Department of Justice, Federal Government, SCOTUS, Solicitor General's Office, Supreme Court

Congratulations to the Newest Class of Bristow Fellows

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In our reader poll on possible Supreme Court nominees — which is still open, by the way — Solicitor General Elena Kagan is leading the pack, at least in terms of the predictive poll. At the current time, a majority of respondents believe that she will be nominated by President Obama to the seat of Justice John Paul Stevens. (On the prescriptive side, i.e., who SHOULD be nominated to replace JPS, a plurality of you want to see Judge Diane Wood get the nod.)

So Kagan may soon be leaving the SG’s office. But new talent is coming aboard, starting in September or so, through the Bristow Fellowship program. These staggeringly prestigious fellowships allow recent law school graduates, typically coming out of clerkships with federal appellate judges (often feeder judges), to get involved in the work of the Solicitor General’s office, representing the United States before the Supreme Court.

We’re a little late in bringing you the news of the Bristow hires — they were notified weeks (even months) ago — but better late than never. A reader email reminded us that we hadn’t covered the announcement. So we did some digging and obtained their names.

So who are the new Bristow Fellows? Do we know their law schools and clerkships?

Why yes we do. Here are the Bristow Fellows for 2010-2011:

Matthew Nicholson (UVA / Wilkinson)
Erica Ross (Stanford / Tatel Tot)
Michele Shamblin (LSU / E. Jones)
Gerry Sinzdak (UC Berkeley / Berzon)

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In addition, Weili Shaw (Harvard) will serve as Special Assistant to the Solicitor General.

Bristow Fellows often go on to serve as Supreme Court clerks (just like attorney-advisers at the Office of Legal Counsel, aka the Finishing School for the Elect). Of the four foregoing fellows, one has already secured a SCOTUS clerkship. Gerry Sinzdak is the previously unidentified Boaltie / Berzon clerk who will be going to Justice Ginsburg for October Term 2011.

You can read more about Nicholson and Shamblin — and see pictures of them (both are attractive) — via the links below. Congratulations to this worthy foursome!

Bristow Fellows [Office of the Solicitor General / U.S. Department of Justice]
Nicholson ’09 Named Solicitor General’s Office Bristow Fellow [Virginia Law]
Shamblin Chosen for Bristow Fellowship [LSU Law]

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