Questions to Ask a Judge in an Interview
These are questions to ask a judge in an interview, written first for the judicial clerkship interview and useful for a judicial internship or externship too, for the moment the judge turns and asks whether you have any of your own. They are grouped by subject: the job itself, working with the judge, life in chambers, the judge's own view of the bench, and the term and what follows. A clerkship interview usually includes time with the current clerks, so the guide sorts out which questions belong to the judge and which to hold for them, along with how many to bring and which to leave out. If you are interviewing a judge for a class, an article or a court visit instead, the wider set, Questions to Ask a Judge, is the one written for that.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The job
What does a clerk's week look like here?
Why ask it
No two chambers run the same week, so the question never sounds naive. Five days of drafting orders in a busy motions court is a different job from five days on one long opinion, and you want to know which one you are applying for.
Do your clerks draft opinions, bench memos, or both?
Why ask it
Where the judge writes the first draft, clerks mostly research and check, and they learn how a judge thinks on paper. Where the clerk writes it, the year is an education in drafting. Neither is the lesser job, but they suit different people.
What is the mix of cases on your docket at the moment?
Why ask it
Ask about now rather than in general, since dockets shift. The answer is what you would spend the year immersed in, whether that is sentencing, employment disputes, immigration matters or discovery fights, and you can set it against the practice you want afterwards.
What qualities do you look for in a clerk?
Why ask it
Most candidates ask some version of this, so ask it to hear the answer and not to look keen. Judges tend to put one thing above the rest, such as clean writing, discretion or the nerve to say a draft is wrong. Whatever it is, you still have a few minutes to show it.
How much contact do clerks have with you day to day?
Why ask it
In some chambers the clerks talk through cases with the judge every morning, and in others drafts pass back and forth on paper for days. If working closely with a judge is why you want the year, weigh this answer above the rest.
Roughly how does a clerk's time split between research, writing and everything else?
Why ask it
'Everything else' is cite checking, proofreading, the calendar and letters from people without lawyers, and every chambers has its share. Asking for the split in one breath gets you the proportion without sounding as if you mind the dull part.
How often would I be in the courtroom?
Why ask it
The range runs from every day to almost never. If the answer is rarely, ask whether clerks may sit in on a hearing or a conference with counsel when their own work allows, since watching lawyers argue is the one thing the file cannot show you.
What does a clerk do while a trial is running?
Why ask it
In a trial court it can mean drafting jury instructions overnight, researching an evidence point during a recess and keeping track of exhibits. If the judge tries few cases, ask what fills that time instead. The usual answer is motions.
How do you prepare for oral argument or a big hearing, and where do clerks come in?
Why ask it
An appellate judge may want a bench memo and a long conversation before argument, while a trial judge may want one page on the morning of the hearing. Your deadlines would hang on that routine. Ask too whether clerks sit in when the judge talks the case through afterwards.
Do clerks deal directly with lawyers who call or email chambers?
Why ask it
Some chambers route every call through the judicial assistant or the courtroom deputy, and others have clerks answer scheduling questions from counsel. Contact with one side of a live case is fenced in by rules, so ask exactly how the judge wants those calls handled.
How do deadlines work in chambers: do you set them, or do clerks manage their own?
Why ask it
A judge who puts a date on every assignment runs a different year from one who expects you to keep a list of what is ready to decide and work down it. Some courts also report matters that have been pending past a set period, so ask whether anything like that drives the calendar here.
How do emergency matters reach chambers, and who handles them?
Why ask it
A request for a temporary restraining order or an urgent stay can take over a week with no warning. Ask how often they arrive and whether a clerk is expected to be reachable after hours, because the practice differs between courts and between judges.
Working together
How do you like to give feedback on a draft?
Why ask it
Heavily marked pages left on your chair, or an hour going through it line by line: both happen, and whichever it is will be how you are taught for a year. If the answer is vague, put the same question to a current clerk, who will know exactly.
Could you walk me through how an opinion gets from first draft to filing?
Why ask it
Listen for how many rounds a draft goes through, who checks the citations and whether a co-clerk reads it before the judge does. It is also a polite way to learn how long an opinion usually takes without asking the judge about speed.
What do you want a bench memo to look like?
Why ask it
Worth asking only once you know the judge uses them. Length, how much of the record to summarize and whether to end with a recommendation are matters of taste, and a judge who says 'tell me how you would rule' is asking more of you than one who wants a neutral summary.
When a clerk disagrees with where you are heading on a case, how do you want to hear it?
Why ask it
The answers run from 'put it in a memo' to 'say it across the desk before anything is drafted', and a few judges would rather not hear it. Judges often put the mirror image of this to candidates, so have your own answer ready before you ask.
How do you prefer to be kept up to date on a matter I am working on?
Why ask it
A standing meeting, a short status memo and a knock on the door are all in use somewhere. A judge who wants it in writing will not thank you for a daily visit, and the reverse is just as true, so it is worth knowing before your first morning.
When I am stuck on a problem, how long should I work at it before coming to you?
Why ask it
New clerks err in both directions, knocking every hour or going silent for three days. Most judges have a rule of thumb, and some would send you to a co-clerk or the career clerk first.
Is there an opinion, yours or another judge's, that shows the writing style you want from a clerk?
Why ask it
A named opinion gives you a model to study before you start and something specific to mention in a thank-you note. It also shows whether the judge prizes short and plain or thorough and footnoted.
Do you see teaching your clerks as part of the job, and what form does it take?
Why ask it
Many judges call the clerkship an apprenticeship and can say what that means in practice: lunch after a hearing, a debrief on how a lawyer handled a witness, a talk about career plans. If the question seems to puzzle the judge, the year is probably about the work product alone.
What has a clerk done that made your year easier?
Why ask it
It asks for a story, and the story is the real job description. Listen for the kind of thing the judge remembers: a jurisdictional problem nobody had raised, a schedule kept honest, a first draft that needed little work.
What do new clerks tend to find hardest in the first few months?
Why ask it
The volume, writing in the judge's voice instead of their own, and knowing when to stop researching all come up often. Whatever the judge names is what this chambers treats as the learning curve, so ask how earlier clerks got past it.
What do you think applicants misunderstand about clerking for you?
Why ask it
Judges usually have a correction ready: that the docket is mostly civil, that the writing is unglamorous, that the pace does not let up, or that they are less formal than the courtroom suggests. It is the quickest way to check the job in your head against the one on offer.
Chambers
How many clerks do you have, and how is work divided between them?
Why ask it
By case number, by civil and criminal, or by whoever has room: each gives a clerk a different year. The number itself is often public, so the second half is the real question. Ask too whether a clerk keeps a case from the first motion to the final order.
Do you have a career clerk, and how does that role sit beside the term clerks?
Why ask it
A career clerk has usually seen every kind of motion the court gets and knows what the judge will and will not sign. That can mean a patient teacher down the hall, or it can mean the most interesting cases are already spoken for, so ask which matters go where.
Who else works in chambers, and what does each person handle?
Why ask it
The judicial assistant, the courtroom deputy and any interns each take work that would otherwise land on a clerk, or hand work to one. Note the names if you can. These are the people who decide how smooth your first month is.
How would you describe the atmosphere in chambers?
Why ask it
One chambers is silent, with doors shut and questions sent by email, and in another the clerks eat lunch with the judge most days. Ask how the judge likes to be addressed and whether the door is usually open. It is a handful of people in a few rooms for a year, so the fit counts for a lot.
When is chambers busiest, and what do those weeks look like?
Why ask it
It draws out the long weeks, such as a trial, a run of argument days or the end of a term, without asking a judge to name a number of hours. Save the blunt version, what time people really go home, for the clerks.
How do new clerks get up to speed: is there any overlap with the outgoing ones?
Why ask it
A week or two beside the departing clerk saves a lot of guessing, and not every chambers can arrange it. Where there is no overlap, ask what gets left behind, such as a manual, templates or a list of open matters.
Do your clerks supervise interns or externs?
Why ask it
Students spend a summer or a semester in many chambers, and reviewing their memos usually falls to a clerk. It is early practice at giving feedback, and it takes hours you should count when you ask about workload.
Do you sit in more than one courthouse, and do clerks travel with you?
Why ask it
Judges in large districts and on appellate courts may hear cases in several cities. Travel can be a perk or a strain, so ask how often it happens and how that court handles the cost.
How much do your clerks see of other judges and their clerks?
Why ask it
On an appellate court, clerks from different chambers may trade drafts and argue over them. In a trial courthouse the contact might be a shared lunch table. The other clerks in the building often become the lawyers you call for years afterwards.
What limits do your clerks live under outside chambers, such as political activity or posting online?
Why ask it
Court staff are usually bound by a code of conduct, and a judge may add personal preferences on top. Better to hear the limits before accepting than to drop a volunteer role in your first week. The details differ by court, so ask what applies in this one.
The judge
What made you want to become a judge?
Why ask it
Find out first how judges reach that court, whether by appointment, election or selection by other judges, so you are asking about motive and not a process you could have looked up. The reply tends to show what the judge thinks the job is for.
What do you enjoy most about being a judge?
Why ask it
It is a warm question that most judges are glad to answer, and it suits a moment when the conversation needs to breathe. Notice whether the pleasure is in the writing, the courtroom or the people, since clerks tend to get more of whichever it is.
What from your years in practice do you still draw on as a judge?
Why ask it
You should already know from the biography whether that practice was a prosecutor's office, a firm or a legal aid clinic, so ask about its influence and not the career history. The reply often explains what this judge notices first in a brief.
Did you clerk, and what stayed with you from that year?
Why ask it
Check the biography first, and if the judge did clerk, ask about that judge by name. People who clerked often run chambers the way their own judge did, or pointedly the opposite way. If they never clerked, ask who taught them to write an opinion.
What kind of case do you find hardest to decide?
Why ask it
Safe as long as you stay with categories and away from any case by name. Sentencing, custody and the close statutory question with good arguments on both sides are common answers. Whatever the judge finds hard is where a clerk's extra hours go.
What separates the best advocates you see from the merely competent ones?
Why ask it
Most judges have a ready answer, and it previews what a clerk learns by watching: which briefs get read twice and which concessions earn trust. Expect the same standard to be applied to your own drafts.
What do you hope a clerk carries away from the year?
Why ask it
This is the judge's own account of what the clerkship is for. Some name writing, some name judgment, and some name a lasting tie to chambers. Compare it with your reason for applying, because a mismatch here is one you would feel by the third month.
Term and next steps
What is the term, and do you ever keep clerks longer?
Why ask it
One year and two years are both common, and some chambers extend by agreement. If the posting already states the term, skip the first half and ask only whether clerks ever stay on.
When would you want a clerk to start, and is there any give around the bar exam?
Why ask it
Start dates usually follow the outgoing clerks' departure and can collide with a bar exam or the end of another job. Whether a clerk has to sit or pass the bar before starting depends on the court, so ask how it works there.
Where have your recent clerks gone afterwards?
Why ask it
The pattern shows what the year tends to lead to: firms, prosecutors' and defenders' offices, public interest work, another clerkship. If the moment allows, ask whether the judge acts as a reference or makes calls for clerks, which is help that lasts well past the term.
Do you stay in touch with your former clerks?
Why ask it
A reunion, an annual dinner or a judge who still takes calls about a job move ten years on are the signs of what people call a clerk family. A judge without those habits can still be a fine teacher. It only means the relationship lasts a year.
May I speak with one of your current or former clerks?
Why ask it
Many judges build this into the visit, so check the schedule before you ask. Where it is not planned, the request is an ordinary one, and the clerks are the right people for the hours, how criticism lands and what a bad week is like.
Is there anything in my application or writing sample you would like me to say more about?
Why ask it
It gives the judge a chance to raise a doubt while you can still answer it, whether a grade, a gap or a choice in the sample. Keep your reply brief and undefensive. If the judge says no, leave it there.
Are you hiring for one term, or for later years as well?
Why ask it
Some judges fill seats two or more years ahead, so a candidate who misses the coming term may suit the next. Hiring calendars differ from court to court and from judge to judge, and asking tells you whether to keep your application alive.
What is your timeline for deciding, and how will I hear?
Why ask it
An offer can come within hours of the interview, sometimes with an answer expected on the spot, and it can also take weeks. Knowing which lets you handle your other applications honestly and not be caught out by a same-day call.
Interviewing With a Judge
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Preparation that actually shows
Read two or three of their opinions
Not to flatter, but so you can ask something specific about how they approach a problem. Pick a recent one and one older, and notice the structure, the length, and how they handle facts. Referring to a real decision separates you from candidates who read only the biography.
Know the court's jurisdiction and stage
Trial and appellate work differ completely, as do federal district, magistrate, bankruptcy, and state courts. A question about jury trials put to an appellate judge shows at once that you did not check, so match every question on your list to the court you are in.
Have your writing sample ready to discuss
Expect to be asked why you structured it that way and what you would change. Reread it the night before. Writing weighs heavily in clerkship hiring, and a candidate who cannot explain the choices in their own sample gives the judge little to go on.
Expect the judge's questions first
Most of the interview is the judge asking you: why a clerkship, why this court and this judge, what you argued in your writing sample, how you handle criticism of a draft, and what you plan to do afterwards. Some also ask what you would do if you thought the judge was wrong. Have a short, honest answer to each. Your own questions come at the end, and they land better after a good conversation.
Prepare for the offer coming quickly
Decide in advance what you would say to an immediate offer, including how much time you would ask for and whether you would accept on the spot. How fast offers come and how long a candidate gets to answer differ between courts and between judges, so ask your school's clerkship adviser what is usual for this one.
How many to ask in a clerkship interview, and which
- Bring four or five for the judge and expect to use two or three. Interviews in chambers tend to run long on conversation and short on time at the end.
- Give the judge the questions only a judge can answer: how a draft gets edited, how disagreement is welcomed, what a clerk should take from the year.
- Hold hours, temperament and the dull parts of the job for the clerks, who usually see you separately and answer more freely.
- Match the question to the court. Trials, emergency motions and calls from lawyers belong in a trial court interview. Bench memos, oral argument and dealings with other chambers belong in an appellate one.
- For an internship or externship, say 'intern' where these say 'clerk' and add two of your own: what you would write, and who reviews it. The questions about the term and the bar exam drop out.
- Drop anything the court's website, the hiring notice or the judge's published opinions already answer. Asking it shows you did not look.
Use the whole visit
- Current clerks: ask about hours, how criticism is delivered, and what they wish they had known. They are usually frank when the judge is not in the room.
- The judicial assistant or chambers administrator: they know the rhythm of the office and how it feels on a bad week, and their view of you often carries weight.
- Former clerks, if you can reach one after the interview. A year or more of distance tends to make people franker.
- The courtroom itself: if you can sit in for even twenty minutes, you will see how the judge treats lawyers under pressure.
- Notice how staff speak to each other while you are waiting. It is a good proxy for what you are joining.
Questions to keep out of it
- Salary and benefits. These are typically set by a public pay schedule, so look it up or ask the court's personnel office rather than raising it with the judge.
- Whether you can work remotely or keep other commitments. If you need an arrangement, raise it after an offer.
- Anything that assumes you already have the job, such as what to read before you start. It is a good question for the call after an offer.
- Their views on contested political issues, or whether a well-known decision was correct.
- Anything about a pending case, including one you find interesting from the docket.
- How this will help your career. It is a reasonable motive and a poor question, since it puts your interests where the judge's should be.
After the interview
Write within a day
A short note to the judge and a separate one to the assistant who arranged the visit. Mention one thing from the conversation rather than repeating your interest in general terms.
If you are asked to decide immediately
You can ask for a short time to respond, and the judge can say no. If you have another interview scheduled that you would prefer, say so plainly rather than accepting and withdrawing later. Reneging on a clerkship offer is remembered.
If you are not chosen
Ask whether they would be willing to say what would have made you a stronger candidate. Some will, and judges frequently pass names to colleagues who are still hiring.