Update Your Resume, the Second Circuit is Hiring!
Want to work for the federal judiciary? Now's your chance!
The Second Circuit is currently on the lookout for candidates for a Bankruptcy Judge in the Southern District of New York. The gig lasts for 14 years and starts at $180,012 annually. If that salary is too much for you, the circuit is also looking for lawyers willing to work completely for free! Applications for the circuit's pro bono panel are currently being accepted.
What You'll Need to Land the Job
Not just anyone gets to be a federal bankruptcy judge in glamorous Manhattan -- or White Plains, or Poughkeepsie. To be considered, applicants must be admitted to practice in at least one state (D.C. and Puerto Rico included), be in good standing with at least one state bar, and have practiced for at least five years. In addition, the court's hiring committee will narrow down applicants based on their experience, scholarship, character and ability to pass FBI and IRS background checks! Sound fun? You have until noon this Friday to apply.
To apply as pro bono counsel with the court, applicants must be members in good standing of the Second Circuit bar and have at least three years of appellate experience. The term runs for three years and involves representing pro se litigants in civil appeals -- largely prisoner appeals, but occasional labor, employment, tax and other claims as well. The application process for the panel runs until May.
Second Only in Name
There are certainly worse places to work than the Second Circuit. Both the SNDY, which celebrated its 225th anniversary last year -- that makes it the oldest federal court in the U.S. -- and the Second Circuit offer plenty of opportunities to engage in news-making law. The southern district's bankruptcy court managed the Bernie Madoff implosion, for example. Pro bono counsel for the Second Circuit will be able to argue cases before some of the nation's most (or at least more) celebrated judges.
Related Resources:
- Young Lawyers Corner: Getting Appellate Experience (American Bar Association)
- More on Madoff: 2nd Cir. Affirms Now-Deceased Judge's Ruling (FindLaw's U.S. Second Circuit Blog)
- Why You Should Do Pro Bono Work (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
- Court Threatens Bankruptcy Pro Se Litigant with Sanctions (FindLaw's U.S. Seventh Circuit Blog)