2007 Applications for Harvard Law School

The Harvard JD Admissions Blog says that the School has submitted its 2007 application form to the LSAC and expects the form to be available online soon.

HLS's 2007 application introduces three minor changes from previous years:

• Applicants will be asked to submit resumes. Assistant Dean of Admissions Toby Stock, who writes the HLS blog, says that resumes are being requested this year because they provide admissions committee members with "an easy way to get a quick sense for your activities and experiences." HLS plans to post some sample resume formats to its website.


• The application will include a list of legal fields and careers and give applicants the option of indicating which, if any, they are interested in pursuing.


• College certifications are no longer required as part of the application process. However, admitted applicants will have to submit college certifications before enrolling.

Source: "Fall Applications Coming Soon," Harvard JD Admissions Blog, July 27, 2006

Supreme Court Clinics Coming to Yale, UVa

Yale Law School and the University of Virginia School of Law are introducing Supreme Court litigation clinics this fall, Law.com reports.

Yale and UVa will be only the second and third law schools in the country to offer third-year students a chance to work on Supreme Court litigation.

The clinics are modelled after the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School, created and taught by Prof. Pamela Karlan and Lecturer Tommy Goldstein. Clinic students helped make legal history this year by providing research and other support for Karlan and Goldstein's winning argument in Georgia vs. Randolph, a case contesting the legitimacy of a warrantless police search of the home of the Clinic's client. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Clinic's client on March 22.

According to Law.com, Harvard Law School is considering expanding the course it now offers on Supreme Court advocacy into a litigation clinic. Northwestern and Georgetown are also reported to be exploring the possibility of establishing Supreme Court clinics.

Source: "Attorneys Take Supreme Court Advocacy Back to School," by Tony Mauro - Law.com, July 20, 2006

Books Examine Changing Role of Supreme Court Clerks

Two recently published books take a critical look at how the role of Supreme Court clerks has evolved over time.

Courtiers of the Marble Palace: The Rise and Influence of the Supreme Court Law Clerk, by Todd C. Peppers (Stanford University Press, paperback $21.95) traces the history of Supreme Court clerkships to the early part of the 20th century. Peppers argues that the power some clerks have today to draft opinions for their justices and to act as 'ambassadors' between their justices and others is unprecedented, but is also probably here to stay, simply because of the workload of the modern Court. If clerks were not able to perform the functions they do now, Congress would probably have to add more justices to the Supreme Court or create an additional, 'back-up' court to deal with the number and complexity of cases being brought forward, Peppers says.

Artemus Ward and David L. Weiden, by contrast, look at how willing clerks are to play an activist role in Supreme Court decision-making, in Sorcerers' Apprentices: 100 Years of Law Clerks at the United States Supreme Court (New York University Press, hardcover, $39). Ward and Weiden, who are political scientists by training, say that their research found that more of today's clerks say they 'often' tried to shape a justice's views than was the case in past decades.

Source: "Law Clerks: Who's That Whispering in the Justice's Ear?," by Emily Bazelon (book review) - the Washington Post Book World, July 9, 2006