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Law School graduate to clerk for Justice Scalia

Jonathan Urick, Class of 2013, secures coveted position for 2015-16 term

Jonathan Urick, a class of 2013 Law graduate, will clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in the 2015-16 term.

“I was utterly thrilled when I found out I got the position,” Urick said. “It was a dream come true. I had to pinch myself several times to make sure it was all real.”

A 2008 graduate from the University of Delaware with a major in economics and a minor in political science, Ulrick worked with a non-profit trade association handling pension funds for two years in Washington, D.C. before attending the Law School.

Upon graduating from the University in 2013, Urick received the Robert E. Goldsten Award for Distinction in the Classroom, awarded to the student the faculty believes contributed most to classroom participation.

Urick then went on to clerk for Judge Amul Thapar of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky for the 2013-14 term and currently clerks for Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Columbus, Ohio.

Urick is one of two Law graduates who will clerk for a U.S. Supreme Court justice during the 2015-16 term. Galen Bascom, another 2013 graduate, will clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

Out of 221 graduates of the Law School who entered clerkships between 2011 and 2013, only eight became clerks for supreme courts.

Those who received positions, including Urick, did so after participating in the most competitive and selective clerkship process offered in the United States. There are roughly 1,000 applicants for supreme court clerk positions each year. Only a handful are then selected for interviews, and ultimately only 36 are chosen.

“They really grilled you with tough questions and tried to put you in a corner,” Urick said. “They would make sure you had well thought out theories, and would make you think on your feet. No one could ever be 100 percent prepared.”

Law Prof. Micah Schwartzman, who taught Urick, said he believes Urick will fit right in with the others who made the cut.

“[He] thinks critically and carefully [and is] brilliant, super smart and a terrific lawyer,” Schwartzman said.

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