Tell me about your town

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by Prudence

As much as I would love to stay within the ninth circuit, the unfortunately reality is that it is one of the three most competitive circuits for clerkship positions (the other two being the second and D.C. circuits.) And while I might have a wall full of awards and a ranking near the top of my class, the reality is that I will not have a degree from a top 12 school, and thus there are many judges who will send my resume directly to the round file. Hence, I have to cast a fairly wide net.

When I was in law school, the joke ran that there were twenty top ten schools.

My vote is that if you're applying for one year clerkships as opposed to permanent staff attorney positions, local quality of life should not be a consideration. I would think that a Ninth Circuit clerkship for a judge based in Anchorage would be as valuable to a firm, wherever it's based, as one for a judge based in Los Angeles or San Francisco. There might be some variance for district court clerkships, but I doubt it. You should ask your career guidance counselors what they think. If they're not on break.