly exaggerated.

9:54 - Yeah, because eco-friendliness and conservativism are mutually exclusive.

9:54- That's the worst supporting argument I've ever heard.

To 9:54---For future reference, when conservatives say that they are "burning the midnight oil" they don't go burn a barrel of crude. In case you were doing that.

For all of the GW trolls:

GW is indeed a top school for S.C. clerkships over the last couple of years, and there's no indication that the hiring from GW will stop.

This still doesn't mean that GW is a great underrated school with great job prospects. If it was, I would have a fucking job. Great for those S.C. clerks (one of whom I know and is a great person) who will likely get whatever job they want. But being slightly better than average at GW gets you about a 50% chance at a biglaw job. I fell into the shitty half.

The woman from UGA clerking for Stevens is incredibly bright and personable. She is a great choice.

for the love of God, someone please select a clerk from nyu

Congratulations Hyland Hunt! Not only is she brilliant, she's also kind and down-to-earth. Stevens will very much enjoy working with her.

Indeed, with her general meekness, Hyland also could easily be voted as person you would least suspect to have commanded a platoon (or some sort of military unit) of US troops in Afghanistan before coming to law school.

Hyland Hunt is so brilliant it's ridiculous. She's going to be a fantastic clerk.

As far as I remember Josh had one speed which he used to do two things. He was either burning the midnight oil studying or burning the midnight oil partying. His graduation speech was basically about how he is/was addicted to the law.