So while I was looking at the Albany Law Review (see earlier post), I noticed another really interesting article: “Inside Judicial Chambers: How Federal District Court Judges Select and Use Their Law Clerks,” written by Todd C. Peppers, Micheal W. Giles and Bridget Tainer-Parkins (71 Albany Law Review 623 (2008)).
The article states: “The results confirm the importance of performance-based factors, such as law school class ranking, in the selection process for short-term clerks. They also highlight the considerable importance of candidate personality in the selection process. The results also suggest a very qualified effect for letters of recommendation. Letters may get an otherwise well-qualified applicant noticed, but there appear to be few “clerk makers” among the legal professoriate.”
One of the most interesting findings is in Table 2: Duties Assigned to Law Clerks. The most frequently assigned task to clerks is, LEGAL RESEARCH, with 99.4 percent of the respondents listing this task.
