As the talking heads sniped over Barack Obama’s Supreme Court pick of Sonia Sotomayor, the high court’s clerks were quietly settling in as they do every summer. The difference this year: There are so far 34 of them, compared with the usual 37, because Sotomayor’s group hasn’t started yet.
Most of this term’s clerks—the legal elites who help the justices write opinions, prep for oral arguments, and select cases for review—have followed the traditional path of clerks past. They’ve graduated from the country’s best law schools and clerked for federal appellate judges, and several have spent a year or two at top firms such as Williams & Connolly and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. For lawyers such as these, landing a Supreme Court clerkship is a crowning achievement. The job is like rocket fuel for a young résumé—afterward, clerks can command signing bonuses of more than $200,000.
Even for an established lawyer, it seems clerking at the high court is an opportunity that can’t be missed. Elizabeth Papez, clerking for Justice Clarence Thomas, graduated from Harvard Law in 1999, made partner at Kirkland & Ellis in 2005, and was most recently deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department.
Papez doesn’t need the credential, so why spend a year at the Supreme Court? “I think her thinking is, if you combine her executive-branch experience with the experience you can only gain clerking at the top of the judicial branch, that she’ll be a formidable lawyer,” says Kirkland partner and Papez friend Craig Primis. Papez, like all Supreme Court clerks, isn’t allowed to comment to the press.
Papez is one of eight Harvard alums—and one of 11 women—in this year’s group. Yale has nine clerks, including recently retired justice David Souter’s single clerk, Thomas Pulham. Retired justice Sandra Day O’Connor also has one. Sitting justices each have four.
Washington schools had a decent showing: Georgetown has two clerks, George Washington University one. New Jersey’s Seton Hall has its first clerk, thanks to alum Lucas Townsend, who’s clerking for one of the court’s two Garden State natives, Justice Samuel Alito.
This article first appeared in the September 2009 issue of The Washingtonian. For more articles from that issue, click here.
Marisa M. Kashino joined Washingtonian in 2009 as a staff writer, and became a senior editor in 2014. She oversees the magazine’s real estate and home design coverage, and writes long-form feature stories. She was a 2020 Livingston Award finalist for her two-part investigation into a possible wrongful conviction stemming from a murder in rural Virginia. Kashino lives in Northeast DC.
Yale Edges Harvard in High Court Clerk Battle
As the talking heads sniped over Barack Obama’s Supreme Court pick of Sonia Sotomayor, the high court’s clerks were quietly settling in as they do every summer. The difference this year: There are so far 34 of them, compared with the usual 37, because Sotomayor’s group hasn’t started yet.
Most of this term’s clerks—the legal elites who help the justices write opinions, prep for oral arguments, and select cases for review—have followed the traditional path of clerks past. They’ve graduated from the country’s best law schools and clerked for federal appellate judges, and several have spent a year or two at top firms such as Williams & Connolly and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. For lawyers such as these, landing a Supreme Court clerkship is a crowning achievement. The job is like rocket fuel for a young résumé—afterward, clerks can command signing bonuses of more than $200,000.
Even for an established lawyer, it seems clerking at the high court is an opportunity that can’t be missed. Elizabeth Papez, clerking for Justice Clarence Thomas, graduated from Harvard Law in 1999, made partner at Kirkland & Ellis in 2005, and was most recently deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department.
Papez doesn’t need the credential, so why spend a year at the Supreme Court? “I think her thinking is, if you combine her executive-branch experience with the experience you can only gain clerking at the top of the judicial branch, that she’ll be a formidable lawyer,” says Kirkland partner and Papez friend Craig Primis. Papez, like all Supreme Court clerks, isn’t allowed to comment to the press.
Papez is one of eight Harvard alums—and one of 11 women—in this year’s group. Yale has nine clerks, including recently retired justice David Souter’s single clerk, Thomas Pulham. Retired justice Sandra Day O’Connor also has one. Sitting justices each have four.
Washington schools had a decent showing: Georgetown has two clerks, George Washington University one. New Jersey’s Seton Hall has its first clerk, thanks to alum Lucas Townsend, who’s clerking for one of the court’s two Garden State natives, Justice Samuel Alito.
This article first appeared in the September 2009 issue of The Washingtonian. For more articles from that issue, click here.
More>> Capital Comment Blog | News & Politics | Party Photos
Don’t Miss Another Big Story—Get Our Weekend Newsletter
Our most popular stories of the week, sent every Saturday.
Marisa M. Kashino joined Washingtonian in 2009 as a staff writer, and became a senior editor in 2014. She oversees the magazine’s real estate and home design coverage, and writes long-form feature stories. She was a 2020 Livingston Award finalist for her two-part investigation into a possible wrongful conviction stemming from a murder in rural Virginia. Kashino lives in Northeast DC.
Most Popular in News & Politics
Capitol Riot Suspect Arrested in DC Airport After Bizarre Series of Events
Why Were Last Night’s Inauguration Fireworks So Amazing?
Everything You Need to Know About the New First and Second Families
The Internet Is Freaking Out Over Bernie Sanders Social Distancing in His Mittens
Anthony Fauci Sure Looks Happy in the Biden Administration
Washingtonian Magazine
January 2021: Joe Town!
View IssueSubscribe
Get Us on Social
Get Us on Social
Related
Video From Fall Real Estate Market Update With Local Leaders
Washingtonian Real Estate Virtual Happy Hour
Videos from Washingtonian’s Wellness Day
Washingtonian Wellness Day
More from News & Politics
DC’s International Spy Museum Will Reopen This Weekend
Capitol Riot Suspect Arrested in DC Airport After Bizarre Series of Events
WAMU Dismisses Two People as Result of Investigation Into Workplace Culture
Anthony Fauci Sure Looks Happy in the Biden Administration
Maryland Congressman Andy Harris Tried to Bring a Gun Into the House Chamber
Quiz: How Well Do You Know Your Local Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Trivia?
Why Were Last Night’s Inauguration Fireworks So Amazing?
Biden Removes Trump’s Diet Coke Button—and Makes a Few Other Changes to the Oval Office