Law Clerks

Supreme Court Clerks for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

Justice O'Connor hired four law clerks per year during her time as an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court. Each clerk serves for one year and completes critical legal work, including researching the background behind cases, making recommendations and arguments on how they should be decided, and writing drafts of opinions. Click on any one of them below to see more information, including a list of opinions by Justice O'Connor during the term they worked at the Court.

Barbara Bennett Woodhouse

COURT TERM (OT): 1984
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): L.Q.C. Lamar Professor of Law and Director, Child Rights Project, Emory University

Gail B. Agrawal

COURT TERM (OT): 1984
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Dean Emerita and F. Wendell Miller Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law

Kent D. Syverud

COURT TERM (OT): 1984
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Chancellor and President, Syracuse University (2014-Present); Dean, Washington University School of Law (2005-2013); Dean, Vanderbilt University Law School (1997-2005)

W. Scott Bales

COURT TERM (OT): 1984
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Chief Justice, Arizona Supreme Court (2014-2019)

Julie R. O’Sullivan

COURT TERM (OT): 1985
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Professor, Georgetown University Law Center (1995-Present); Associate Counsel for the Whitewater investigation (1994)

Christopher Cerf

COURT TERM (OT): 1985
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Commissioner of New Jersey Department of Education (2011-2014); Superintendent of Newark Public Schools (2015-2018); Deputy Chancellor of New York City Department of Education (2007-2009)

John K. Setear

COURT TERM (OT): 1985
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Class of 1962 Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law

Stephen G. Gilles

COURT TERM (OT): 1985
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Professor of Law, Quinnipiac University

Charles A. Blanchard

COURT TERM (OT): 1986
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): General Counsel of the Air Force (2009-2013); General Counsel of the Army (1999-2001)

Daniel J. Bussel

COURT TERM (OT): 1986
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Professor of Law, UCLA Law

Susan A. Creighton

COURT TERM (OT): 1986
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Partner, Wilson Sonsini (Washington, DC)

Joan I. Greco

COURT TERM (OT): 1986
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Program Director, The Conference Board