The Federal Law Clerk Hiring Pilot and the Coronavirus Pandemic
Vol. 54
Page 1
Just when law students attained a comfort level with the arcane intricacies of the federal law clerk employment process, as increasingly exacerbated by the second year of an experimental hiring pilot plan, the coronavirus attacked the country and has been ravaging it ever since. To date, the virus has inflicted the most profound harm on the jurisdictions that comprise all of the “coastal elite circuits” that span the District of Columbia north to Maine, as well as the United States Courts of Appeals for the Seventh and Ninth Circuits, which apply the pilot. This piece examines impacts that the coronavirus’ rampant spread putatively has on law clerk employment and how students, courts, and judges can address these problematic circumstances.