December 1, 2009

Nine Mitchell students receive 2010-11 judicial clerkships in state appellate courts

This fall, William Mitchell student Carol Washington learned about appellate law and practice in the classroom from Minnesota’s Chief Justice Eric Magnuson ’76 and Maslon, Edelman, Borman & Brand attorney David Herr ’78. Next summer, she’ll put that knowledge to use in the courtroom as a clerk for Chief Justice Magnuson.

Washington is one of nine Mitchell students who were selected for 2010-11 judicial clerkships in state appellate courts after they graduate in May 2010. Emily Polachek will clerk for Chief Justice Magnuson along with Washington, and James Graves will clerk for Justice Helen Meyer ’83 at the Minnesota Supreme Court. Students selected for Minnesota Court of Appeals clerkships are: Emily Babcock, Judge Kevin Ross; Laura Bartlow, Judge Wilhelmina Wright; Molly Burke and Jim Wilson, Judge Harriet Lansing; Wyatt Partridge, Judge Terri Stoneburner; and Paul Sand, Judge Matthew Johnson ’92.

Brian Carter-Stiglitz ’09, currently serving as a clerk for U.S District Court Judge Robert Cleland in Michigan, was selected for a 2010-11 federal clerkship with U.S. District Court Judge Joan Ericksen in Minnesota.

“Receiving a judicial clerkship is a tremendous accomplishment and is a measure of our students’ qualifications,” said Mitchell President and Dean Eric S. Janus. “Mitchell’s practical approach to legal education provides students with hands-on learning opportunities and focuses on the skills they will need to succeed in a clerkship, at a firm, corporation, or in the public sector.”

Washington credits Mitchell’s practical approach to education with preparing her for practice. The Mitchell Fellow has already had the opportunity to put the writing and litigation skills she has learned to use. As a law clerk for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, Adult Prosecution, she wrote multiple memos a week. As a summer associate for Lindquist & Vennum, she helped a client get unemployment insurance reinstated in administrative court.

“Clerking for any judge or justice is an honor, but the fact that the Chief Justice chose me is a particular honor,” she said. “I can’t imagine being in this position without the learning experiences I’ve had inside and outside the classroom.”

Polachek, who will also clerk for Chief Justice Magnuson, honed her skills in and out of the classroom. She came to Mitchell so she could work with Dean Janus, the country’s leading scholar on preventative detention. As a Mitchell Fellow, she has done research with Janus on an amicus brief for a sexual commitment case in the Court of Appeals and for a Law Review article on sexual offender laws in the context of child abuse. Before starting law school, she volunteered for Central Minnesota Legal Services through the Minnesota Justice Foundation and later worked there as a clerk. Last summer she prosecuted misdemeanor cases in Yellowstone National Park through the Department of Justice’s Summer Law Intern Program. She currently is an editor for the Law Review and is interning for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Next semester she will extern with federal Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan.

Graves, editor in chief of the Law Review, appreciates Mitchell’s focus on writing. He has a background in data security and published an article in the Richmond Journal of Law and Technology on the suitability of data monitoring to prevent identity theft after a data breach.

“I enjoy researching and writing on interesting legal topics,” said Graves, who hopes to secure a federal clerkship after his year at the Minnesota Supreme Court. “My writing experience at Mitchell helped prepare me for a clerkship. Mitchell takes legal writing seriously, just as courts and law firms do in the real world.”

William Mitchell honored students who have received judicial clerkships at a reception Nov. 17. Current and former Mitchell judicial law clerks also attended.