Congratulations To The 2018 Bristow Fellows

Here are the nine most recent classes of Bristow Fellows (36 Fellows in total):

2018 – 2019

Meg Braun (Yale 2016 / Brinkema (E.D. Va.) / Katzmann)
Hunter Bruton (Duke 2016 / Duncan / Huvelle (D.D.C.))
Steve Lindsay (Yale 2017 / Griffith)
Adam Sorensen (UVA 2017 / Wilkinson)

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2017 – 2018

Jo-Ann Karhson (Harvard / K.B. Jackson (D.D.C.) / Kavanaugh)
Michael Qian (Stanford / Garland)
Reema Shah (Yale / Srinivasan)
Maggie Upshaw (Chicago / Fletcher)

2016 – 2017

Julie Karaba (Northwestern / Kavanaugh / Feinerman (N.D. Ill.))
Chelsea Priest (Stanford / Garland)
Joseph Schroeder (U. Chicago / Wilkinson)
Jack Starcher (Columbia / Furman (S.D.N.Y.) / Srinivasan)

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2015 – 2016

Lena Hughes (Columbia / Cote (S.D.N.Y.) / Lynch)
Laura Myron (Harvard / Wilkinson)
Parker Rider-Longmaid (Penn / Scirica / Pratter (E.D. Pa.))
Evan Rose (U. Chicago / W. Fletcher / Chhabria (N.D. Cal.))

2014 – 2015

Z. Payvand Ahdout (Columbia / Livingston)
Galen Bascom (UVA / Garland)
Samuel Harbourt (Harvard / Garland)
Jonathan Meltzer (Yale / Wilkinson)

2013 – 2014

Sarah Boyce (Duke / Sutton)
Travis Crum (Yale / Thompson / Tatel)
Elana Nightingale Dawson (Northwestern / Feinerman (N.D. Ill.) / Kethledge)
Ryan Snyder (Notre Dame / Kethledge)

2012 – 2013

Brinton Lucas (UVA / Wilkinson)
Daniel Taylor (Georgetown / Thapar (E.D. Ky.) / Sutton)
Julia Malkina (Yale / Kavanaugh)
Jonathan Shaub (Northwestern / Niemeyer)

2011-2012

Martine Cicconi (Stanford / Garland)
Jonathan Ellis (Penn / Randolph)
Nicole Ries (Berkeley / W. Fletcher)
Eric Tung (Chicago / Gorsuch)

2010-2011

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

Here are the law schools from which they graduated:

Yale – 6
UVA – 4
Chicago – 4
Stanford – 4
Harvard – 3
Columbia – 3
Northwestern – 3
Berkeley – 2
Penn – 2
Duke – 2
Georgetown
LSU
Notre Dame

It’s dominated by the top 14 law schools — 11 of the T14, with only NYU, Michigan, and Cornell missing — but with cameos from LSA and Notre Dame. It’s also interesting to see how the ranking of schools by Bristow Fellows differs from the U.S. News rankings.

For example, UVA is #8 in U.S. News but #2 in Bristows — noteworthy but not that surprising, given how UVA excels at minting law clerks, the applicant pool for Bristows. Meanwhile, Harvard is #3 in U.S. News and #5 in Bristows. That’s not a huge divergence, especially given the variability you’d expect in a pool this small — there are just four Bristows a year, compared to 36+ Supreme Court clerks — but it’s still interesting. Finally, NYU is #6 in U.S. News, but it hasn’t produced a Bristow Fellow since we’ve been tracking Bristow hiring. (The same is true of Cornell Law — but perhaps NYU and Cornell Law grads are too busy banking the Biglaw bucks, as the #1 and #3 schools ranked by post-graduate compensation.)

Here are the lower-court judges who sent clerks into Bristow Fellowships over this period (note that some Fellows clerked for more than one judge):

Wilkinson – 6
Garland – 5
W. Fletcher – 3
Kavanaugh – 3
Feinerman (N.D. Ill.) – 2
Kethledge – 2
Srinivasan – 2
Sutton – 2
Tatel – 2
Berzon
Brinkema (E.D. Va.)
Chhabria (N.D. Cal.)
Cote (S.D.N.Y.)
Duncan
Furman (S.D.N.Y.)
Gorsuch
Griffith
Huvelle (D.D.C.)
K.B. Jackson (D.D.C.)
E. Jones
Katzmann
Livingston
G. Lynch
Niemeyer
Pratter (E.D. Pa.)
Randolph
Scirica
Thapar (E.D. Ky.)
M. Thompson (M.D. Ala.)

Not surprisingly, there’s lots of overlap here between SCOTUS feeder judges and Bristow feeder judges, but with a few interesting divergences.

For example, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, the #1 SCOTUS feeder judge — the rankings vary depending on the time period selected, but Kavanaugh generally comes out on top, over both the short term and the longer term — is #3 in Bristows. One possible explanation: to the extent that the Bristow is either a consolation prize or a stepping stone to a SCOTUS clerkship, Judge Kavanaugh is so good at sending his clerks directly to the justices that they don’t need Bristows. (And note that you wouldn’t do a SCOTUS clerkship followed by a Bristow Fellowship, even though a Bristow is a great gig, because SCOTUS clerks can’t practice before the Court for two years post-clerkship.)

There are also a number of top SCOTUS feeder judges who don’t produce as many Bristows as one might expect. If you look at this ranking of top 10 SCOTUS feeders, you’ll see two judges not on the Bristow list at all, Judge William H. Pryor Jr. and Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain (which surprised me, given that Judge O’Scannlain encouraged us to apply for Bristows when I clerked for him). And two other major feeder judges, Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann and Judge Thomas B. Griffith, placed their first clerks into Bristows just in this latest cycle. (Note: these observations apply going back to 2010, when we started covering Bristow hiring; we don’t have data prior to that point.)

If you see any errors in the listings above, please let us know. Congratulations once again to the Bristow Fellows, their law schools, and their judges!

Earlier:

David Lat is editor at large and founding editor of Above the Law, as well as the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at [email protected].