Deans from 11 of the most prestigious law schools in the country have banded together to implore federal judges to participate in a fledgling clerk hiring plan—now entering its second year.

The pilot plan last year helped rein in the clerk hiring chaos that had prevailed since the previous hiring plan fell apart in 2014, the deans wrote in a Jan. 22 letter sent to every judge in the federal judiciary. Pushing hiring back to the end of the second year gave students more time to acclimate to law school life and develop faculty relationships before jumping into the clerk application process, and it provided participating judges with more information about applicants, according to the letter.