University Law alumnus Andrew Ferguson will be clerking for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas this fall.
Ferguson received his B. A. from the University and spent his first year as a law student at William & Mary. He later went on to transfer to the University Law School as a second-year and graduated in 2012.
He is currently an associate at Bancroft PLLC in Washington, D.C., and his practice focuses on appellate litigation and strategic counseling. Ferguson will join fellow University alumnus Austin Raynor as a clerk in Thomas’ chambers.
Several professors have said Ferguson was a gifted student and research assistant during his time at the University. He was also an active member of the University community, serving as an articles editor for the Virginia Law Review.
Law Prof. Micah Schwartzman, one of Ferguson’s professors of constitutional theory and chairman of the Faculty Clerkship Committee, said Ferguson is a “remarkable success story.”
“He just did as well as anyone can do in law school and it showed,” Schwartzman said. “Getting a Supreme Court clerkship is a capstone for his legal education and a great start to his legal career [and] much deserved.”
Schwartzman said the Law School has a clerkship process which works with students to place them in appellate and federal district courts.
“It’s something that the Law School has invested resources in and cares very much about to make sure that our students have those opportunities,” Schwartzman said.
The application process for obtaining a clerkship is highly selective, with thousands of qualified applicants competing for just a handful of spots.
Ferguson said the support he received from the friends and faculty who helped him prepare for his interview, as well as his recommenders, led to his success in the application process.
“My recommenders, particularly my former boss, Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson of the D.C. Circuit, really went to bat for me,” Ferguson said in an email statement. “Really, this opportunity has very little to do with me, and mostly to do with everyone who supported my application. I owe them all a tremendous debt.”
Ferguson described his interview as “thrilling.”
“Just meeting Justice Thomas, whom I believe to be one of the great legal minds of our time, and chatting with him, was an unforgettable experience,” Ferguson said. “To be able to serve as his law clerk is beyond my wildest imaginings.”
Law Prof. A. E. Dick Howard said Ferguson has all the strengths a Supreme Court Justice could ask for.
“Once Andrew begins his clerkship, Justice Thomas will quickly discover what a good choice he has made,” Howard said in an email statement. “U.Va. could not be better represented at the Court.”
According to the Law School, there are 103 University Law alumni holding judicial clerkships in state and federal courts in the 2015-2016 term. The University Law School was one of the top clerk contributors to the U.S. Supreme Court between 2005 and 2015 along with Harvard University, Yale University and Stanford University.
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