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.

Matthew D. Adler

COURT TERM (OT): 1992
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Richard A. Horvitz Professor of Law and Professor of Economics, Philosophy and Public Policy, Duke University

E. Vaughn Dunnigan

COURT TERM (OT): 1992
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Sole Practitioner at E. Vaughn Dunnigan, P.C.

Katherine L. Adams

COURT TERM (OT): 1993
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Apple, Inc. (2017-Present); General Counsel, Honeywell International Inc. (2003-2017)

Mark A. Perry

COURT TERM (OT): 1993
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Partner and co-chair, Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Eugene Volokh

COURT TERM (OT): 1993
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Professor, UCLA School of Law; Co-founder, "The Volokh Conspiracy" blog

James Forman Jr.

COURT TERM (OT): 1993
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Professor, Yale Law School; 2017 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction; Co-founder of the Maya Angelou School in Washington, DC

Elizabeth L. Earle (Beske)

COURT TERM (OT): 1994
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Professor of Legal Rhetoric, American University Washington College of Law

Stuart F. Delery

COURT TERM (OT): 1994
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Acting Associate Attorney General of the United States (2016); Litigation partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

David G. Ellen

COURT TERM (OT): 1994
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Senior Executive Vice President, Charter Communications

David C. Kravitz

COURT TERM (OT): 1994
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): State Solicitor, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Viet D. Dinh

COURT TERM (OT): 1994
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Assistant U.S. Attorney General (2001-2003); Professor, Georgetown University Law Center

Julia B. Shelton (Ambrose)

COURT TERM (OT): 1995
NOTABLE LATER ROLE(S): Partner, Brooks Pierce (Raleigh, NC)