Read Online Supreme Ambitions by David Lat - Free Book Online

nobody has checked their voicemail since, like, 2005. So I finally decided to try your work phone—I looked you up in the courthouse directory—because I figured you wouldn’t dare let your office phone go unanswered.”
    â€œYou’re right,” I said. “Sorry, I’m so overwhelmed. I have a million bench memos to write. I have a big ERISA case—I never took ERISA in law school—and I have a bunch of immigration cases, and I don’t know anything about immigration law. There’s so much I don’t know.”
    â€œYou’ll get it all done. You always do. What are you up to this weekend?”
    â€œWorking. My judge”—I hadn’t even finished my first week of work, and Judge Stinson was already “my” judge—“is coming back from out of town. I have a bunch of things I need to give her on Monday. And they need to be perfect. I’ll be here all weekend.”
    â€œYeah, I’m working too. Gottlieb comes into chambers every day except Sunday, and he expects us to be here when he’s here. From nine in the morning to nine at night usually.”
    â€œFor such a champion of labor, he’s quite the taskmaster.”
    â€œBut he works as hard as we do. I’m learning so much. He’s brilliant. He calls me into his office to talk multiple times a day. We read the cases together. We edit the drafts together, line by line, until the wording is just right. We work so closely.”
    â€œThat’s great,” I said. “Just what a clerkship should be.”
    â€œSo I’m free on Sunday, at least Sunday night. How about dinner and a movie?”
    â€œI don’t know, I have so much work. And on Monday morning, we have our weekly meeting, which is a big deal in chambers. It’s my first one. I need to be prepared.”
    â€œCome on, you’re like a damn Boy Scout—always prepared. You’ve worked late every night this week. You’re working over the weekend. Taking one night off won’t kill you.”
    â€œMonday is my first time seeing the judge since our interview. I have to be at my best. You know what they say: first impressions are everything!”
    â€œYou know what they say,” Jeremy said. “All work and no play makes Audrey a dull girl!”
    I could afford to take one night off this week. Right?
    â€œOkay, fine,” I said. “But let’s meet up early.”
    â€œDeal. I’ll come by Stinson’s chambers around six to pick you up. Any excuse for me to see that hot co-clerk of yours.”
    â€œJames? He’s straight.”
    â€œHow do you know? Have you asked him? You’ve been here, what, a week?”
    â€œI just know . I have a feeling.”
    â€œAnd I have a feeling too. There’s a gay in every chambers in this court. And in the Stinson chambers, James is the best bet.”
    â€œYou’re projecting. You did this all the time in law school. You think that every guy is gay. Especially if he’s attractive.”
    â€œSo you think James is attractive, do you?”
    I was glad Jeremy wasn’t there to see my cheeks turning pink.
    â€œHe’s attractive by conventional standards,” I admitted, “but that’s not necessarily my type.”
    â€œBecause you’re just so unconventional. Let’s make a wager. I will bet you a nice dinner that one of your co-clerks is gay.”
    I couldn’t afford a “nice” dinner as easily as Jeremy could. He had no debt from law school, thanks to the generosity of his parents (who were also helping him out during the clerkship with a sizable “allowance”). But thinking over the bet, I liked my odds. As the best dressed and most in-shape of my co-clerks, James was arguably the most likely to be gay, at least based on stereotypes. But I just knew he couldn’t be gay—meaning that, a fortiori , nobody was gay.
    â€œThat’s a bet,” I