Recent alumni of the Staff Attorney's Office have obtained positions in the federal and state judiciaries; in federal, state, and local government; in not-for-profit organizations; and in private practice.

Between 2018 and 2025, more than 20 staff attorneys were offered federal and state judicial clerkships, including for circuit, district, magistrate, and bankruptcy judges, and state judges, at the following courts: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York, the Northern District of New York, the Western District of New York, the District of New Jersey, the District of Maine, and the New York Court of Appeals.

During the same time period, staff attorneys were offered positions at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the Legal Aid Society, the Bronx Defenders, the Library of Congress, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, the Federal Election Commission, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, Brooklyn Defender Services, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the New York City Council, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a federal public defender’s office, and various law firms, including Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan; Gibbons P.C.; Weil Gotshal; Cohen Milstein; Robinson & Cole; Levy Konigsberg; and others.

Below are messages from some recent alumni about their experiences in the Staff Attorney's Office:

• Whenever I meet law students or recent law graduates who are interested in clerking, I tell them that my time at the Staff Attorney’s Office was the perfect clerkship experience. I appreciated the high standards to which my work was held by Staff Attorney's Office supervisors and the Court’s judges. I felt that I played a crucial role in the process of deciding every case in which I wrote a bench memo. The lessons that I learned about persuasive legal writing, the judicial decision-making process, and the day-to-day functioning of the federal court system will stay with me for the rest of my career.
        -Simon Greenberg (2017 to 2019) (Legal Aid Society)

• I applied to the Staff Attorney’s Office during law school because it seemed like an ideal opportunity to serve as a judicial law clerk while specializing in the legal issues I am most interested in, given that nearly all of the Court’s cases involving the rights of prisoners and noncitizens, as well as many criminal and constitutional matters, are handled by Staff Attorneys. As expected, I learned a great deal about these issues and was able to contribute to some new developments in the Court’s jurisprudence in these areas. It was a privilege and a terrific learning experience to write for every judge of the Second Circuit, to have brilliant supervisors scrutinize my writing and legal analysis on a daily basis, and to tackle so many novel legal issues in my first three years of practice. Every sentence we wrote as Staff Attorneys was expected to be thoroughly researched, plainly expressed, flawlessly edited, faithful to the law, and free of bias, and I trust that having these high standards ingrained in me at the start of my career will make me a better advocate for my clients before all the other judges reading my work in the future.
        -Ruth O’Herron (2019 to 2022) (clerkship in the District of New Jersey, and Gibbons P.C.)

• The Staff Attorney’s Office is an incredible learning environment for young lawyers. My time with the Office exposed me to many different areas of law, from § 1983 civils rights actions and Title VII employment discrimination, to more obscure areas, like the writ audita querela. Not only did this allow me to explore what my true interests were, but also it taught me how to learn different areas of the law in a quick and efficient manner. Further, the hands-on experience that staff attorneys get from the inception of their clerkship, coupled with the constant feedback from supervisors, allowed me to hone my writing skills; now, as a practicing attorney, my colleagues often ask me to edit their briefs and memoranda. I am also grateful for the Office’s supervisors, who taught me how to review an expansive appellate record, tease out key facts, and spot any obscure legal issues. At its core, the Staff Attorney’s Office is a welcoming and collegial place that teaches young lawyers the value of written advocacy and attention to detail.
        -Diana Bibb (2021 to 2023) (New Jersey Attorney General’s Office)

• The Staff Attorney’s Office of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals offers an unparalleled experience for recent law school graduates. Staff attorneys can expect to work on a variety of legal matters during their term while also honing their ability to produce first rate legal writing for all of the judges of the Court. My time at the SAO has enriched my professional development well beyond my two-year term. Exposure to different viewpoints and judicial philosophies so early in my legal career has helped me develop into a well-rounded advocate. In my current role as an assistant federal public defender, it is important for me to understand what legal arguments will be most effective when deciding how to best represent my clients. At the SAO, I also learned how to analyze a legal issue objectively. This is helpful because, as an advocate, it is important to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a legal argument regardless of one’s preferred outcome. This skill helps me provide dispassionate counsel to clients who rely on my judgment to make significant decisions about their cases. And as members of the broader Court community, staff attorneys have the opportunity to attend various speaking engagements at the courthouse. During my tenure at the SAO, I attended events featuring a former senator, a former Secretary of Defense, and a Supreme Court Justice, to name a few. These events have left a lasting impression on me and were an invaluable addition to my experience working at the SAO. There are very few positions that can offer such engaging and vital assignments from the outset of a legal career as those in the SAO. I would highly recommend the staff attorney position to any recent law school graduate with an interest in public service
        -Samuel Carrion (2017 to 2019) (Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Puerto Rico)

• Working in the Staff Attorney’s Office was a legal research and writing bootcamp, and I say that fondly. At the SAO, I learned how to concisely but completely summarize and present a federal appellate case. My time at the SAO also demystified the federal judiciary for me, which, frankly, I had considered opaque and intimidating. I was able to spend 2.5 years working on immigration appeals with a wonderful team and a supervisor whose brain is its own Westlaw database. My SAO experience set me up well for my next job as an immigration attorney at a public defender office, where I handle our office’s federal litigation, including immigration petitions for review before Circuit Courts.
        -Nhu-y Ngo (2018 to 2021) (Immigration Legal Counsel, Bronx Defenders)

• The Staff Attorney’s Office was the perfect place to start my legal career. As a Staff Attorney, I honed my research, writing, and analytical skills. By spending my first year on the Pro Se Motions team and my second year on the Counseled Motions team, I gained exposure to a diverse array of legal issues and am now adept at quickly jumping into new areas of law. I also acquired a unique, behind-the-scenes perspective on the federal court system. The Staff Attorney’s Office provided me a solid foundation on which I am excited to build the rest of my legal career.
        -Emery Staton (2022 to 2024) (Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan)

Last modified at 9/22/2025