Supreme Court Clerks

Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: The Official List for October Term 2011

By

On Monday we published an update on Supreme Court law clerk hiring. In the wake of that update, we received a veritable cornucopia of tips and news of new hires (for which we thank you).

The most welcome information came from the Supreme Court itself. The Court’s Public Information Office kindly provided us with the official list of law clerks for October Term 2011. This list does not include law school and prior clerkship information, which the PIO will release later this year, but it does allow us to verify all of the crowdsourced hiring information we have gathered on our own.

So let’s take a look at (1) the official list of SCOTUS clerks for OT 2011, courtesy of the Court itself; (2) our unofficial list of OT 2011 clerks, with law school and prior clerkship information; and (3) an updated list of October Term 2012 hires thus far (at least three justices are already done)….

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: The Official List for October Term 2011″

30 Comments

Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: The Changing of the Guard

By

July has arrived. At law firms, partners leave early on Friday, so they can beat the traffic out to the Hamptons (or the Eastern Shore, or the Cape).

At the Hollister store across the street from the Above the Law offices, hot shirtless men stand outside, trying to lure shoppers into the darkened, heavily perfumed, previously bedbug-ridden space. At 7-11 stores, they are giving away 7.11-ounce Slurpees (because today is 7-11 — geddit?).

And at One First Street, home of the Supreme Court of the United States (aka “SCOTUS”), clerk classes are transitioning. July is when outgoing Supreme Court clerks leave the marble palace — do pass go, do collect a $250,000 signing bonus — and their replacements arrive. The arrivals and departures are staggered over the entire month, so the departing clerks can train the newest members of the Elect.

July is a good time for an update on Supreme Court law clerk hiring. Let’s have a look….

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: The Changing of the Guard”

37 Comments

Quote of the Day: Members of the Elect Stick Together

By

That’s very impressive support. Off the top of my head, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. Washington is a small place, and informal channels will generally get word back to the relevant folks in the Senate without a public letter…. But the fact that so many conservative former clerks publicly support [Alison] Nathan’s nomination [to the S.D.N.Y.] is quite impressive.

– Professor Orin Kerr, commenting on a letter signed by 27 former Supreme Court clerks in support of the nomination of Alison J. Nathan, a former law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens who has been nominated to a judgeship on the Southern District of New York.

25 Comments

Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Leiter Than Air

By

Sometimes LEWW scans a wedding announcement with bated breath, praying that we’ll find a law degree so we can write about a couple. We were crushing on Peanut Wong and David Hattaway before we even clicked on their link. But alas, she’s a dental student (of course she is), and he’s an electrical engineer. So we’ll just say this: If you eat the Wong Peanut, you could die.

On to this week’s featured couples:

Elena Saxonhouse and Tulley Rafferty

Kathleen McArthur and Matthew Gross

Alice Brown and Michael Leiter

Get the scoop on these couples — including their registries, résumés, and cheesy wedding websites — after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Leiter Than Air”

Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Buffeted

By

People, here at LEWW we hate reality TV. Really, really, really hate it. It makes us feel bored, uncomfortable, and grossed-out by humanity, all at the same time. We can watch sports, which we suppose is “reality” in some sense, but other non-scripted programming sends us lunging for the remote. Dancing with the Stars? Gagging at the concept. Jersey Shore? Never seen it; sounds appalling. Even the Food Network is too real for us.

And of course, just thinking about those reality wedding shows makes us break out in hives. That said, we are going to be all over the upcoming royal wedding. Step back, Chelsea, this one is going to be the real deal, and LEWW is already counting the days until April 29. Now, to find a legal angle . . . .

On to this week’s couples. We have four finalists for this special Thanksgiving edition of LEWW:

Audrey Christopher and Trevor Austin

Tali Farhadian and Boaz Weinstein

Susan Ambler and Ashley Ebersole

Allegra Glashausser and Michael Price

Read more about these couples, after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Buffeted”

Justice Scalia at the Federalist Society Fête

By

Justice Antonin Scalia, being interviewed by Jan Crawford of CBS News at the Federalist Society's annual dinner in Washington, DC.

On Thursday evening, I had the great pleasure of attending the annual dinner at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention, in Washington, D.C. The event — attended by an estimated 1,400 people, and held in the cavernous ballroom at the Omni Shoreham — featured, as always, conservative and libertarian legal luminaries galore.

(Did Judge Diane Sykes just air-kiss Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain? Isn’t that Ken Cuccinelli over at the bar? What might Judges Brett Kavanaugh and Jeff Sutton be discussing so intently — maybe the latest clerks they’ve placed at the Supreme Court? Whoa — Ted Olson chatting with Justice Samuel Alito! Be still my heart….)

The highlight of the evening was the interview of Justice Antonin Scalia by Jan Crawford, chief legal correspondent of CBS News (who was looking fabulous in a black dress with open sleeves). The justice was in fine form, hilarious and freewheeling in his remarks….

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Justice Scalia at the Federalist Society Fête”

45 Comments

Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Over Half of October Term 2011 Clerks Have Been Hired

By

With a new Term underway, the Supreme Court geeks among you might want to check out, and sign up for, FantasySCOTUS. You can read about it here and register here. (There’s also an educational version for the kiddies.)

The SCOTUS geeks among you might also be interested in the continued action on the law clerk hiring front. In the wake of last week’s post, we received news of several more hires for October Term 2011. Thanks to everyone who contacted us with information; we can’t perform this clearinghouse function without your help.

Without further ado, let’s look at the latest hires for OT 2011….

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Over Half of October Term 2011 Clerks Have Been Hired”

25 Comments

Non-Sequiturs: 10.12.10

By

* Judge Phillips (C.D. Cal.) has suspended enforcement of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Or: “Virginia Phillips has made her decision; now let her enforce it.” [Metro Weekly]

* A new law review article, by Michael Macchiarola (my fellow Regian) and Arun Abraham, looks at the higher education bubble — and proposes “a derivatives-based approach to stemming the runaway educational costs and improving the value proposition for American students.” Who says derivatives are always evil? [SSRN]

* Jeffrey Toobin interviews Columbia law professor Tim Wu, author of the forthcoming and buzz-generating book The Master Switch, about the tendency of communication industries to move from chaos to consolidation / monopoly. [Currents / New Yorker]

* Ashby Jones interviews Monet Pincus, the South Carolina family law practitioner behind the “we don’t work weekends” website. [WSJ Law Blog]

* The attorneys in a class action against Classmates.com are asking for what amounts to an 895% contingency fee. George Mason law professor Michael Krauss, represented by Ted Frank, is objecting to the proposed settlement. [Center for Class Action Fairness via Overlawyered]

* To any of you with juice on Wikipedia, would you please weigh in against paring down the List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States to just “notable” clerks? It’s a very valuable resource. And every member of The Elect is “notable.” [Wikipedia Talk]

4 Comments

Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: New Term, New Hires

By

Monday, October 4, marked the start of a new Supreme Court Term — October Term 2010, to be more specific. It also marked the first day of oral arguments for the newest member of the Court — Lady Kaga, aka Associate Justice Elena Kagan. As Justice White famously observed, a new justice makes a new court.

New Term, new justice, new court — and that’s not all that’s new in SCOTUS-related matters. There’s a new conservative sheriff in town, at least according to Jan Crawford. There’s a new book out about the Court — the long-awaited biography of Justice Brennan, by Seth Stern and Stephen Wermiel.

And, of course, we have new Supreme Court clerk hires to report, for the Term after this one — October Term 2011. Not all the justices are done hiring, at least as far as we know; but if you covet a Supreme Court clerkship, accurately described by Adam Liptak as “the most coveted credential in American law,” you should know that the window of opportunity is closing — fast. One justice has even hired a clerk for October Term 2012.

Let’s check out the new hires, shall we?

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: New Term, New Hires”

12 Comments

Quote of the Day: Except Baristas Don’t Get ‘Venti’ Bonuses

By

[T]hat’s how law clerks are hired. That’s how baristas at Starbucks are hired. You have to ask these open-ended questions because as an employer, you don’t really know… where the pressure points or danger spots in an individual application are.

– Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, comparing hiring law clerks to hiring Starbucks baristas, during oral argument in NASA v. Nelson.

7 Comments
Page 5 of 812345678