News

Sopan Joshi (JD ’13) to Clerk for Justice Scalia

July 03, 2014

Northwestern Law alumnus Sopan Joshi (JD ’13) will serve as a law clerk for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia for the 2015 Supreme Court term.

Joshi is currently a clerk for Judge Richard Posner on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior to attending Northwestern Law, he worked for Intel Corporation. He holds both a bachelors and doctorate degree in electrical engineering and decided to attend law school to fulfill a long-held interest in studying law and democratic theory.

“I’m looking forward to clerking for Justice Scalia, and I’m honored and humbled to have been given this opportunity,” said Joshi. “Clerking is great experience for any lawyer. For one thing, it’s intellectually stimulating. More practically, it gives you an in-depth insight into how judges decide cases, which can be invaluable knowledge to have when advising clients or writing briefs in future litigation work.”

While a student at Northwestern Law, Joshi was the articles editor for the Northwestern University Law Review, and he participated in the Owen L. Coon/James A. Rahl Senior Research Program under the mentorship of Professor Martin H. Redish. He cites Professor Steven Calabresi in particular as an immense help during the clerkship application process, as well as Professor Erin Delaney and Dean Rodriguez.

Joshi will be the third consecutive Northwestern Law graduate to clerk in the Scalia Chambers: Kevin King (JD ’10) is clerking for the 2013 term, and Judd Stone (JD ’10) will clerk for the 2014 term. Other Supreme Court clerks from recent years include Abby Mollen (JD ’08), who served as a clerk for Justice Sonia Sotomayor during the 2010 term, and Kenton Skarin (JD ’09), who served as a clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas during the 2012 term.