Pro Recruiter Joins Law Center Faculty

Nicknamed the “LeBron James of law recruiting,” Paul Clement (SFS '88), former United States solicitor general, is now a visiting professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. Clement came to Georgetown after his resignation as solicitor general in 2008. He sat down with THE HOYA to talk about his role as professor at his alma mater.

Can you describe your job as solicitor general for the United States? What was it like? What is the hardest part?

Well, let’s see. The job as solicitor general was — if most people knew about it at all — the person that represents the United States, or the executive branch of the United States, before the Supreme Court. Well, what it seems is that you were somebody who on a regular basis would argue in front of the Supreme Court. You were also responsible for administering and managing most of the litigation, at least in the appellate courts, in addition to what’s going on in the Supreme Court. And I guess what would be one of the most challenging aspects of the job was trying to balance the two roles. Because on the one hand, you’re doing a lot of work that the public really doesn’t see, deciding whether or not to authorize certain appeals, whether or not to take a case to the Supreme Court. But in addition to that, you’re doing one thing that’s a much more public role, which is actually arguing cases in the Supreme Court of the United States.

What, in your opinion, was the most interesting case you came run across during your time as solicitor general?

Well, I guess I would say this; I would answer it more broadly, not to change the question too much. I was in the office for a total of seven years, first as a deputy, then as acting solicitor general and then as the solicitor general. In some ways, the one case that really stands out in my mind out of all of them was the big campaign finance case, the McConnell v. FEC [Federal Election Commission] case. And the reason that stands out in my mind is that it was an incredibly challenging case because, not to bore you with too many details, but this was a major campaign finance reform act, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, or the McCain-Feingold law, and it was a very extensive piece of legislation, and many, many provisions of the law were challenged as unconstitutional. And so, the challenge for the advocate was to defend — you know, usually you’re up there defending just a single provision of a single statute — and in this case, you were up there really defending the constitutionality of a number of different provisions. And you really had to be ready to be asked by the court about virtually any of these provisions. And usually, like I said, by the time it gets to the Supreme Court, the argument is focused on just one or two provisions and statutes. So, it was one of the most challenging cases that I had to argue.

You served three years as solicitor general after working in a few law firms. How would you compare the experience of working for the government and working in a private firm?

Well, look, the opportunity you get in the government is really a special opportunity. I mean, the fact that you’re engaged in public service is something, you know, important to me, one of those values I think Georgetown instilled in me when I was an undergraduate. And it’s also, I think, true that there’s something special about that when you walk into the Supreme Court of the United States and you represent not just any client, but you represent the United States of America. I mean, that’s a pretty amazing professional opportunity. And I think if you have an opportunity to play that role, I would encourage anyone to jump at that opportunity because it’s very special. By contrast, I always enjoyed private practice. And I think that lawyers, particularly litigators, are relatively lucky because some jobs, in the government are really interesting jobs but there is almost no analog in the private sector. Most of the cases when you’re in government, you’re litigating in the adversarial system against a lawyer that’s in private practice, or a public defender’s office, or in some other institution.

What do you think of being called the “LeBron James of law recruiting?” How do feel about it?

Well, I don’t think anything of it. I’m certainly flattered by the comparison though it seems a little overblown, or whatever the right word is. But I’m a sports fan. I’m flattered by the comparison!

Why did you decide to teach here at Georgetown when you are in such high demand elsewhere?

Teaching at Georgetown at the law school was in certain respects a no-brainer for me, I guess for two reasons. One is [Georgetown University Law Center] is my indirect alma mater, you know. I’m a graduate of the School of Foreign Service and I went to law school, let’s just say, elsewhere. But I obviously have very warm feelings about Georgetown as an overall institution, so teaching at the law school was kind of a natural for that reason. But the even more natural reason to teach at Georgetown is that I’ve been doing it off and on since 1998. I first started teaching as an adjunct professor at the law school in 1998 back when I was working in the Senate on the judiciary committee and I, probably five or six times [since then have] taught a similar course. Every time previously, I was doing it just as an adjunct, and here I had an opportunity to kind of take a semester where I could be a visiting professor, but more part of the full-time faculty. So it just seemed very natural to do it in the place that I do. I enjoy teaching and I enjoy the students. So once I decided that teaching made sense, it was pretty much a no-brainer to do it at Georgetown.

Where do you see your career going within the next couple of years?

I really think that probably the next phase of my career is likely to be in private practice. Like I was alluding to earlier, one of the advantages of being a lawyer is that you get a chance to do something in private practice that’s not terribly dissimilar to what you were doing in the government. So, for me, what I’d like to do, is that I’d like to go into private practice and build up an appellate practice focused at least in part on arguing cases before the Supreme Court.

As a Georgetown alumnus who has scaled the uppermost echelons of the legal career, what advice do you have for aspiring students of law at Georgetown?

I guess what I would say — I don’t think this will be surprising given the other discussion that we had — I really would encourage people to go into law school if they want to, but do it for the right reasons — not because you’re not sure what you want to do next, but because you actually want to practice law and engage in the judicial system. And the other piece of advice that’s related to that, is that I do think that [you should consider] public service at some point in your career — and there’s a lot of different ways in which you can engage in public service. You don’t have to just work for the government — you can work in a public defender’s office or for state governments — there’s a lot of different ways to perform that public service role.

-Interview by Jessie Chiang