OSCAR Webinar: Managing Applicants and Applications for Law Schools

Why It Matters

The added 24-hour buffer and online applicant-management workflows change the timing and coordination of clerkship recruiting, affecting when judges can accept, contact, and interview applicants and requiring law schools to manage AG approvals and recommendation processes more actively. These changes could alter candidate outreach, scheduling practices, and administrative workload across law schools and chambers.

Summary

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts hosted a webinar for law school administrators detailing OSCAR, the secure web-based system that manages federal law clerk and staff attorney hiring. Presenters reviewed OSCAR features (applicant management, recommendation tracking, training resources), the role of law school administrators in approving alternate-graduation (AG) applicants, and how to use the LSA homepage to manage requests. They also summarized the 2027 hiring plan timeline and a notable procedural change: a new, experimental third date that creates a 24-hour window between initial contact and the start of interviews. The session noted ongoing Federal Judicial Center surveys and committee review to inform future hiring-plan adjustments.

Original Description

This recorded webinar provides an overview of the LSA homepage, discussion of the Federal Law Clerk Hiring Plan, and essential training on managing applicants and applications in OSCAR.

Learn more about OSCAR at: https://oscar.uscourts.gov

Have a look at our ever-growing Training Video Library - OSCAR (uscourts.gov)