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Clerking for a judge is right up there with doing law review and having rich parents when it comes to things that can propel your career. But, much like knowing which professors to spend office hours with, it takes a bit of savvy to know which judge to clerk for. That selection process will be a little easier about a month from now. From Washington Post:
A database is launching next month that will allow young lawyers to review the judges they worked for and give law students a way to learn which judges have good — or bad — reputations as employers.
You know the other database that can give you a much needed heads up? Above The Law! For example, you probably don’t want to work for the judge that called the cops on squeegee men or arrested a little girl to prove a point or flashed a gun at a litigant or harassed an old man for not doing his yard work or read a sham verdict against a civil rights advocate.
We’re so thorough in fact that it works the other way — judges could use us to vet their potential clerks! If Clarence Thomas was a more avid reader, he’d have known that his most recent clerk probably doesn’t like him. That said, his readership may have dropped off after the extensive coverage of him being paid under the table or being asked to resign.
That said, even if you rely on the database instead of us, you’d still be in good hands. After all, Aliza Shatzman has written extensively for Above The Law — it is hard to get a stronger stamp of approval than that. In her own words, knowing the judge you work for can be career-defining:
“You can be almost irreparably harmed” by a clerkship with the wrong judge, Shatzman said. She had planned to become a prosecutor in D.C. But her job offer was rescinded after a negative appraisal from a local judge who called her “bossy” and compared her unfavorably to his wife, a story she recounted to the House Judiciary Committee in 2022 as she advocated better protections for clerks. The following year, she launched her nonprofit with the aim of improving workplace conditions for judicial employees. While the Legal Accountability Project (LAP) has advocated for Congress to make it easier to sue federal judges for discrimination, it is also hoping to help would-be clerks avoid experiences that lead to lawsuits.
This is a much needed service and its great that the person starting it is so close to home.
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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