Tulane Law Review Senior Board Members Head to Federal Clerkships Together

Tulane Law Communications lawcommunications@tulane.edu

For the senior board members of the Tulane Law Review, their post-grad plans will be full of familiar faces.  

All six senior board members –graduating with the Class of 2026– have secured federal clerkships at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, an extraordinary concentration of Tulane talent in one place and the first time in recent history that all board members will be clerking in the same courthouse.

Federal clerkships are among the most sought-after opportunities for law graduates, giving them a front-row seat to the judicial process. The Law Review has a strong legacy of placing journal alumni in clerkships across the country.  

“I got the opportunity to be a judicial intern my 1L year, which is really what piqued my interest in doing a clerkship. I actually worked under three clerks who were also Tulane Law alumni from Law Review,” said Editor-in-Chief Caitlin Phillips. “We've really tried to make an effort to prioritize clerking.” 

Phillips will clerk for Chief Judge the Hon. Wendy Vitter (L ‘86), alongside the journal’s Senior Notes and Comments Editor Taylor Chozick. The rest of the senior board will be spread throughout the courthouse: 

  • John Berner, Senior Articles Editor, will clerk for the Hon. Susie Morgan. 
  • Nicole Alvarez Roca, Senior Managing Editor, will clerk for the Hon. Barry Ashe (A&S '78, L '84), and a year later, for the Hon. Kyle Duncan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. 
  • Michelle Zeng, Diversity Editor, will clerk for the Hon. Carl Barbier. 
  • Emma Luke, Senior Associate Editor, will clerk for the Hon. Anna St. John. 

While the journal has a strong history of producing clerkship-bound graduates, this is the first time in recent memory that all senior board members will clerk in the same district. “I can’t recall another instance where the entire senior board clerked together after graduation,” said faculty advisor Ron Scalise. “It speaks to the exceptional talent and work ethic of these students, and I couldn’t be prouder of what they’ve accomplished.” 

And the numbers don’t stop there. Seven junior members have already secured post-graduate clerkships, alongside three additional graduating members, bringing the Tulane Law Review’s total clerkship placements to 16. 

For most graduating classes, Commencement means saying goodbye to the familiar faces you pass in Weinmann Hall. For this group, it means seeing many of them again…just down the hallways of the federal courthouse.