Catholic Law's Judicial Clerkship Opinion Writing Conference

WASHINGTON, March 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On Feb. 26-27, 2021, Catholic University's Columbus School of Law hosted 30 rising law clerks from across the country who will be serving in the chambers of Federal Circuit Courts, Federal District Courts, and State Appellate Courts in the upcoming year. While many events have been affected by the pandemic, the conference provided a welcome opportunity for learning for those in attendance.

The two-day, virtual conference provided the conferees with an opportunity to learn the particulars of judicial opinion writing — a unique conference focus undertaken by the Law School to serve both bench and bar. The first day of the conference included instruction from Judge Kyle Duncan of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Paul Matey of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Chad Readler of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Judge Lawrence VanDyke of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, who reviewed opinions to illustrate what goes into the opinion-writing process and took questions from the clerks about their strategic choices.

On the second day, the clerks were divided into breakout sessions, in which Judge James Boasberg and  Judge Dabney Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; Judge John Gallagher and  Judge Joseph Leeson of the U.S. District Court for the E.D. Pennsylvania; Judge Steven C. Seeger of the U.S. District Court for the N.D. of Illinois; and Judge Edward Meyers of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims reviewed and critiqued draft opinions the clerks had written on a problem derived from Catholic Law's past Seigenthaler-Sutherland Cup National First Amendment Moot Court Competition problem. This activity allowed the clerks to apply the skills they were learning and receive feedback. Conferees are all eligible for the CSL Prize in Judicial Clerkship Opinion Writing.

The conference ended with a panel discussion of current and former judicial clerks — Professor Joel Alicea, Will Haun '12, Anika Smith '20, and Jack Vivian '17 — who took questions from the conferees about clerkship tenures in general.

This event is the inaugural venture of this type by Catholic Law and is planned to take place every spring semester. For more information, contact Catholic Law Faculty Director of Bench and Bar Programs, Professor A.G. Harmon: [email protected].

SOURCE Catholic University's Columbus School of Law