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20 ¦ AUGUST 31, 2020 NEWS

¦ From INSIDE on PAGE 19 the justices voted after the argu-
Francisco said, “I feel sorry ments were over. “We couldn’t
for the upcoming class, because even get started until June,” Fran-
they’re going to have a much more “It moved from most of the cisco said.
difficult time building camaraderie clerks working remotely
and relationships, with the CO- to really all of us working Francisco declined to talk about
VID restrictions on the beginning remotely, by and large,” the court’s decision to conduct the
rescheduled May arguments tele-
of the clerkship instead of the end.” said Michael Francisco, phonically, but he did say it had

In March, when the pandem- who joined McGuireWoods a singular benefit. “I personally
ic began shutting things down, as a partner after clerking enjoyed regularly hearing Justice
things weren’t all that different at Thomas ask questions, and that
first, Francisco said. “It’s appellate last term for Justice Neil was a product of the way they de-
work, fundamentally, so it’s actu- cided to do the format,” he said.
Gorsuch.

ally quite portable” in terms of Issuing 10 opinions in July was
legal work. not the only July oddity caused
“We would have regular calls, by the pandemic, Francisco said.
and a lot of email communication between clerks and After the court’s final decision was handed down on
the justice that was not that different from pre-pan- July 14, he said, “We ended up having three feder-
demic time,” Francisco said. “It’s not like justices are al executions, and I think three or four emergency
always all in the building when there’s not a pandemic.” stays related to pandemic and election cases.”
But as weeks went by, things became different. In addition, he said, “just the sheer volume of
“It moved from most of the clerks working re- emergency stay work we had was very attributable
motely to really all of us working remotely, by and to the pandemic. Different manifestations of the en-
large,” Francisco said. tire country going through this pandemic.” But, he
Court and clerk rituals fell by the wayside. “The added, “It was a great experience.”
skit got canceled,” Francisco said, referring to the an- The pandemic also has affected the usual job-
nual roastlike skit put on by clerks for the justices at search process clerks go through after their
the end of the term. “I can’t say that I was sad about clerkships. Recruiting was pushed back and done
that. The trivia competition didn’t happen either.” mainly via Zoom. Some clerks are still hunting. The
The tradition of clerks having lunch with other jus- $400,000 hiring bonus appears to still be the norm.
tices during the term was also disrupted to a degree. Why did Francisco go with McGuireWoods? The
One tradition weathered the storm, Francisco said. firm has “a good mix of former clerks, former pros-
“The clerks’ happy hours on Thursdays just didn’t ecutors, governmental attorneys and a really strong
happen in the normal sense, although the clerks cre- team, as well as a good-sized Supreme Court and ap-
ated a Zoom happy hour on Thursdays. People were pellate group. I’m the eighth clerk there,” Francisco
still having libations during happy hour.” said. “It matched my desire to continue to do appel-
As for the work schedule, Francisco said there were late work but also focusing on litigation that’s driven
some unexpected benefits. In March and April, he by being in D.C.”
said, clerks are usually busy preparing justices for oral ¦

arguments. When those arguments were canceled, he Tony Mauro, based in Washington, covers the
said, “We had a lot of time to work on pending cases” U.S. Supreme Court. A lead writer for ALM’s
to push decisions out. He lamented the fact that those Supreme Court Brief, Tony focuses on the court’s
decisions were only posted online, not announced history and traditions, appellate advocacy and
from the bench, so no dissents were spoken aloud. the SCOTUS cases that matter most to business
Another downside was that the opinion drafts for litigators. Contact him at [email protected]. On
the cases argued in May couldn’t be worked on until Twitter: @Tonymauro

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