- Chief Justice Warren E. Burger
- Chief Justice William Rehnquist
- Chief Justice Earl Warren
- Justice Thomas C. Clark
- Justice William O. Douglas
- Justice Byron White
“Clerking for a judge is one of the most prestigious opportunities for law students, and the benefits resonate throughout their careers. It’s an experience that is second-to-none, offering not only professional development but also personal growth. The law school greatly appreciates all of the judges nationwide who bring this opportunity to life.”
Franita Tolson
USC Gould Dean and Carl Mason Franklin Chair in Law
Law Clerk 2007-2008 – Judge Ann Claire Williams, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Law Clerk 2005-2007 – Judge Ruben Castillo, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
“I would not give up my clerkship for any amount of money. I never thought I’d work on so many fascinating cases in such a short time. My time as a clerk included cases involving a major domestic terrorism attack, international drug smuggling conspiracies and a hundred-million-dollar patent dispute. Sure, clerking is good for your career and prestigious, but it is also fun.”
Omar Noureldin ’14
U.S. Department of Justice
Law Clerk 2018-2019 – Honorable Dorothy W. Nelson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Law Clerk 2015-2016 – Honorable Virginia A. Phillips, U.S. District Court, Central District of California
“I would not be the lawyer I am today without having clerked. Clerking gave me insight into how a judge might think about a case, and that perspective has informed my entire career to date. I was invited into the intimate chambers of a federal jurist who dispensed unparalleled advice, wisdom borne of experience, and lots of delicious cookies – all in equal measure. My experience was truly priceless.”
MaryBeth LippSmith ’02
Appellate Lawyer, LippSmith LLP Career Law Clerk 2011-2015 – Honorable Dorothy W. Nelson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Law Clerk 2002-2003 – Honorable Dorothy W. Nelson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
“My clerkship was the foundation of my professional career. I learned from a brilliant judge, great lawyers, and bad lawyers. I could not imagine a better training to be a successful lawyer, effective advocate, and persuasive and succinct writer. From law firms to companies to government, clerkships are recognized as the gold standard.”
Paul Rosen ’05
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Law Clerk 2005-2006 – Honorable Gary Allen Feess, U.S. District Court, Central District of California
“When I joined a law firm, I was in position to hit the ground running and contribute from day one. I was able to hone in on arguments that I knew from experience would be persuasive, and I was incredibly familiar with the legal standards facing our clients.”
Amy Proctor ’11
Partner, Irell & Manella LLP
Law Clerk 2011-2012 – Honorable John Kronstadt, U.S. District Court, Central District of California
“Every year, we hire a large number of young lawyers who have clerked for respected judges on various courts ranging from state court judges all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. They are the young lawyers who are investing in their own future and are headed for success. The training that they receive during their clerkship in legal writing, research and analysis gives them a distinct advantage as they begin their career in private practice. Grappling with real-world, time-sensitive problems has honed their legal instincts and given them an inside perspective on how the law works and decisions are made. There is a reason that we give clerkship bonuses!”
Kenneth Doran ‘81
Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
We have a long-standing tradition of supporting our students’ interest in clerkships. The program is led by the co-chairs of the Gould Judiciary Committee, Preston Ascherin and Andrea Ayvazian.
USC Gould graduates have clerked extensively with judges across all levels of the judiciary.
Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island
U.S. Court of Appeals
FIRST CIRCUIT
Hon. Juan Torruella State Court
MASSACHUSETTS
Hon. Roderick L. Ireland
U.S. District Courts
FIRST CIRCUIT
Hon. Jay Garcia-Gregory
Western Region Superior Court
Connecticut, New York, Vermont
U.S. Court of Appeals
SECOND CIRCUIT
Hon. Dennis Jacobs
U.S. District Courts
CONNECTICUT
Hon. Alan H. Nevas Hon. Alvin Thompson
NEW YORK
Hon. Valerie Caproni
Hon. Ann Donnelly
Hon. Hector Gonzalez
Hon. Diane Gujarati
Hon. Shirley Wohl Kram
U.S. Court of International Trade
NEW YORK
Hon. Jane A. Restani
Hon. Donald Pogue
U.S. Bankruptcy Court
NEW YORK
Hon. Tina L. Brozman
Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
U.S. Court of Appeals
THIRD CIRCUIT
Hon. Ruggero Aldisert
Hon. Joseph Greenaway
Hon. Theodore A. McKee
U.S. District Court
NEW JERSEY
Hon. Anne E. Thompson
PENNSYLVANIA
Hon. Thomas N. O’Neill, Jr.
Hon. Cynthia M. Rufe
Hon. Donald W. VanArtsdalen
U.S. Magistrate Judges
VIRGIN ISLANDS
Hon. George Cannon
State Court
DELAWARE COURT OF CHANCERY
Chancellor William B. Chandler, III
Vice Chancellor John W. Noble
Vice Chancellor Donald F. Parsons, Jr.
Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia
U.S. District Court
MARYLAND
Hon. John R. Hargrove, Sr.
Hon. Peter Messitte
Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas
U.S. Court of Appeals
FIFTH CIRCUIT
Hon. Harold R. DeMoss, Jr.
Hon. John Minor Wisdom
Hon. Priscilla Owen
Hon. Stephen A. Higginson
U.S. District Court
TEXAS
Hon. Micaela Alvarez
Hon. Kenneth M. Hoyt
Hon. Lynn Hughes
Hon. George P. Kazen
Hon. Marina Garcia Marmolejo
Hon. Philip R. Martinez
Hon. Diana Saldaña
Hon. Richard Schell
Hon. Ewing Werlein, Jr.
MISSISSIPPI
Hon. Sul Ozerden
U.S. Bankruptcy Court
TEXAS
Hon. Marvin Isgur
Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee
U.S. Court of Appeals
SIXTH CIRCUIT
Hon. Danny J. Boggs
Hon. Julia Gibbons
Hon. Damon J. Keith
Hon. Karen Moore
U.S. District Courts
MICHIGAN
Hon. Richard A. Enslen
Hon. Robert Jonker
Hon. Stephen Murphy
OHIO
Hon. James Carr
Hon. John David Holschuh
TENNESSEE
Hon. Jon Phipps McCalla
U.S. Magistrate Judges
MICHIGAN
Hon. Jonathan Grey
TENNESSEE
Hon. Tu M. Pham
Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin
U.S. Court of Appeals
SEVENTH CIRCUIT
Hon. John D. Tinder
U.S. District Court
ILLINOIS
Hon. Marvin Aspen
INDIANA
Hon. Philip Simon
Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota
U.S. Court of Appeals
EIGHTH CIRCUIT
Hon. Duane Benton
Hon. Ralph Erickson
Hon. Roger L. Wollman
U.S. District Court
MISSOURI
Hon. Audrey Fleissig
Hon. Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr.
Hon. Scott O. Wright
State Court
MINNESOTA
Hon. Rosalie Wahl
Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Mariana Islands, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington
U.S. Court of Appeals
NINTH CIRCUIT
Hon. Arthur L. Alarcon
Hon. Bridget Bade
Hon. Carlos Bea
Hon. Robert Boochever
Hon. Melvin Brunetti
Hon. Jay Bybee
Hon. Richard H. Chambers
Hon. Herbert Y. Choy
Hon. Morgan Christen
Hon. Walter R. Ely, Jr.
Hon. Jerome Farris
Hon. Warren J. Ferguson
Hon. Ferdinand F. Fernandez
Hon. Raymond C. Fisher
Hon. Alfred T. Goodwin
Hon. Ronald M. Gould
Hon. Cynthia Holcomb Hall
Hon. Procter R. Hug, Jr.
Hon. Sandra Segal Ikuta
Hon. Alex Kozinski
Hon. Salvador Mendoza
Hon. Dorothy Wright Nelson
Hon. Thomas G. Nelson
Hon. Ryan Nelson
Hon. Jacqueline Nguyen
Hon. John T. Noonan, Jr.
Hon. Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain
Hon. Richard A. Paez
Hon. Harry Pregerson
Hon. Johnnie Rawlinson
Hon. Stephen Reinhardt
Hon. Mary M. Schroeder
Hon. Barry Silverman
Hon. Milan Smith, Jr.
Hon. A. Wallace Tashima
Hon. David R. Thompson
Hon. J. Clifford Wallace
Hon. Kim McLane Wardlaw
Hon. Paul Watford
Hon. Charles Wiggins
U.S. District Courts
ARIZONA
Hon. Robert Broomfield
Hon. Raner Collins
CALIFORNIA
Hon. William Alsup
Hon. Percy Anderson
Hon. Annemarie Axon
Hon. Stanley Blumenfeld
Hon. Rudi M. Brewster
Hon. William Matthew Byrne, Jr.
Hon. Daniel Calabretta
Hon. Cormac J. Carney
Hon. Charles H. Carr
Hon. Maxine Chesney
Hon. E. Avery Crary
Hon. Audrey B. Collins
Hon. John G. Davies
Hon. Dale Drozd
Hon. Gary Allen Feess
Hon. Dale S. Fischer
Hon. Richard A. Gadbois, Jr
Hon. Irma E. Gonzalez
Hon. William P. Gray
Hon. Andrew Guilford
Hon. Philip S. Gutierrez
Hon. Peirson M. Hall
Hon. Irving Hill
Hon. Terry J. Hatter, Jr.
Hon. A. Andrew Hauk
Hon. Marilyn L. Huff
Hon. Robert Huie
Hon. Harry L. Hupp
Hon. James M. Ideman
Hon. J. Lawrence Irving
Hon. Judith N. Keep
Hon. William D. Keller
Hon. Robert J. Kelleher
Hon. David V. Kenyon
Hon. George King
Hon. Robert Klausner
Hon. John A. Kronstadt
Hon. J. Spencer Letts
Hon. Ronald S. W. Lew
Hon. Lawrence Lydick
Hon. Howard Matz
Hon. Jinsook Ohta
Hon. Fernando Olguin
Hon. S. James Otero
Hon. Mariana Pfaelzer
Hon. Virginia A. Phillips
Hon. Edward Rafeedie
Hon. William J. Rea
Hon. Manuel L. Real
Hon. John S. Rhoades
Hon. Ernest Robles
Hon. Janis Sammartino
Hon. Mark Scarsi
Hon. James V. Selna
Hon. Christina Snyder
Hon. Alicemarie H. Stotler
Hon. Gary Taylor
Hon. Gordon Thompson, Jr.
Hon. Dickran M. Tevrizian, Jr.
Hon. Howard B. Turrentine
Hon. Oliver W. Wanger
Hon. David W. Williams
Hon. Stephen V. Wilson
Hon. George H. Wu
Death Penalty Habeas Clerk
HAWAII
Hon. David A. Ezra
Hon. Alan Kay
NEVADA
Hon. Roger L. Hunt
Hon. James Mahan
Hon. Howard D. McKibben
Hon. Philip M. Pro Hon. Edward C. Reed
OREGON
Hon. Ancer L. Haggerty
Hon. Michael Mosman
WASHINGTON
Hon. John Coughenour
Hon. Kymberly Evanson
Hon. Richard Jones
Hon. William F. Nielsen
Hon. James Robart
State Courts
ALASKA
Hon. Walter L. Carpeneti
ARIZONA
Hon. Ruth V. McGregor
Hon. Scott Bales
Hon. Daniel A. Barker
Hon. Rudolph J. Gerber
CALIFORNIA
Hon. Paul Boland
Hon. Haley Fromholz
Hon. Ann I. Jones
Hon. Peter J. Meeka
Hon. Dan T. Oki
Hon. Donald R. Wright
Hon. John Zebrowski
HAWAII
Hon. Mark Recktenwald
U.S. Bankruptcy Courts
CALIFORNIA
Hon. Calvin K. Ashland
Hon. Catherine E. Bauer
Hon. Samuel L. Bufford
Hon. Thomas B. Donovan
Hon. Arthur M. Greenwald
Hon. James R. Grube
Hon. Wayne Johnson
Hon. Meredith Jury
Hon. Victoria Kaufman
Hon. Kathleen T. Lax
Hon. Kathleen P. March
Hon. Margaret Mann
Hon. Ernest Robles
Hon. John E. Ryan
Hon. Erithe A. Smith
Hon. Maureen Tighe
Hon. Mark Wallace
Hon. Scott H. Yun
NEVADA
Hon. Cam Ferenbach
U.S. Magistrate Judges
CALIFORNIA
Hon. Volney V. Brown
Hon. Maria A. Audero
Hon. Jacqueline Chooljian
Hon. Nathanael Cousins
Hon. Steve Kim
Hon. Jennifer T. Lum
Hon. Jean Rosenbluth
Hon. Suzanne Segal
Hon. Karen L. Stevenson
Hon. Carolyn Turchin
Hon. Jeffrey W. Johnson
Hon. Patrick J. Walsh
Hon. Carla M. Woehrle
NEVADA
Hon. Lawrence R. Leavitt
Hon. Robert A. McQuaid, Jr.
Superior Court, Law & Motion Department
HAWAII
Hon. Simeon R. Acoba, Jr.
Hon. Robert Klein
Hon. Frank D. Padgett
NEVADA
Hon. Scott Jordan
Hon. Charles Springer
Hon. Valorie J. Vega
WASHINGTON
Hon. H. Joseph Coleman
Hon. James M. Johnson
Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming
U.S. Court of Appeals
TENTH CIRCUIT
Hon. Joel Carson
Hon. Harris Hartz
Hon. Robert H. Henry
Hon. Gregory Phillips
Hon. John C. Porfilio
Hon. Monroe McKay
Hon. Oliver Seth
Hon. Stephanie Seymour
U.S. District Courts
COLORADO
Hon. Sherman Finesilver
NEW MEXICO
Hon. James O. Browning
Hon. Kea Riggs
UTAH
Hon. Tena Campbell
Hon. Bruce Jenkins
Hon. Jill Parrish
Hon. Charles A. Brimmer
State Courts
COLORADO
Hon. Warren O. Martin
OKLAHOMA
Hon. Steven W. Taylor
UTAH
Hon. Matthew Durrant
Alabama, Florida, Georgia
U.S. Court of Appeals
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
Hon. Robert Vance
U.S. District Courts
FLORIDA
Hon. Henry Lee Adams, Jr.
Hon. Cecilia Altonaga
Hon. William P. Dimitrouleas
Hon. K. Michael Moore
Hon. Kenneth L. Ryskamp
Hon. Thomas B. Smith
GEORGIA
Hon. Timothy Batten
Hon. Willie Louis Sands
FEDERAL CIRCUIT
Hon. Timothy Dyk
Hon. Evan Wallach
Specialty Courts Located in D.C.
U.S. COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS
Hon. Carolyn Lerner
Hon. Christine Odell Cook Miller
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel
International Courts
HIGH COURT OF AMERICAN SAMOA
Justice F. Michael Kruse
SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON
The Board of Councilors Clerkship Committee, co-chaired by Matthew Cave ’11 and David Walsh ’85, educates students on the value of judicial clerkships and supports them in obtaining clerkships.
Matt Cave ’11
Co-Chair, Board of Councilors’ Clerkship Committee
Law Clerk – Honorable James Selna, U.S. District Court, Central District of California; and Honorable Alicemarie Stotler, U.S. District Court, Central District of California
Dave Walsh ’85
Co-Chair, Board of Councilors’ Clerkship Committee
Law Clerk 1986-1987 – Honorable Howard B. Turrentine, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
MEMBERSLatrice Burks ’20
Law Clerk 2020-2021 – Honorable Alvin Thompson, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut
Margaret Buckles ’14
Law Clerk 2014-2015 – Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew, U.S. District Court, Central District of California
Victor Elias ’08
Law Clerk 2008-2010 – Honorable Micaela Alvarez, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
Laurie Hasencamp ’85
Law Clerk 1985-1986 – Honorable Warren Ferguson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Lauren McGrory Johnson ’14
Law Clerk 2016-2017 – Honorable George Wu, U.S. District Court, Central District of California
Monica Mahal ’22
Law Clerk 2022-2023 – Honorable Michael Mosman, U.S. District Court, District of Oregon
John Major ’13
Law Clerk 2013-2014 – Honorable Paul Watford, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Law Clerk 2014-2015 – Honorable Alex Kozinski, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Alex Porter ’08
Law Clerk 2008-2009 – Honorable Stephen Wilson, U.S. District Court, Central District of California
Heidi Rummel, Clinical Professor of Law and Director, Post-Conviction Justice Project
[email protected] | (213) 740-2865
Andrea Ayvazian, Associate Director of Career Services
[email protected] | (213) 740-7397
