Dr. Todd Peppers has long been fascinated by the relationships between law clerks and their judges. That fascination led him to edit not one, not two, but three books on the subject.
The third installment in the collection will be released by University of Virginia Press next month. “Of Courtiers and Princes: Stories of Lower Court Clerks and Their Judges” is a combination of vignettes that explore the professional and personal lives of clerks and judges. The two previous books dealt primarily with the Supreme Court.
“When I started, I had a list of 30 judges in my mind that I thought would be interesting to know more about. It was sort of like fishing because even though I had this list, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to find someone to write about every judge,” he explains. “I was really pleased by the way the ultimate list of essays came together. I got so many essays by people who clerked for judicial pioneers.”
A pioneer herself, Ruth Bader Ginsburg contributed an essay about Edmund Louis Palmieri, who she clerked for while he was a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
“He was one of the only people in the country who would hire her after law school, which is astonishing,” Peppers says. Ginsburg had originally planned on delivering the essay as a eulogy at Palmieri’s funeral, but wasn’t able to do so due to inclement weather.
“She gave me the essay, but then essentially told me not to bother her. I kept showing up on her virtual doorstep and asking her questions. She kept giving more information, which helped flesh out the introduction to the essay,” he explains. “After I thought the essay was in final form, I sent it to her and she sent it back to me having taken the time to proof it herself and edit it. The edits are in her own handwriting on the final version. I will cherish it.”
Out of all of the essays included in the book, Peppers says one by a law clerk to John H. Wood, a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, stood out to him the most.
“The reason why his essay is so unique is because his judge was assassinated during his clerkship. The assassin was the father of actor Woody Harrelson. The judge was known for giving tough sentences to members of drug cartels. They took out a hit on him,” he says. “One thing the essay has told me was even though this was 50 years ago, he still found it very difficult to talk about his clerkship because he’d weep.”
Peppers is no stranger to the subject of judges and law clerks, having clerked for both Thomas M. Shanahan, a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, and Glen E. Conrad, a senior judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia who has presided in Roanoke for many years.
He credits his clerking experience for having cultivated his love of the judicial system.
“Judge Conrad became a mentor and a friend. Seeing my own relationship with the judge interested me in the subject in the first place,” he says. “I like stories about the fun things that happen between judges and their law clerks, like how a judge and a clerk in Texas went to a drag race together.”
Both of his judges, Peppers says, couldn’t have been further apart when it came to their approaches to mentoring clerks.
“My first judge was a demanding taskmaster who did not mince words when he was displeased with me. It felt like he was always displeased with me. It was a fairly tense clerkship,” he explains. “Judge Conrad is a remarkably kind man and a very patient teacher who enjoys the role of mentor, teacher and educator. I felt really blessed to clerk for him after I came out of my first clerkship with some bruises to my ego and doubts about my abilities. I used to tell Judge Conrad he put me back together again in terms of my confidence in my own abilities.”
The book also fits perfectly in line with his day job as the Henry H. & Trudye H. Fowler Professor in Public Affairs in the Public Affairs Department at Roanoke College and as a visiting professor of law at Washington and Lee Law School.
He explains he tries to cultivate an appreciation for the judiciary among his students.
“I’ve been lucky at Roanoke College because I have had some wonderful students who I have been able to incorporate into my research and writing. They’ve been able to share some of my enthusiasm for the topic of judges and law clerks,” he says. “My research allows me to go into the classroom and use my own experiences to help the students learn how one branch of our government operates.”
Work on the Ginsburg essay has led Peppers to start a new project with one of his students about Palmieri.
“He has sort of been lost to history. If you Google him, the only information you get is that he hired Ginsburg. In working on the essay I found out that one-third of all of the clerks he hired were women,” he says. “He started hiring law clerks in the 1950s. I was really intrigued by how progress his law clerk hiring practices were.”
Peppers says he hopes the book will show readers just how impactful of experiences clerkships are.
“These clerkships are some of the most interesting and unique internship opportunities for young people,” he explains. “They get to be involved in everything that comes across a judge’s desk, including both criminal and civil matters.”
The book can be found on the University of Virginia Press website here.
About the Author:
Aila Boyd is an educator and journalist who resides in Roanoke. She holds an MFA in Writing from Lindenwood University.
