BYU Law School’s Post

Today at Columbia Law School: #transparency is the missing piece in conversations about both diversity and clerkship advising. To diversify the #clerkship system, we must democratize information about judges as managers and clerkship experiences, thereby #empowering students to make informed career decisions. I cannot think of better people with whom to discuss The Legal Accountability Project’s theory of change - increasing #diversity, #equity, #transparency and #accountability in judicial clerkships through innovative #legaltech - than Assistant Dean Andrea Saavedra ‘06 and Tanya Martinez-Gallinucci ‘16, Executive Director of the Office for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging of the New York City Bar Association. We’ll talk about how to ensure everyone who wants to clerk can pursue the position that’s best for them in an inclusive work environment; what judges convey to LAP about diversifying their hiring; and why judicial accountability and diversity are closely related. CLS students: learn about the clerkship #transparency movement LAP sparked; how we’re improving the clerkship system - and #legalprofession and #judiciary - for you and your peers; and how you can get involved in shaping a better, more diverse, more inclusive profession. These issues affect everyone, whether you’re clerking or not. Today’s law clerks are tomorrow’s prosecutors, public defenders, BigLaw partners, law professors, and judges. Improving and diversifying the profession starts with improving and diversifying judicial clerkships, considering that career pathways - including pathways to the bench - often start with being a judicial law clerk. A better judiciary creates a better society. LAP is improving the #judiciary through better clerkships. Change starts on law school campuses. #clerkships #courts #legalprofession #lawschools #transparency #diversityequityinclusionbelonging

This Wednesday, I look forward to visiting Georgetown University Law Center to speak with Judge Zia Faruqui and Dean Maura DeMouy (She/Her) about clerkship #transparency and The Legal Accountability Project’s efforts to improve and diversify the #clerkship system by democratizing clerkship information. Judicial clerkships are overwhelmingly white and male. Unfortunately, the lack of diversity in one of the legal community’s coveted spaces has implications not just for judicial decision-making, but for the future face of the legal profession. Today’s law clerks are tomorrow’s prosecutors, public defenders, BigLaw partners, law professors, and judges. As we consider who rises through the profession—including to the judiciary—diversifying the legal profession starts with diversifying law clerk hires. Increasing #transparency in clerkship hiring is one of the best ways to diversify judicial clerkships. Historically marginalized groups disproportionately lack access to the formal networks and information channels that help their peers obtain clerkships. Yet these students have unique considerations when deciding whether and where to clerk, including whether judges hire diverse candidates and are sensitive to diverse identities. This type of information is not #accessible to students right now. By #democratizing information about judges as managers and a diversity of clerkship experiences, LAP empowers more diverse students to pursue clerkships, thereby transforming the clerkship system and legal profession for the next generation of attorneys. Learn about the clerkship transparency movement LAP has sparked and how you can help us improve the #legalprofession for yourself and your peers. Thanks to The Georgetown Law Journal and Women’s Legal Alliance for cosponsoring this event. #clerkships #legalprofession #lawschools #transparency #diversityequityinclusion

Whether you go to a T5 law school, a regional school, or Notre Dame Law School, law students UNIVERSALLY lack transparent, candid information about judicial clerkships. The Legal Accountability Project is the solution. It was a pleasure speaking with Max Gaston, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Notre Dame Law, about how LAP increases #transparency, diversity and equity, and #accountability in judicial #clerkships, the #judiciary, and the legal profession. We discussed: ✅The insufficient ways students currently “research” judges before applying for #clerkships, and why LAP’s Clerkships Database, which democratizes this information, would benefit every applicant - as well as clerkship directors advising students and judges seeking to hire the best applicants and diversify their hiring. ✅Why the prevailing messaging - that #clerkships are an unadulterated good - creates unrealistic expectations for students, and how LAP’s realistic, rather than overly optimistic, messaging and programming creates a healthier clerkship culture. ✅The benefits of #diversity in judicial chambers and the judiciary, and how increasing transparency in hiring helps accomplish these goals ✅How structures and systems - including #lawschools and the #judiciary - have historically perpetuated the problematic status quo, and why it’s time for disruptive change. ✅Why law schools should prioritize their duty of care to students pursuing clerkships over their relationships with the #judiciary–especially judges known to mistreat their clerks. ✅Why #lawschools are the ideal vectors for change, considering their central roles in clerkship advising and their relationships with the judiciary.   ✅How individual judges can be part of the solution. If you like what you hear and want to learn more about LAP's work, and you’re a Notre Dame Law School student, I’ll be (back) at your law school on March 21, 2024 with a special judiciary guest! #clerkships #courts #transparency #accountability #lawschools #diversityequityinclusion

As Aliza Shatzman writes in Above the Law , information about clerkships is not uniformly shared with students, due to misaligned incentives, fear, and ineffective methods of information sharing, necessitating an independent, third party solution. LAP’s Centralized Clerkships Database, which democratizes clerkship information, is the solution. #clerkships #courts #lawschools #legalprofession

The Legal Accountability Project's first-of-its-kind Centralized Clerkships Database, an historic step to ensure #transparency, #equity, and #accountability in judicial #clerkships, is the best opportunity in a generation to make real and lasting change in the #courts, I wrote in Above the Law. LAP is picking up the slack for #lawschools, who’ve been unable (or unwilling) to capture candid information about #clerking and share it with students. We've raised the bar on #clerkship advising in legal academia, as well as on workplace civility in the #judiciary, sparking a clerkship #transparency movement. Right now, aspiring clerks nationwide are logging into LAP’s Clerkships Database to identify a beneficial #clerkship experience and avoid a horrendous experience like mine. Change may not be as rapid as I’d like, but it’s happening right now on law school campuses, in legal workplaces, and in #courts across the country. I’ve never been more optimistic about the future of judicial #clerkships and the #judiciary. #clerking #courts #transparency #accountability #equity https://lnkd.in/erQ2_v4t

“So, you want to clerk? How will you avoid judges who harass their clerks? Some students say they’d ask someone. Who are you going to ask? Law schools tell students to ‘do their research.' But what research are you going to do, when so little information is accessible?” A year ago, in the Columbia Law Review, I published this piece about “The Clerkships Whisper Network: What It Is, Why It’s Broken, and How To Fix It.” The #whispernetwork is historically how law students obtained incomplete info about judges. Through this secretive, fear-infused method of partial info-sharing, clerks “whisper” about mistreatment because they fear retaliation or reputational harm for saying anything negative about judges. And #lawschools, to the extent they possess information, may selectively share it with students. I argue for a Centralized Clerkships Database to correct informational asymmetries among law schools - and among students within the same law school. No student, regardless of their school’s clerkship resources, has been empowered to be an informed consumer of clerkship opportunities. Until now. Since I published this piece, The Legal Accountability Project has launched our Clerkships Database to correct the lack of #transparency, #equity, and #accountability in judicial clerkships that I described. Additionally, Jade Craig wrote an excellent JOTWELL review of my piece. I’ve also appeared on the CLR podcast with Jafar Khalfani-Bey, and Ipse Dixit podcast with guest host (and LAP board member) Peter Romer-Friedman, to discuss the piece. LAP’s Database, while intended to correct the #whispernetwork, hasn’t fully solved the problem yet. LAP still encounters clerks whispering about mistreatment. And, in Year 1 of the Database, it weighs heavily on me that LAP hasn’t signed up every #clerkship applicant. Sadly, we’ll miss some students, despite our best efforts to publicize the initiative. Some will enter unsafe or unsupportive work environments because they lacked information about judges, and/or their schools were unequipped to provide it. There’s still time to register for LAP’s Database for THIS clerkship cycle! Whether you’re just starting the process, or you’ve accepted a #clerkship and want to confirm you made the right choice, register today. And LAP encourages every law school to sign up on behalf of all their students, to ensure everyone has baseline information about #clerking. Legal scholarship pushes the boundaries of what’s reasonable. Today’s scholarly work could be tomorrow’s national policy (or nonprofit initiative!). I remain very grateful to the Columbia Law Review student editors for the time and care they took to edit this piece, and for affording me an incredible platform to advance my ideas and advocate for #clerkship reform. #LegalScholarshipIsAdvocacy #clerkships #courts #transparency #accountability https://lnkd.in/edfJDQAH

#LawSchools do not uniformly share information about judges who mistreat their clerks with students, because they're part of a dependency feedback loop 🔄 with the #judiciary and legal employers: they’re incentivized to oversell the benefits of #clerking and downplay the downsides. And students universally lack #transparent information about #clerkships. The Legal Accountability Project is the solution. In Above the Law, I explain that the “clerkship whisper network” is the secretive, fear-infused method of partial information sharing, whereby law clerks whisper about mistreatment, fearing #retaliation by judges and reputational harm. What's going on right now on law school campuses and in the #legalprofession around #clerkships? ➡️ The messaging that a “challenging” clerkship - a euphemism for mistreatment - is “worth it” for the prestige is toxic; protects abusive judges; and perpetuates problematic behavior in the #judiciary and #legalprofession, signaling that it’s acceptable for powerful people to mistreat subordinates. ➡️ This broken system necessitates an independent third-party solution: LAP's Clerkships Database, which #democratizes information about judges and clerkship experiences; fosters candid information-sharing; empowers mistreated clerks to safely and anonymously share negative, neutral, or nuanced experiences without fear of #retaliation; and prevents law school information gatekeeping and whitewashing. ➡️ Over the past 18 months, confronted with a solution to the lack of clerkship #transparency, too many law schools are skeptical. A few, including my alma mater, are downright hostile. Some will perpetuate the problematic whisper network, culture of silence and fear surrounding the #judiciary, and cycle of mistreatment until they're called out forcefully. ➡️ LAP has changed the conversation around #clerking, but that’s just the first step. If you believe students deserve more information about judges: ✔️Fill out LAP’s post-clerkship survey and help us #democratize information about clerkships. ✔️Urge your law school to participate in LAP’s Clerkships Database. Law students look to their schools for #clerkship resources: this initiative will take off faster if law schools help us grow the Database. ✔️Reshare our content (including this article!) and join our mailing list to stay up to date. ✔️Donate! LAP has started a #clerkship transparency movement. Attorneys demanding change will power us onward. We've shifted the equilibrium around #clerking and we're just getting started. #clerkships #courts #transparency #accountability #lawschools #legalprofession https://lnkd.in/dxYj5xhr

Working as a judicial clerk after law school is an amazing opportunity. Searching for accurate information about clerkship experiences can sometimes be tricky. The Legal Accountability Project has created a Centralized Clerkships Database -- a space for past judicial clerks to share information about their clerkships (publicly or anonymously) to aid future judicial clerks with their decision-making process. It is the largest, independent collection of judicial clerkship information in the United States. https://lnkd.in/gqTYSpkj If you are a former judicial clerk, please consider completing LAP's survey (survey link below) to aid future judicial clerks in their decision making process. If you are considering a judicial clerkship, please also check out the database as you explore applying for a clerkship. Note that the database is not public. Law students at participating schools that have signed up for access to the database can review the surveys Survey Link: https://lnkd.in/gH-CUpZw

Students and lawyers—are you wondering how to start your clerkship application or looking to learn about a specific judge? Our Clerkship Handbook contains invaluable insider tips from judges and former clerks. Check out this advice from TAP mentor, former 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and Middle District of Louisiana clerk, and appellate attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice Mahogane Reed: "Don’t be shy! Reach out to former law clerks or other helpful contacts for advice about the clerkship application process or intel about a specific judge. Former law clerks remember very well how challenging it is to muster up the courage to apply for a clerkship and to go through the process, and they’re usually more than willing to answer any questions you have about the process." Download our handbook today for more insights from judges and former clerks: https://lnkd.in/eHHrr3vP #AppellateLinkedIn #nextgen #lawstudents

As a former law clerk and a law professor, I understand the importance of finding the right clerkship. Unfortunately, that's challenging for students, considering the lack of candid, transparent clerkship information accessible to them. The Legal Accountability Project is changing that! If you clerked, I hope you'll fill out LAP's post-clerkship survey and help increase transparency in clerkship hiring by democratizing information about judges. Surveys are accessible to clerkship applicants via LAP's Clerkships Database. https://lnkd.in/e9BFW_Cj I wish LAP's Clerkships Database existed when I was applying for clerkships. I hope George Mason Law students - and all law students - will benefit from this resource soon.