8 Recent Graduates Secure Appellate Federal Clerkships (UPDATED)
From top-left, clockwise: Andrew Kasabian, David Moreshead, Justin Beck, Catherine Eschbach, Andrew Wilhelm, Ryan Gardner.
July 18, 2016 — Eight Pepperdine School of Law alumni, including three students from the Class of 2016, have recently secured prestigious appellate federal clerkships, including the Supreme Court of the United States. The other placements are in the United States Court of Appeal for the Fifth, Ninth, District of Columbia, and Federal Circuits. The success continues an upward trend of significant judicial clerkship placements over the past two years (e.g., "Class of 2015 Secures 12 Judicial Clerkships").
Pepperdine Law professor Derek Muller, former clerk for the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, co-leads Pepperdine Law's current efforts to place judicial clerks. "Over the last three years, Pepperdine has placed the fifth-highest percentage of its graduates into federal clerkships among all California law schools," he says. "It's a testament to our student quality and our faculty commitment that our federal clerkship placement sustains a high level of quality and quantity."
"We are very proud of our 3Ls and recent alumni who have secured these prestigious federal appellate clerkships," says fellow professor Amy Levin who also co-leads Pepperdine Law's efforts to place judicial clerks. Levin clerked for the Honorable Richard A. Paez of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and co-directs the annual Wm. Matthew Byrne, Jr. Judicial Clerkship Institute. "The Pepperdine faculty is committed to helping our students obtain federal and state judicial clerkships, and this commitment has paid off in the increasing number of our students clerking after graduation. We are grateful to the judges who have provided our students with the invaluable opportunity to clerk after graduation."
The recent federal appellate court placements include:
- David Moreshead, Class of 2015: Judge Ferdinand F. Fernandez, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2017-2018; Judge Beverly Reid O'Connell, United States District Court for the Central District of California, 2016-2017
- Catherine Eschbach, Class of 2015: Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2017-2018; Judge David Hittner, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, 2015-2017
- Ryan Gardner, Class of 2016: Judge Janice Rogers Brown, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 2016-2017
- Andrew Kasabian, Class of 2016: Judge Milan Smith, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2017-2018; Judge William Shubb, United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, 2016-2017
- Justin Beck, Class of 2016: Judge Carlos Bea, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2017-2018; Judge Keith Watkins, United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, 2016-2017
- Andrew Wilhelm, Class of 2014: Judge Jimmie V. Reyna, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2016-2017; Judge Susan Braden, United States Court of Federal Claims, 2014-2015
- temporarily withheld, Class of 2010: Judge Consuelo Callahan, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2017-2019
- UPDATE: Brittney Lane (JD '12) to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas