Three Georgetown University graduates who sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruminated over their work on the appellate bench and their unconventional career paths at a Nov. 6 event.
The panel of judges, which included Joseph Bianco (CAS ’88), Sarah Merriam (COL ’93) and William Nardini (CAS ’90), advised attendees on effective litigation and urged students interested in law to remain open to all professional pathways, citing the unpredictability of their own careers. Georgetown’s government department hosted the event, moderated by Joseph Hartman, a government professor who specializes in constitutional law.
Merriam said the work of appellate judges, which is often misconstrued by the public, is to determine if there was an error in the application of the law.
“A great deal of our decision making is not asking, ‘What would I have done?’” Merriam said at the event. “It’s actually, ‘Does this constitute an error under the applicable standard and the applicable law?’ It is not uncommon for any of us to think, ‘I think I would have given that guy 24 months, or I would have let that guy testify.’ But you have to set that aside.”
Merriam, before being appointed to the 2nd Circuit by former President Joe Biden in 2022, was a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of Connecticut for six years. President Donald Trump appointed Bianco and Nardini to the 2nd Circuit in 2019.
Prior to becoming an appeals judge, Bianco served as a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of New York.
Bianco said preparation is key to being an effective lawyer, particularly at the appellate level where multiple judges question the lawyer on the podium.
“Never overstate what a witness testified about, what an exhibit showed or what the Supreme Court has held in a case,” Bianco said at the event. “We are just as prepared as the lawyers are, and hardly, often much more prepared than some of the lawyers are. Once you push the evidence beyond what the record actually supports, you’ve lost all credibility.”
Merriam said that prior to attending law school, she had a variety of jobs unrelated to law.
“I didn’t know that I wanted to go to law school,” Merriam said. “I was very invested in street level politics, knocking on doors and holding a megaphone, but it doesn’t pay very well. If there’s a job, I’ve done it.”
Bianco said students should focus on opportunities and mentorships while in college instead of trying to intensely plan for the future.
“You don’t just plan it all out,” Bianco said. “You just do the next job you have, to the best of your ability, in the pursuit of excellence. You should be accumulating mentors. People are going to help you along the way. And these doors start opening, and you have to be open to them.”
Nardini said he had interest in comparative law in Italy as a student, studying abroad in Italy and eventually working at the Italian Constitutional Court before becoming a prosecutor in Connecticut.
“Everyone looked at me like, ‘This is exactly the wrong thing to do for your career path,’” Nardini said at the event. “‘This will not lead to a big money job at a law firm. This is not going to lead to an American government job. What are you doing?’”
Nardini, whose interest in Italy as an undergraduate student eventually led to a position at the U.S. embassy in Rome, said students should take opportunities they are passionate about regardless of their potential career path.
“I did things that probably most sane people would say that it will not put you on a direct course to some desired place in your career,” Nardini said. “But if there are things you love that are meaningful to you, different opportunities are going to pop up in unexpected ways.”
Bianco said his undergraduate experience at Georgetown was crucial in his legal journey.
“You are all in the best place you could possibly be,” Bianco said. “There’s no lawyers in my family. But in the law, I had professors here who were amazing. They somehow got into my head and in my heart that if you know the law, you can impact the world.”
Nardini said Georgetown students, especially those interested in a legal career, should actively foster mentors from faculty and graduates.
“Seek advice,” Nardini said. “All of us got to where we are now because some mentors gave us good advice. Now, all of us are delighted to pay that forward.”
