“I always say that my clerkship was the best year of my legal career,” said Dave Walsh ’85, a partner with Paul Hastings and the Chair of USC Law’s Board of Councilors’ Clerkship Committee, told a crowd of more than 100 first year law students at the annual Fall Clerkship Reception last week.
The annual event is held to encourage students to pursue judicial clerkships after graduation. Sponsored by six law firms – Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Jones Day, Morrison & Foerster, Munger, Tolles & Olson, Paul Hastings and Sidley Austin – the evening featured several guest speakers who extolled the value their clerkships have had on their careers.
Tamerlin J. Godley ’96, a partner with Munger, Tolles & Olson told the students that a clerkship is the “very best way” to start a legal career.
“It’s something that goes with you throughout your career,” said Godley. “It’s part of your resume. It’s part of who you are. “It’s a gold star.”
Professor Jean Rosenbluth ’93, who did two clerkships before joining the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles , encouraged the students to begin improving their chances for a clerkship now by joining a law journal, develop meaningful work relationships with professors, extern for a judge during one of their summer vacations and strengthening their legal research, writing and analytical skills.
Rosenbluth also encouraged the students to look at clerkship opportunities outside of California , which is a competitive market.
John Francis Hilson, a partner at Paul Hastings, underscored that suggestion with a story of a trial from his clerkship with the Superior Court of Massachusetts. Hilson wowed the audience with details of a murder case in which the defending attorney was the legendary Boston trial attorney James D. St. Clair. St. Clair’s trial history includes representing President Richard Nixon during the Watergate hearings and serving as an assistant attorney during the Senator Joseph R. McCarthy hearings in 1954.
Students who seek more information on externship for the coming summer, should review the Office of Public Service’s Judicial Externship Handbook. The deadline for summer 2010 applications is December 1.
-Maria C. Iacobo
The annual event is held to encourage students to pursue judicial clerkships after graduation. Sponsored by six law firms – Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Jones Day, Morrison & Foerster, Munger, Tolles & Olson, Paul Hastings and Sidley Austin – the evening featured several guest speakers who extolled the value their clerkships have had on their careers.
Tamerlin J. Godley ’96, a partner with Munger, Tolles & Olson told the students that a clerkship is the “very best way” to start a legal career.
“It’s something that goes with you throughout your career,” said Godley. “It’s part of your resume. It’s part of who you are. “It’s a gold star.”
Professor Jean Rosenbluth ’93, who did two clerkships before joining the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles , encouraged the students to begin improving their chances for a clerkship now by joining a law journal, develop meaningful work relationships with professors, extern for a judge during one of their summer vacations and strengthening their legal research, writing and analytical skills.
Rosenbluth also encouraged the students to look at clerkship opportunities outside of California , which is a competitive market.
John Francis Hilson, a partner at Paul Hastings, underscored that suggestion with a story of a trial from his clerkship with the Superior Court of Massachusetts. Hilson wowed the audience with details of a murder case in which the defending attorney was the legendary Boston trial attorney James D. St. Clair. St. Clair’s trial history includes representing President Richard Nixon during the Watergate hearings and serving as an assistant attorney during the Senator Joseph R. McCarthy hearings in 1954.
Students who seek more information on externship for the coming summer, should review the Office of Public Service’s Judicial Externship Handbook. The deadline for summer 2010 applications is December 1.
-Maria C. Iacobo
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