April 20, 2009
Tyler R. Green, a 2005 graduate of the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, will clerk for Supreme Court of the United States Justice Clarence Thomas during the October 2009 term.
“I’m very honored to have been offered the opportunity to serve as one of Justice Thomas’s law clerks, and I’m excited to work with him during the October 2009 Term of the Supreme Court. I’m grateful to all the talented and dedicated professors at the College of Law who have helped to make this possible,” said Green.
Hiram Chodosh, dean of the College of Law, said, “This is an extraordinary accomplishment for Tyler and reflects the tremendous talent in our student body and the invaluable investments of training and mentorship by our faculty and support from our staff. Moreover, Tyler’s achievement shows what is possible when we reach for the very highest goals.”
Amy Wildermuth, a professor of law at the College of Law and former clerk for Justice John Paul Stevens, added: “Tyler is outstanding in every way and this is a terrific opportunity for him. His clerkship is one of the very best jobs on earth and he gets to work for one of the greatest bosses around. I have no doubt that Tyler will represent us well; I could not be more proud of him and all he has accomplished so far. And, even though his new boss is a Nebraska fan, I’m sure Tyler will still be loyal to his Utes. But just in case, luckily, red works for both teams.”
Before accepting his current position as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Green clerked for Judge Michael McConnell and former Judge Paul Cassell, who are both College of Law faculty members and former clerks in the Supreme Court of the United States. Cassell, who clerked for Chief Justice Warren Burger in 1985-86, stated: “A Supreme Court clerkship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be at the nerve center of the American legal system. It’s a great tribute to Tyler’s hard work and achievements that Justice Thomas has selected him as a law clerk.”
Green’s clerkship will begin during the Summer of 2009 and will last one year. He will be one of four clerks in Justice Thomas’s chambers. Typically, a clerk’s duties include reviewing petitions for certiorari, helping the justices prepare for arguments, and working on the justices’ opinions. He will be the first College of Law graduate to clerk for Justice Thomas, and the first College of Law graduate to clerk at the Supreme Court since the early 1980s. Other College of Law graduates to clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court include Michael Zimmerman, a shareholder at Snell & Wilmer in Salt Lake City, who clerked for Chief Justice Warren Burger in 1969-70, Thomas Green, former general counsel for Dell Computer, who clerked for Chief Justice Warren Burger in 1982, and David G. Campbell, who clerked for Associate Justice William H. Rehnquist in 1982 and later became a federal district court judge in Arizona.