moot court + law review?

[Orbits]

how often is this done? i am told that with oci, law review, and classes my 1st semester is going to be hellish (i'm a rising 2L at a T20 by the way). will this help federal clerkship chances?

[jacy85]

No, I think you're better off going with law review, and putting your heart and soul into your comment so you get published.  Also, do what you can to have a presence on the journal (work hard on any assignment give), and make nice with journal members, so that when the time comes, you can hopefully land an executive board position.

Those 2 things will be far more helpful than ANYTHING you can do on moot court.  Add to the fact that adding unnecessary stress in the form of moot court responsibilities, and you're facing even LESS time to put into classes than you'll have with OCI and law review, and LESS time to put into your note/comment, and possibly less of a likelihood of getting published.

Granted this is just my opinion, so take it FWIW.

[jsb221]

I'm in the same situation. I know the importance of law review but I also hear how important moot court can be for someone interested in working at the AG's office or DA's office. Is it at all possible to manage both?

[Lenny]

To the OP, generally speaking, the most important thing for getting a federal clerkship is to have very good grades and to have the law review line on your resume be impressive.  Impressive means publication and executive board position.  Although there may be some judges out there that view participation in moot court important enough to make that one of their "must haves" for a resume to make it out of the big pile and into the small pile, I think those are the exception.  Most want to see very good grades and evidence of good writing ability.  So, if a federal clerkship is your goal, the key is to be in a position to maximize your GPA and evidence of writing ability on your resume.  I have a feeling that being heavily involved in moot court and law review would result in a lowering of the GPA, or at least not a maximization of its potential.


To jsb, DA's offices are different than clerkships.  From what I hear, many prosecutors offices require moot court, so if that is your goal, go nuts.

[Kilgour_Troutt]

I am doing both mainly because I go to a T4 and need every bit of a boost I can get.

[Lucero]

Respectfully, I would disagree with the posters who think you should pass on moot court. Do both if you think you can handle the time commitment. Its another thing to set you apart when applying for clerkships.

[StevePirates]

Respectfully, I would disagree with the posters who think you should pass on moot court. Do both if you think you can handle the time commitment. Its another thing to set you apart when applying for clerkships.

That's really the key in all of this.  Law Review + Moot Court beats just law review.  Law Review + Publishing beats Law Review and Moot Court.   Can you do all three?  Sure, if you're good enough.

But there are other ways.  Law Review + Actual Courtroom Experience,  Law Review + Judicial Externship.
   
Lots of ways to stand out, you just have to pick the one that works for you the best.

[Private David Lewis]

What if you just do moot court third year and not second year?

[Orbits]

i guess the better question is how much time each one demands in a typical week? if i knew that, i could gauge better than anyone else what i am and am not capable of.

[jacy85]

Since it seems like you would do law review anyway (you'd be a fool not to, IMO), I think you should contact someone on the moot court board and ask about the 2L time commitment for most students.

FWIW, I agree with what someone else suggested - if you want some kind of trial or court experience, look into whether your school has an internship program.  My school had one, with a huge range of opportunities.  More than a few students interned with trial courts and a good number of State Supreme Court justices took interns.  Some worked for a full year with a district attorney's office and got into court a ton.  Others were able to do programs focusing on appellate litigation, writing briefs being their main job.

If you're looking for that type of experience, do that and get credit for it with a lighter class load.  Unless you're looking at a very minimal time commitment for MC, you're likely going to be shorting yourself on a whole lot of fronts b/c of over-extension.  You're in better position to get a fed clerkship (assuming that's your goal) if you choose fewer things and EXCEL (very high GPA, top rank, publication and exec board position) than throw a lot of *&^% on your resume and you do at best mediocre or ok in most of them.