Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Live-Blogging the Clerkship Meeting

Live BLOG!

41 comments:

  1. There's like, 20 people here . . . WTF? Joel is a creeper and is sitting next to me. Vomit

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  2. Eric Stern says this is important to the school and like a marathon. I hate sports metaphors. "Put effort in the backend"

    He's still doing the marathon metaphor...it's getting awkward

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  3. Agenda:

    * Intro
    * Process
    * Review of CDO Resources
    * Timeline
    * Questions

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  4. What do clerks do?

    Basically research and writing positions. You're experience will vary depending on the judge, and your subject matter will depend on the court that you work on.

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  5. Benefits:

    * Prestige: "Most prestigious job you can get post grad"

    Yeah, I believe that. I could be The President after I graduate, or Tom Selleck. Both of those OBVIOUSLY trump clerkship

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  6. Real benefits: need to do it for academia, and great for PI fellowships and Gov Honors Progs.

    Then again, Tom Selleck is obviously a more competitive applicant for those programs as well

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  7. Downsides:

    * It's a lot of work. wha wha.
    * Make sure you really want to do this
    * You can always apply post grad
    * It's academic -- some people are sick of that
    * They're here to help

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  8. Which Boalt graduates want to quickly make sure they have unclean hands?

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  9. Sara Giardina just showed up. She's so cute

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  10. This process can be harder for people who have lives (e.g., partners, kids, mortgages). Phew, really cleared that hurdle.

    San Fran is really hard to get. FYI.

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  11. Grad applicants oftentimes do better than people in school.

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  12. Question: Does LRAP apply?

    He lawyer's this. Says that a 1-2 year clerkship does qualify for LRAP under some circs.

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  13. Levels of Fed. Courts:

    * US Supreme Court (where I'm going, obviously). There's a P in Supreme but no H -- coincidence? I think not

    * Something about IP. Shoot. I think he was saying you should do Appeals Ct. As if you don't already want to do that

    * At dist. ct. there are also magistrates, bankruptcy, and these provide similar experiences and are maybe not as hard?

    (Bankruptcy is so hot right now)

    * Specialy Courts: Immigration Courts, Tax Court, Court of Fed. Claims, Armed Forces, ALJs (DOL) -- Some of these are in the Bay Area

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  14. Fed. Dist Court Clerkships: Do I want Ap or Dt.?

    * There are a lot more Dist. ones? Think numbers
    * This is great for litigation folks -- still lots of research and writing, but get exposure to trial ct process. More interaction with parties (I love parties)
    * Get to observe lawyering styles

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  15. Appellate Clerks get to see a lot of writing styles rather than arguing styles.

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  16. State Courts:

    Yeah, b/c I want to move to freezing, miserable, gay hating Maine.

    Uh... I mean...

    A lot of people go to Alaska?! Oh yeah, that guys comes and does all his hiring here.

    State Sp. Cts, St. Appeals, St. Trials. Can be really interesting. Is that like when you say a joke is funny and brightlinerule it's not funny?

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  17. Not much state court opportunities in California --- Cal Sup. Ct. usually hires staff attorneys. Well, I didn't want to work there anyway. (tear)

    Oh, important: State application process is completely different.
    * Some states have VERY early deadlines. Oregon for instance does Spring interviewrs. Washing, Nevada, and Colorado hire early too.

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  18. QUALIFICATIONS:

    * Law School Transcript (oh shit) and Academic Record
    * Evidence of writing and oral abilities
    * Strength of Recommendation Letters (professors and practitioners who've supervised your work). Think about who knows you best, not who has tenure but rather who will TOTALLY go to bat for me? Double uh oh, they care about my demeanor and potential as a lawyer?!
    * Work Experience and Law School Internships: Some people only hire folks with past PI or Gov't experience

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  19. New Drinking Game; Every time he says "Competitive" you have to take a shot

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  20. Stuff about this year:

    * Judges who usually get 400 or so interviews are now getting like 1600. They interview 10-20, give about 2-4 offers
    * Note: Number of applications submitted has not been highly correlated with a high number of interviews

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  21. Shoot, just got a great email from Leslie and Micah and got off track.

    Paper v. Oscar:

    Hmm... graduate applicants can apply early. Brightlinerule, knife graduates.

    Elements of the Application: Resume, Cover, Transcript, 3 Letters of Req.

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  22. Key ELements: Organization and COmmunication (oh, fail)

    * Early Planning:
    * Staying Organized
    * Frequent Communication w/ your advocates
    * Meeting Important Deadlines

    You have to read his emails. It's so sad when they have to beg

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  23. People in your Corner:
    * Him, Eric Biber, Me (not really), Faculty Recommenders, FSU
    * Your non-faculty recommenders
    * Other members of the faculty
    * Professional and Personal Contacts
    * 3L Future clerks and Alumni clerks

    You can create your own opportunities -- kind of like what the 1Ls are going to have to do instead of OCIP next year

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  24. DON'T MASS EMAIL ALUMNI. TACK-TACK-TACKY

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  25. Spring Planning Process Stages:
    * Personal Assessment: Is this something I want to do, where can I live. he basically just told me I can work in a small court in a flyover zone. Even if you have all P's you can get a clerkship in Hell.
    * Research

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  26. Meet with him at least 2 times in Spring. MEET WITH HIM. Seriously. Will help not ruin your summer -- you can ruin your summer yourself

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  27. I have no idea what we're talking about but that's pretty funny

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  28. There's a bunch of guides and materials, you should go find them. All the deadlines, salary stuff, etc. is there.

    There is a guide to OSCAR, a new clerkship database, interview evals, etc.

    How is it already 1:30. Vomit

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  29. Start sleeping with 3L people who already have clerkships -- then hold it over them

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  30. Did he just explicitly endorse bribery???

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  31. Fall of 2010 they'll start doing interview mock stuff. I assume that means that they bring in alumni clerks who mock my application and social skills.

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  32. The powerpoint will be on the website.

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  33. TIMELINE:

    * Now: Think about your 3; your writing sample; somehting else
    * Spring: meet with him, look at the clerkship guide, the materials will be updated early spring
    * Make "the ask" in the spring. The guide will help us talk about that relationship.
    * Talk to 3Ls, start reaching out to alumni,

    Summer:
    * Finalize your reserach
    * They are open during the summer
    * He does only clerkship advising in the summer
    * Create OSCAR profile -- why couldn't this be Big Bird, or Snuffelupagus, or somethign with friendly connotations.
    * Finalize your materials
    * Share them and your judge list w/ your 3 -- then they can identify judges they know.

    JULY 265th:
    * Faculty and outisde recs should be COMPLETED
    * Make arrangements w/ outside recommenders for pic-up/delivery of letters. The lawschool does not help with this for outside recommenders. He will help you though

    BY Early Aug:
    * Stuff and Oscar and drop off. They will fedex a whole BOALT box and judge then looks at the entire box. They charge 2$/app.

    September:
    * Mail to arrive on Sept. 7th.
    * They will have OSCAR online

    Week of Sept. 13th: Callbacks (MISERY)
    * They will help us deal with this period so you strategically schedule your interviews

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  34. Places that have previously hired us tend to keep hiring us. But, this years class is really geographically diverse in comparison which should help us out. A huge pool of alumni applied this year

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  35. Faculty is making a lot more phone calls on our behalf, it's becoming part of our institutional culture, hurray.

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  36. Joel asks some d-bag question about course selection: gunner. He's wearing a striped shirt, and looks like a little boy.

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  37. Why do people open doors to classrooms that way? So annoying

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