Led by Professor Elora Mukherjee, our Faculty Clerkship and Judicial Relations Committee (“Committee”) includes Professors Kate Andrias, Sara Cleveland, Elizabeth Emens, Kellen Funk, Philip Hamburger and Assistant Dean Andrea Saavedra. Other key faculty members and administrators serve as friends of the Committee to move the OJC’s mission forward. OJC is grateful for their active participation and leadership in CLS’s Clerkships effort.
We are grateful for our faculty’s commitment to the success of our students and alumni in the Clerkships process. Here are five concrete ways that you, as faculty, can assist candidates in the application process.
Our Faculty’s Commitment
Students love war stories, and especially love to hear yours. Please share early and often the benefits of a clerkship to your career, and invite students to reach out to you or the OJC about clerkships.
You'd be amazed how often students tell OJC that they feel awkward discussing clerkship recommendations with their professors. To get the conversation started, ask them to use this clerkship recommendation form in advance of meeting with you about potential clerkships.
If you have connections within the judiciary and feel that a student is a strong candidate for a position, and subject to the Federal Plan, please consider fielding an inbound from your contacts or making a call to Chambers on their behalf.
You can find judge phone numbers (and email addresses) on the Leadership Library, a comprehensive online directory of available contact information for federal and state judges’ chambers. The Leadership Library is available via any CLS-networked computer. Simply click on the link and enter the judge's name in the “Search by name, organization or keyword” box at the top of the page. The judge’s name will pop up, and you should click on it. You will then see the chambers’ contact information. To the extent that judges do not publish their chambers’ phone numbers, the Leadership Library provides a general court phone number.
OJC is glad to work with your faculty assistant to process letters of recommendation. Just let us know how we can help. Our Program Coordinators are here to help.
Consider building a record of your references for future use. This will hopefully assist you when an Law School graduate reaches out to request a recommendation.
