How Not to Interview for a Judicial Clerkship

A number of years ago, a judge on a state Supreme Court was interviewing a candidate to clerk the following year. At the time, the candidate was a pool clerk for a division of that state's mid-level appellate court, called the Appellate Division. (A "pool clerk" is a clerk assigned to the all of the judges, as opposed to a clerk who works for a particular judge.)

During the interview, the judge asked for a writing sample, and the candidate promptly produced a single sheet of paper that, upon examination, proved to contain a list of citations to perhaps twenty recent Appellate Division decisions, e.g., "Smith v. Jones, 200 App. Div. 1 (19xx)."

The following discussion ensued:

INTERVIEWING JUDGE:

Um . . . this is a list of Appellate Division cases.

CANDIDATE:

Yes.

INTERVIEWING JUDGE:

Um . . .

CANDIDATE:

Oh, those decisions are all mine, every word. They don't write them. Most of the time, they barely read them.

INTERVIEWING JUDGE:

Um . . .