
Dear students and Alumi:
We are pleased that many of you will be applying for judicial clerkship positions for the 2009 and 2010 court terms.
We continue to hope that members of the Class of 2009 and alums who are undecided or have ruled out a clerkship with a judge will reconsider. Your decision to clerk is one the best you will make in your legal career. The experience will, among other things, sharpen your legal skills -- both written and oral, provide you a front-row seat to our judicial system, and expose you to a wide variety of substantive areas of the law. Most lawyers who clerked for a judge
(or judges) will tell you that the time they spent in chambers is possibly the most rewarding in their entire legal career. As Judge Underhill (U.S. District Court, Connecticut) told us during his recent visit at the Law School, "[a] clerkship will be the best job you ever have, unless you become a judge yourself."
You still have time to apply. For members of the Class of 2009, the critical date to apply for a federal clerkship during the 2009 court term is September 3, 2008; however, you must finalize the list of judges to whom you will apply by July 23, 2008. (See Clerkship Application Deadlines at a Glance, here; see also Federal Judges Law Clerk Hiring Plan).
Alums -- because the Hiring Plan does not apply to you, you may apply to all federal judges anytime prior to September 3. Please note that you need to access our clerkship page via our Law Alumni Connection network.
Students and alums should also consider clerking for a state court judge. In addition to our handbook, please read Judicial Clerkships for Everyone (American Bar Association, Student Lawyer Division) that makes a strong case for state court clerkships. Important application dates for state court clerkships are provided in the 2008 Guide to State Judicial Clerkship Procedures, available on the Virginia Law Clerkship page. Many state courts follow the federal law clerk hiring plan but some have already started receiving applications; a few will accept applications in the fall.
If you are interested in clerking, what you need to do immediately is:
- ask members of the Virginia Law faculty and/or former and current
supervisors and colleagues for letters of recommendation. You need at
least two but some judges require three.
- carefully read the UVA Judicial Clerkship Handbook,
a Virginia Law produced manual that maps out various considerations in
your decision to clerk, and once you do, how to apply.
- review the GPA distribution (clerkship page) for successful Virginia clerkship applicants. Please know that grades are important but are not solely determinative in your ability to land clerkships.
- survey where our graduates have clerked (see Reference Materials in our clerkship page: "Clerkships Accepted: [various court terms]")
- Start preparing a writing sample (see Handbook, at 17)
- read Rat Race: Insider Advice on Landing Judicial Clerkships, also available under Reference Materials.
- Our Handbook provides several resources on how to select judges (see pp. 2-4; 5-10) . Please read these recommendations carefully.
- We admit that we read several impressive clerkship blogs including Clerkship Notification Blog; SCOTUS; Federal Appellate Jud. Clerks and Above the Law. However, if you find information therein that may affect you judicial selection, we highly recommend that you call judges' chambers and ask, with the utmost grace and courtesy, if the judges will accept applications for the 2009 or 2010 terms.
If you have questions on the process, please feel free to contact
us at judicialclerkships@virginia.edu or 434.924.3883 (e-mail preferred).
Virginia Law Judicial Clerkship Program