Securing and preparing for a federal clerkship can be a daunting task for even the best law students. How do you stand out in the application stacks? What are judges looking for in applicants? What should you expect during an interview? Should you being taking a specific class?
"Demystifying the Judicial Clerkship Application Process and Experience," a webinar presented by the Law Student Division and the ABA National Conference of Federal Trial Judges, seeks to answer those questions and more.
Clerkship resources and opportunities
- Online System for Clerkship Application and Review (OSCAR) Online resource that streamlines federal law clerk and appellate staff attorney hiring.
- ABA Judicial Clerkship Program A joint effort of the ABA Council for Racial & Ethnic Diversity in the Educational Pipeline and the ABA Judicial Division. This three-day program that brings together up to 100 minority law students from around the country with judges and former law clerks.
- ABA Section of Litigation Judicial Intern Opportunity Program (JIOP) Provides opportunities to students who are members of traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as well as students with disabilities, economic disadvantages or who identify as LGBT. Full time summer internship program (32 hrs./week and 6 week minimum) open to all first- or second-year diverse law students.
About the panel
Josephine Bahn, Moderator
Josephine Bahn is a 3L at New York Law School. She is currently in her second term as Vice Chair-SBA of the ABA Law Student Division. In addition, Ms. Bahn is a member of the Council for the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar within the ABA and serves as a Law Student Co-Chair of the New York County Lawyers' Association. Currently, Josephine is the managing research assistant to former ACLU President and current John Harlan II Professor at New York Law School Nadine Strossen. Additionally, she currently interns with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in their New York Regional Office. Josephine has worked for the SEC in either their headquarters location in Washington, D.C., or in their New York Regional Office since this past May. Previously Josephine interned with Judge Fernando J. Gaiton, Jr. in the Western District of Missouri during Summer 2014. Following graduation from New York Law School in May, Josephine will clerk for Judge Joel Slomsky in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia.
Hon. Leo I. Brisbois, Panelist
Magistrate Judge Leo I. Brisbois currently serves as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota. He was sworn in as a Magistrate Judge on August 30, 2010. He is principally chambered at the Gerald W. Heaney Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse and Customhouse in Duluth, Minn, but he also regularly hears cases at federal courthouses in Minneapolis and Fergus Falls, Minn. He is a member of the bar of the Minnesota State Supreme Court, the United States District Court for Minnesota, the 8th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.
Hon. Barbara M. G. Lynn, (Panelist)
Barbara M. G. Lynn took the oath of office as a United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas on February 14, 2000. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Virginia, Judge Lynn graduated first in her class at Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1976. Upon her graduation from law school, she joined the Dallas law firm of Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, LLP, and remained there until she took the bench. She was named a partner in the firm in 1983 and served on the firm’s executive committee from 1983 to 1999. She served as the 1998-99 Chair of the American Bar Association’s 60,000 member Section of Litigation.
Hon. Margaret B. Seymour, Panelist
Margaret B. Seymour currently is a Senior U.S. District Judge for the District of South Carolina. Judge Seymour served as Chief United States District Judge for the District of South Carolina from January 2012 to January 2013. She was appointed to the position of United States District Judge for the District of South Carolina on Oct. 30, 1998. She served as U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Florence Division, District of South Carolina, from 1996 to 1998. Prior to assuming the bench, Judge Seymour served in the Office of the United States Attorney, District of South Carolina, from December 1990 until May 1996. She was interim U.S. Attorney from January to May 1996 and from April to May 1993. She was Chief of the Civil Division from June 1992 to May 1996 and an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Civil Division from 1990-1992. She spent a number of years in private practice in Columbia, S.C.
