Careers - Judicial Clerkships

Serving as a judicial law clerk is one of the most coveted opportunities in the legal profession.  

Judges select their law clerks for 1-2 year terms in a highly competitive process among the top law school graduates nationwide. Judges work closely with and rely on their law clerks for assistance in drafting opinions, researching and deliberating about the law, preparing for trials and arguments, and managing cases. For the clerk, it is an invaluable experience.  

Over 85% of our lawyers have served as law clerks for one or more judges.  

And our lawyers have considerable experience as law clerks in the Atlanta-based federal courts in which we most often appear.  

UNITED STATES COURTS OF APPEALS 

  • Judge Stanley F. Birch, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (2)

  • Judge Elizabeth L. Branch, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

  • Judge J.L. Edmondson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

  • Judge Frank Mays Hull, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (3)

  • Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

  • Judge Beverly B. Martin, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (2)

  • Judge Jill Pryor, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

  • Judge William H. Pryor Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

  • Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

  • Judge Clement F. Haynsworth, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

  • Judge H. Emory Widener, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit 

  • Judge Eugene Davis, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

  • Judge Jay S. Bybee, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTS 

  • Judge Orinda D. Evans, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (3)

  • Judge Duross Fitzpatrick, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia

  • Judge Leigh Martin May, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

  • Judge William C. O’Kelley, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

  • Judge Richard W. Story, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (4)

  • Judge Amy Totenberg, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

  • Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr., U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (2)

  • Judge Lucy H. Koh, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

  • Chief Judge W. Keith Watkins, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama (2)

  • Honorable Robert L. Hinkle, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida

  • Judge Curtis L. Collier, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee

STATE COURTS 

  • Chief Justice Carol Hunstein, Georgia Supreme Court

  • Chief Judge Anne Barnes, Georgia Court of Appeals

  • Judge John L. Nickels, Illinois Supreme Court