UND LAW:
A Leading Law School for Federal Clerkships
By Nikola L. Datzov
U. S. News recently issued its inaugural rankings of law schools that best provide students with a path toward a highly-coveted federal clerkship. i The University of North Dakota( UND) School of Law stood out at # 26— edging out more than 150 American Bar Association( ABA)-accredited law schools.“ Federal clerkships are prestigious, year-long positions that are viewed as key credentials for other sought-after jobs … [ b ] ut relatively few law graduates have the opportunity to snag those jobs.” ii The scarcity of attorneys with such valuable experience has led to significant demand and competition for outgoing federal clerks, with law firms now offering signing bonuses of $ 150,000( or more) as well as“ years of credit” toward partnership. iii
Given the well-established difficulty in obtaining these competitive positions, some might wonder how a small school like UND found its way into a tier with New York University( ranked # 8 law school overall), University of California, Berkeley(# 13 overall), Vanderbilt(# 14 overall), and Minnesota(# 20 overall)— ahead of Columbia University(# 10 overall) and Cornell University(# 18 overall). Indeed, in this exclusive list( of the top 26 law schools for federal clerkships), the median overall law school ranking was 21. Recent statistics indicate that“ 46 % of all federal clerks are graduates of one of 15 elite law schools.” iv In 2022, 44 law schools placed no graduates in a federal clerkship and another 65 placed only one or two. v
Beyond overall law school ranking, UND looked out of place in another important metric compared to the other schools on the list: tuition. The median in-state tuition for the top-26 federal clerkship schools was $ 58,855; a smidge above UND’ s $ 17,631. The out-ofstate tuition median($ 68,403) was more than double UND’ s out-ofstate tuition($ 33,552).
At this point, readers who have never visited UND Law might suspect some anomaly or miscalculation in the U. S. News rankings. But those familiar with UND know that bean recounting will not lead to a different result. For many years, UND Law graduates have found exceptional success in landing these important opportunities. In 2023, 6.3 % of employed graduates were heading to a federal clerkship. From the graduating class of 2024( the data used in the U. S. News rankings) four students( 5.5 % of employment) secured a federal clerkship. The 2025 UND Law class boasts five students( unofficially about 6.8 %) heading to federal clerkships. And it is not just one or two judges hiring UND grads annually— the nine 2024 and 2025 clerks were hired by seven different judges. Nor do UND grads only clerk for North Dakota federal judges; about half( four of nine) were out-of-state judges. And those numbers do not include other students who I know received out-of-state federal clerkship interviews( a strong indicator of qualification).
By comparison, 67 of 195 law schools placed one federal clerk or less in 2024, according to required ABA disclosures. vi This point merits emphasis: UND Law placed more out-of-state federal clerks in 2024 and 2025 than a third of law schools placed any kind of federal clerkships. In other words, those out-of-state federal judges chose to hire UND Law grads over graduates from law schools in their state.
In my view, any kind of judicial clerkship is an invaluable experience. So, it is worth highlighting that in addition to federal clerkships, UND Law has a strong history of placing its graduates in other prestigious clerkships, such as with the North Dakota Supreme Court. vii Over the past three years, 10 of the 15 such law clerks were UND Law graduates. Here, I focus specifically on federal clerkships because U. S. News ranked law schools based only on federal clerkship placements.
Why should law schools and students pay attention to clerkship outcomes?“ For recent law graduates, judicial clerkships are among the most coveted and prestigious opportunities in the legal profession.” viii I am a fervent proponent of these opportunities and routinely encourage my students to pursue them. There are many resources that explain the value of judicial clerkships, ix so I will resist the urge to repeat all of that helpful information here. But I will briefly highlight that clerkships not only provide incredibly useful experience, unparalleled opportunity to develop one’ s judgment, and a chance to gain a lifelong mentor, they also open career doors for virtually any legal job and remain an influential distinction throughout a lawyer’ s career.
Matt Kopp, a UND Law alum and former law clerk for Chief Judge Peter Welte( U. S. District Court for the District of North Dakota) and Judge Ralph R. Erickson( 8th Circuit Court of Appeals), pursued multiple federal clerkships because they were
Matt Kopp“ an unmatched opportunity to learn how the judiciary works from behind the bench and to gain lifelong mentors who have reached the highest levels of the profession.” Now, as an Assistant U. S. Attorney,“ I lean on my experiences as a law clerk every day.”
Sarah Belliston
Sarah Belliston, a recent UND Law graduate currently clerking for Judge Daniel Traynor( U. S. District Court for the District of North Dakota), who will head to Judge Erickson’ s chambers at the 8th Circuit in August 2026, echoed Matt’ s remarks:“ A clerkship is a great way to see several trials a year and learn the
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