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IV. Findings

From a database of 165 clerks who worked at the Texas Supreme Court from the fall of 1992 through the spring of 2000, researchers identified 119 individuals who appear to have been employed right after their clerkship by private-sector employers. Of these 119 clerks, 76 clerks (64 percent) faced at least one potential conflict in which their immediate future employer had a Supreme Court case pending during that recruit’s clerkship. In all, these 76 clerks faced 402 potential conflicts involving 154 different cases.

A small number of influential firms account for most of these potential clerk conflicts (see table). The top four firms (Baker & Botts, Vinson & Elkins, Fulbright & Jaworksi and Bracewell & Patterson), all of which are known to have paid clerk perks, account for 70 percent of all the potential conflicts. Altogether, the clerks employed by the 12 firms known to have paid clerk perks (see appendix) accounted for 84 percent of the potential conflicts identified here (336 potential conflicts).
 
 
 

Leading Law Firms With Potential 
Clerk Conflicts, 1992-2000

Law Firm	No. of Potential Clerk-Perk Conflicts	No. of Clerks Hired
*Baker & Botts	103	11
*Vinson & Elkins	81	10
*Fulbright & Jaworski	72	7
*Bracewell & Patterson	24	5
McGinnis Lochridge & Kilgore	16	4
*Carrington Coleman Sloman…	15	9
Mayor Day Caldwell & Keeton	15	5
*Haynes & Boone	12	2
*Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld	10	3
Gibbs & Bruns	7	3
Brown McCarroll & Oaks Hartline	6	1
*Locke Liddell & Sapp	6	2
*Weil Gotshal & Manges	4	2
Hughes & Luce	4	3
*Andrews & Kurth	3	1
*Susman Godfrey	3	1
*Thompson & Knight	3	1
Gardere & Wynne	3	1
Liddell Sapp Zivley Hill & LaBoon	2	4
Naman Howell Smith & Lee	2	1
Jones Day Reavis & Pogue	2	2

* Firms known to have paid hiring bonuses to Supreme Court clerks.
 

Baker & Botts
Baker & Botts led these firms, hiring 11 clerks fresh off the court. Over the course of their clerkship, these clerks faced a total of 103 potential conflicts involving their future employer. A Baker & Botts recruit hired by Justice Nathan Hecht in the fall of 1997 set a clerk record by facing 21 cases involving his future employer during his court clerkship. Baker & Botts also is the former employer of Chief Justice Tom Phillips, who employed four clerks that moved on to his old firm. This good-old-boy system is rare, with no other justice employing more than one clerk who went straight to work for his or her old firm.

Baker & Botts reportedly pays bonuses to Texas Supreme Court clerk recruits before they begin their clerkships. These bonuses currently include a $35,000 clerkship bonus, a $5,500 acceptance bonus and a $5,000 graduation bonus.

Vinson & Elkins
Ten court clerks who faced 81 potential conflicts went straight to work after their clerkships for Vinson & Elkins. No other firm during the studied period had four clerk recruits at the court at the same time. Vinson & Elkins pulled off this feat twice, once during the 1998-1999 clerkship year and again during the current term. Two of the four Vinson & Elkins recruits who currently clerk at the court are employed by the same justice. This leaves Justice Deborah Hankinson without any clerk free of financial ties to this major firm.

After announcing that it would raise Supreme Court clerk bonuses to $35,000, Vinson & Elkins recently suspended this practice in response to the clerk-perk scandal. This firm also reportedly has paid clerks an $8,000 signing bonus, a $2,000 graduation bonus, moving expenses and Bar review and exam expenses.

Fulbright & Jaworski
This firm hired seven Supreme Court clerks, who faced 72 potential conflicts during their clerkships. Fulbright & Jaworski reportedly pays judicial bonuses of unknown amounts.

Bracewell & Patterson
Bracewell and Patterson hired five clerks who faced 24 potential conflicts. It reportedly pays an unknown judicial clerkship bonus, as well as a $5,000 sign-up and $5,000 graduation bonus. The firm also covers its clerks’ moving expenses and Bar review, Bar exam and Bar dues.
 

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