Out of state supreme court clerkship? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi,

If I'm interested in working in California eventually, is it beneficial to do an out-of-state supreme court clerkship? Does it help in terms of employment in California afterwards?

Thanks so much!

[Tanicius]

Hi,

If I'm interested in working in California eventually, is it beneficial to do an out-of-state supreme court clerkship? Does it help in terms of employment in California afterwards?

Thanks so much!

Kind of obviously depends on what kind of job you will eventually want.

[Anonymous User]

Hi,

If I'm interested in working in California eventually, is it beneficial to do an out-of-state supreme court clerkship? Does it help in terms of employment in California afterwards?

Thanks so much!

Kind of obviously depends on what kind of job you will eventually want.

I'm interested in litigation at a law firm

[Tanicius]

Probably won't hurt coming from a different state supreme court as long as you can sell CA ties.

[Total Litigator]

It will be substantially harder to get a firm job in state X coming from Supreme Court of State Y, than it will to get a firm job in state X coming out of federal court in State Y. That's all I got.

edit: for the reasons stated below by keg411.

[keg411]

I didn't clerk at a SSC, but I did do an internship at one. SSC's focus primarily on issues of state law. Therefore, as a clerk, you're going to learn all about the law of State X, and cases/statutes/constitutional law and how it's used in State X. The connection you will get as a clerk will all be in State X. Therefore, I really can't see how that would help you get back to CA. I don't know how clerkships work in CA, but you're better off doing a lower-level clerkship in CA as opposed to doing a SSC clerkship in State X.

[Total Litigator]

I would qualify keg411's statement with the thought that a Supreme Court clerkship in the other state is better than trial court clerkship in CA. Not because the SSC clerkship in the other state will help you to get a job in CA, but because the job you will probably get in the other state from the SC clerkship (mid-law) will be much better than the job you'll probably get in State CA from the trial court clerkship (small-law). By lower level, I think apellate would be what keg411 is refering to, that seems like the right compromise. Aim for CA appellate if you can't get CA SC. If you can't get CA appellate, go for other state SC. Of course, if it's CA or die... then, unless you have some serious CA ties you can hawk when you get done with the other state's SC clerkship, CA trial court clerkship might actually be the way to go.

[Anonymous User]

Currently, only Justice Liu takes term clerks in CA, and he's got incredibly high standards (not just grades but several years of practice, including prior federal COA clerkships, from those who he hired this past year).

[Tanicius]

Currently, only Justice Liu takes term clerks in CA, and he's got incredibly high standards (not just grades but several years of practice, including prior federal COA clerkships, from those who he hired this past year).

Holy crap. I guess he just wants career clerks? Anyone who goes from COA to state supreme probably is chasing a calling for that kind of work rather than career prospects in other fields.

[Anonymous User]

Currently, only Justice Liu takes term clerks in CA, and he's got incredibly high standards (not just grades but several years of practice, including prior federal COA clerkships, from those who he hired this past year).

Holy crap. I guess he just wants career clerks? Anyone who goes from COA to state supreme probably is chasing a calling for that kind of work rather than career prospects in other fields.

I think they're mostly hoping he'll get another chance at the COA or beyond in a few years, and that it's a good contact. IDK, his clerks are better-credentialed than most other judges I've seen, including many federal COA.

To OP: Maybe consider one of the more "prestigious" non-CA state supreme courts, like Alaska, New York, Texas, or Hawai'i.

[Anonymous User]

This is OP. Thanks for all your input! The reason why I am asking this is because I don't think California courts generally take law clerks.

So it seems that you guys think out-of-state Supreme Court clerkships aren't that helpful for employment in California afterwards.

Just in general, do you guys know if it's typical to go into big law after a Supreme Court clerkship?

[keg411]

This is OP. Thanks for all your input! The reason why I am asking this is because I don't think California courts generally take law clerks.

So it seems that you guys think out-of-state Supreme Court clerkships aren't that helpful for employment in California afterwards.

Just in general, do you guys know if it's typical to go into big law after a Supreme Court clerkship?

All of the clerks I met while interning for my SSC Justice had some type of BigLaw lined up, but they all had gotten those jobs through regular 2L SA's.