Clerkships: The Pathways to Chambers
Register
The Law Alumni of Color Association (LACA) and the Judicial Clerkship Office invite you to attend a virtual panel discussion on the clerkship application process. Whether you are set on applying or unsure what a “clerkship” entails, we encourage you to come hear firsthand from current and former clerks about their experiences in chambers. Moderated by Professor Troy McKenzie ‘00, a panel of current and former clerks will explain how a clerkship can benefit your career, what you can do to make your application stand out, and how to navigate the process effectively.
Panelists include:
Mitchell D. Brown ’17, Counsel, Voting Rights Program, Southern Coalition for Social Justice
Mitchell graduated from NYU in 2017, and served as the Chair of BALSA and was on the Review of Law and Social Change while he was here. After graduating from law school, Mitchell clerked for the Honorable J. Michelle Childs on the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina and for the Honorable Chief Judge Carl E. Stewart on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Mitchell is currently an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), sponsored by the Ottinger Foundation, where he works on enfranchisement issues.
Joy Chen ’20, Judicial Law Clerk, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner of the New Jersey Supreme Court
Joy received her B.A. in History from Yale College in 2015 and her J.D. cum laude from NYU Law in 2020. Before law school, Joy worked as a Criminal Defense Investigator at Brooklyn Defender Services. During law school, Joy interned at the East Bay Community Law Center, the NYC CCRB, and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel. At NYU, she served as a co-president of the Washington Square Legal Services Bail Fund, a Notes Editor of the NYU Law Review, and an advocate in the Civil Rights and Juvenile Defender Clinics. She is currently clerking for the Honorable Stuart J. Rabner, Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. She will clerk in 2021-2022 for the Honorable Richard F. Boulware II of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.
Nicolas D. Franco ’18, Associate, King & Spalding
Nicolas D. Franco is an associate with King & Spalding's Trial and Global Disputes Practice in Los Angeles, CA. Nico clerked for Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California during the 2019 to 2020 term. Prior to clerking, Nico served as Appellate Counsel & Legal Fellow at the Center for Appellate Litigation and an appellate public defender in New York City. Nico graduated from NYU School of Law in 2018, where he was the recipient of the Dean John Sexton Graduation Prize and was a Derrick Bell Scholar. At NYU, Nico also served as co-president of the Latinx Law Students Association, as NYU Law's student senator to the NYU University Senate, and as a board member with the NYU Review of Law & Social Change. Nico received his bachelor’s degree, in English language & philosophy, from the University of Chicago in 2012 and worked as a management consultant with Deloitte before attending law school.
Maybelline Mena-Hadyka ’17, Associate, O’Melveny & Myers
Maybelline Mena-Hadyka is a UC Berkeley alumna and an NYU-trained lawyer, where she was an AnBryce Scholar and the Editor-in-Chief of the NYU Law Review. She is currently an attorney at O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Los Angeles, CA. She was a federal district law clerk in the US District Court of New Jersey and more recently, a federal appellate law clerk in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.