Just 9% of the 78 EDR matters initiated by federal court employees from 2021-23 were initiated by term law clerks, according to the AO's 2023 Workplace Report. That’s around 7 complaints over a 2-year period, or fewer than 5 misconduct complaints per year. This negligible number of complaints suggests limited use of the federal judiciary’s internal dispute resolution process and little progress toward fostering a culture of reporting.

Some judges apparently believe they should be exempt from criticism and public scrutiny — in addition to being exempt from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other anti-discrimination laws, and from oversight and accountability. In fact, we should criticize the judiciary: it’s how we hold the most powerful and least accountable institution, accountable for ethical lapses and misconduct.

The federal judiciary’s “alternative” to federal anti-discrimination protections, Employee Dispute Resolution, lacks standardization, meaningful remedies, uniform enforcement, transparency, and metrics for success. It is underutilized because it is ineffective, considering the judiciary has done nothing to ensure that clerks who file complaints are protected against retaliation by their powerful superiors.

Last week, Congress reintroduced the Judiciary Accountability Act, which will finally extend federal anti-discrimination protections to more than 30,000 federal judiciary employees, including law clerks and federal public defenders.

The federal judiciary's "self-policing" of workplace harassment has utterly failed, Congressman Hank Johnson and Aliza Shatzman argue in MSNBC. That's why the Judiciary Accountability Act, which will extend federal anti-discrimination protections to more than 30,000 judiciary employees, is urgently necessary.

Law schools' internal clerkships databases are incomplete at best and dangerously misleading at worst. And law students - regardless of their school's ranking and resources - overwhelmingly lack candid information about judicial work environments, judges' managerial styles, and chambers culture.

Public defender’s lawsuit against the federal judiciary highlights the urgency of extending federal anti-discrimination protections to more than 30,000 judiciary employees, including law clerks and public defenders, Aliza Shatzman argues in Above the Law.

The federal judiciary has a sexual harassment problem. Fortunately, there’s a fix, Aliza Shatzman writes in Slate.

Sweeping reform and real accountability are urgently necessary in the wake of former Alaska federal judge Joshua Kindred’s resignation following allegations of sexual harassment.

“The judiciary cannot and should not self-police,” Aliza Shatzman told Reuters following former Alaska federal judge Joshua Kindred’s resignation.

It’s unsurprising that appalling abuse persists, unabated, in the federal judiciary, considering the lack of guardrails to prevent it, Aliza Shatzman told NPR’s Carrie Johnson following Alaska federal judge Joshua Kindred’s resignation.

Sweeping reform and real accountability are desperately needed, Aliza Shatzman told The New York Times, in the wake of former Alaska federal judge Joshua Kindred’s resignation amid sexual harassment allegations.

We should tell the truth about judicial clerkships: they are not an unadulterated good. Yet too many in the legal profession will continue to frame them as all unicorns ​​and fairy dust - covering up a darker side of clerking, perpetuating problematic judiciary behavior, and isolating mistreated clerks.

“The judiciary needs some more people to poke at it,” Aliza Shatzman told NPR’s Carrie Johnson. “There are far too many judges who are mistreating their clerks, and we need to hold them accountable.”

This “boycott” of Columbia clerks is a public statement about what judges have been doing privately all along. Aliza Shatzman wrote about the federal judiciary's inequitable and opaque hiring practices. These 13 judges' "boycott" is nothing new: judges have been prioritizing and deprioritizing law schools and other applicant characteristics for as long as they've hired clerks.

LAP’s President and Founder Aliza Shatzman spoke with NPR about ineffective federal judiciary workplace policies and dispute resolution mechanisms, and what needs to change to ensure both safe work environments for law clerks and accountability for judges who mistreat them.

On April 8, 2024, judicial clerkship hiring and advising changed forever. The Legal Accountability Project launched our Centralized Clerkships Database, an unprecedented step to ensure transparency, accountability, and equity in judicial clerkships: one only a nimble third party could take. We are the only source of candid clerkship information for students — whether their law schools maintain robust clerkship resources or not.

“You give up a lot” to work for the federal judiciary. But you shouldn’t have to give up your civil rights, Aliza Shatzman writes in Balls and Strikes.

Aliza Shatzman spoke with Reuters for our first press hit since the official launch of LAP’s first-of-its-kind Centralized Clerkships Database, an unprecedented step to ensure transparency, accountability, and equity in judicial clerkships.

Aliza Shatzman spoke with Business Insider about the launch of LAP’s first-of-its-kind Centralized Clerkships Database, an unprecedented step to ensure transparency, accountability, and equity in judicial clerkships.