The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law (Catholic Law) welcomes applications to its Third Annual Judicial Clerkship Opinion Writing Conference, to be held February 23-25, 2023. The 2023 conference will take place in person on our campus in Washington, D.C.

The conference is open to individuals who have accepted a 2023-2024 federal clerkship (district court or court of appeals only) or a 2023-2024 state appellate court clerkship. This year, acceptances will be limited to one per law school. Catholic Law will provide funding towards travel and accommodations.

Over the course of the conference, conferees will receive opinion writing instruction from some of our nation's most distinguished members of the judiciary. They will also be guided through writing an appellate court opinion and will receive individual review and commentary on their work by our faculty, all judges or former judicial clerks themselves. Finally, each attendee will be eligible for the CSL Prize in Judicial Clerkship Opinion Writing.

The currently scheduled faculty for the event (subject to addition and change) includes the following:

• Judge Chad Readler, Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Judge Kyle Duncan, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Judge Robert Bacharach, Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Judge Lawrence VanDyke, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Judge Kathryn Davis, U.S. Court of Federal Claims
• Judge Joseph Leeson, U.S. District Court for the E.D. Pennsylvania
• Judge Edward Meyers, U.S. Court of Federal Claims
• Judge Eleni M. Roumel, United States Court of Federal Claims
• Judge Lee Rudofsky, U.S. District Court for the E.D. District of Arkansas

Conferees will be limited to thirty-five. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance until the limit of conferees is reached. Applications must be received no later than December 1, 2022. To complete an application for the 2023 Judicial Clerkship Opinion Writing Conference, applicants must submit a cover letter, current resume, and unofficial law school transcript here.

Further details about the conference can be found at the conference website. Direct all questions about the conference to Professor A.G. Harmon, Associate Dean of Bench and Bar Programs, at harmon@law.edu.

To learn about past winners, click here.