As everyone knows, obtaining a Federal Judicial Clerkship is an extremely competitive. If you are interested in clerking and are not seeing positive results from your applications this year, there is good news about your future prospects. A recent Philadelphia Business Journal article, confirms that More Federal Judges Seek Law Clerks With Practice Experience. Traditionally, federal judges have hired law clerks straight out of law school or sometimes, in the case of appeals court judges, after they have completed a clerkship in a lower court. But now many are seeking law clerks with actual experience practicing law, often looking to big firms for prospects, reports the Philadelphia Business Journal "Increasingly, young lawyers are putting their path to partner on hold to clerk for a year for an appellate of federal trial judge." For the full text of the article, click HERE.
If a judicial clerkship remains a goal of yours, remember that you can absolutely apply as an alumni. Adding a year of more of legal experience may make you a more desirable and interesting candidate for a federal judge.