Forty-four Vanderbilt Law graduates secured 47 judicial clerkships this year with the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; with U.S. Courts of Appeals judges for the Third, Sixth, Eighth, Eleventh and D.C. Circuits; with U.S. District Court judges in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia; with state Supreme Court Justices in Kentucky and Tennessee; and with judges on a number of other federal and state courts.
Vanderbilt Law graduates secured clerkships in 23 different states and the District of Columbia. Thirty-five clerks are 2010 graduates and nine are alumni. Overall this year, 17.2 percent of the Class of 2010 secured clerkships; 11.3 percent of the Class of 2010 secured clerkships with Article III judges. Despite a difficult job market, the total number of Vanderbilt graduates and alumni securing clerkships rose by 35 percent over 2009.
“In the most competitive clerkship market to date, Vanderbilt had its most successful year placing clerks,” said Assistant Professor of the Practice of Law Michael Bressman, who directs Vanderbilt’s clerkship program. “Our success speaks volumes about the tremendous attributes of our students and alumni and about the respect that federal and state judges have for Vanderbilt.”
Vanderbilt Law graduates who secured clerkships this year are:*
- Kathryn Elizabeth (Komp) Tarbert, Class of 2005 – The Honorable John G. Roberts Jr., U.S. Supreme Court
- Erin Christine Battersby – The Honorable Kent A. Jordan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- Adam John Benitez – The Honorable Robert H. Bell, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan
- Benjamin Marc Berlin – The Honorable David M. Lawson, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
- Joshua Logan Burgener – The Honorable Thomas W. Brothers, Class of 1977, Tennessee Circuit Court, 20th District
- Katherin Jean Chapman – The Honorable Mark E. Fuller, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama
- Richard Aaron Chastain – The Honorable Joel F. Dubina, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- Ellen Frances D’Angelo, Class of 2009 – The Honorable John Yoder, West Virginia Circuit Court, 23rd Judicial Circuit
- David Stephen Dunn – The Honorable Karen LeCraft Henderson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- Renee Louise Erickson – The Honorable Thomas E. Stagg, Jr., U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
- Elizabeth Ruth Fisher – The Honorable Duane Benton, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- Rachel Ross Friedman – The Honorable Sharon Blackburn, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
- Eric Brandon Fuggett, Class of 2009 – The Honorable Leonard P. Stark, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware
- Andrew Robert Gould – The Honorable Raymond M. Kethledge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (2010 -11) and The Honorable Lee H. Rosenthal, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas (2011-12)
- Andrew James Graeve – The Honorable Elizabeth Erny Foote, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
- John Robert Grubb II, Class of 2009 – The Honorable William C. Koch Jr., Class of 1972, Tennessee Supreme Court
- Christopher Michael Hamp-Lyons – The Honorable J. Travis Laster, Delaware Court of Chancery
- Joel Abraham Heller – The Honorable Karen Nelson Moore, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- William Lane Holby – The Honorable J. Craig Whitley, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina
- Ryan Thomas Holt – The Honorable Gilbert S. Merritt Jr., Class of 1960, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- Misty Alexandria Johnson, Class of 2009 – The Honorable Curtis L. Collier, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee
- Rachel Habibe Jrade – The Honorable Barbara N. Haynes, Tennessee Circuit Court, 20th District
- Elizabeth Brooks Jones – The Honorable Eugene E. Siler Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- Jamie Lynn Kern – The Honorable Robert T. Dawson, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
- Nina Mackenzie Kumar – The Honorable Holly M. Kirby, Tennessee Court of Appeals
- Ashley Lavender Martin – The Honorable Carol E. Jackson, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
- Curtis Melvin McNiven – The Honorable Claudia Laycock, Utah 4th District Court
- Rachel Katherine Mulloy – The Honorable Lisabeth Hughes Abramson, Kentucky Supreme Court
- Gary Scott Peeples – The Honorable Jon P. McCalla, Class of 1974, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
- Alexander Rafael Perez – The Honorable Mary D. France, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
- Amanda Christine Porter, Class of 2008 – The Honorable Ivy S. Bernhardson, Minnesota District Court, 4th District
- Rachel Lynn Ricker, Class of 2007 – The Honorable Xavier Rodriguez, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas
- Laura Jill Robinson – The Honorable Sharon V. Burrell, Montgomery County (Maryland) Circuit Court
- Csaba Rusznak – The Honorable David A. Faber, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia (2010 -11) and The Honorable Martin L.C. Feldman, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (2011-12)
- Jody Robert Shaw – The Honorable S. Hardy Mays, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
- Allyson Shelby – The Honorable Richard L. Young, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
- Stephen Paul Smith – The Honorable Gary R. Jones, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
- Jamie Lynn Thalgott – The Honorable James C. Mahan, Class of 1973, U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada
- Rene Torrado, Class of 2007 – The Honorable Wayne R. Andersen, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2010) and The Honorable James F. Holderman, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2010-11)
- Greta Rachel Ulvad – The Honorable Joyce Bihary, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia
- Timothy Brandon Waddell – The Honorable C. Lynwood Smith, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
- Derrick Lashun Williams, Class of 2009 – The Honorable Brian S. Miller, Class of 1995, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
- Daniel Clayton Fritz Wucherer – The Honorable William P. Lynch, U. S. District Court for the District of New Mexico
- Nancy Danforth Zeronda – The Honorable Alvin W. Thompson, U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut
* All are 2010 graduates unless otherwise indicated.
