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Trying to weigh the merits of two clerkships:

-Trial court is in the city where I want to practice/am taking the bar.

-COA is with with the Staff Attorney's office in a big secondary market, not an elbow clerk position.

1) Is one necessarily better than the other?

2) Is one significantly better for specific down-the-line possibilities?

Assume I'm not set on anything in particular post-clerkship.

Better take the Federal Court of Appeals opportunity while you can. State trial court positions are typically much easier to get. Also, the work product in the federal court system tends to be far superior to that encountered in state trial courts.