Many Cornell Law School graduates clerk in federal or state courts either directly after graduation or after one or more years of practice. Our typical JD class size is approximately 200 students, and at least 20% of recent classes have obtained at least one clerkship within four-to-six years after graduation. For example, as of May 1, 2023, the following percentage of each class had clerked or secured a clerkship:

• 22% of the Class of 2017 (44/202)
• 24% of the Class of 2018 (48/196)
• 22% of the Class of 2019 (42/194)

In the most recent six years, an average of 55 graduates, including both new graduates and alumni, have started a new judicial clerkship each year. Data on the number of Cornell Law School graduates starting new clerkships in each calendar year, based on self-reporting, is below.

	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
U.S. Supreme Court		1				1
U.S. Circuit	13	16	12	14	16	15
U.S. District	25	34	27	15	17	28
U.S. Magistrate	2	6	5	2	4	5
Other Federal1	9	3	7	1	2	1
Delaware Chancery		1	1	1
State Supreme	4	4	6	1	2
State Appellate	1	3	4	2	1	2
NY Commercial Div.						2
Other State Trial	3			8		2
Foreign	1		1
Total	59	68	63	44	42	56

¹ “Other Federal” includes courts such as International Trade, Tax, Bankruptcy, and Federal Claims, administrative agencies, and staff attorneys on the U.S. Circuit courts.

Last updated: April 9, 2024