state appellate court clerkship where i dont want to live?

[MarinaraSauce]

All,

I am top 25% at a bottom end T30 school and may have an opportunity to clerk for an appellate court judge. However, I currently live in a city where I own a home, have a fiance, and have our families. My only job offer for next year at this time is at a sht firm paying 40 or 45k. Is it worth it to move a state over (7 hour drive) to clerk at the appellate court there? Will my job options be better in my home state after the clerkship? Does anyone have any idea? I NEED to make my decision by tomorrow! Thanks for any advice/help!

[rad lulz]

What kind of work would you be doing at the "shit firm"

What connections do you have to the other state?

[Anonymous User]

Generally, a state appellate court clerkship will only be effective in that particular state regarding job prospects and even that depends. A similar argument could be made for state supreme court clerks as well. What those exit options are varies from state to state in my opinion. Some use it as jumping point to federal clerkships, others feed into mid-law or their state's biglaw if they summered there. If you hate the state where the court is located, you may want to pass if those courts only feed into firms in that same state.

[Anonymous User]

It depends on how bad the small firm is.

[MarinaraSauce]

What kind of work would you be doing at the "shit firm"

What connections do you have to the other state?

Its consumer litigation/protaction

I have no connections whatsoever to the other state and do not want to live there after the clerkship would end

[MarinaraSauce]

Generally, a state appellate court clerkship will only be effective in that particular state regarding job prospects and even that depends. A similar argument could be made for state supreme court clerks as well. What those exit options are varies from state to state in my opinion. Some use it as jumping point to federal clerkships, others feed into mid-law or their state's biglaw if they summered there. If you hate the state where the court is located, you may want to pass if those courts only feed into firms in that same state.

how do I know whether the court feeds into firms in other states?

[MarinaraSauce]

It depends on how bad the small firm is.

Pretty bad. About 8 lawyers are there at any given time. Over the past year, since I started as a clerk, 3 lawyers have been fired, 6 have quit including 1 partner.

[lolwat]

It's probably hard to give more info without outing yourself but it depends on what state you're talking about. Also I assume because you mentioned "appellate court judge" it means NOT state supreme court... makes it quite a bit less desirable.

But personally, I would take the appellate court clerkship because your only other option sounds like a total shit firm and it doesn't sound like any better of a long-term plan than the clerkship is. Exit options will depend highly on the state and your judge, imo...

[A. Nony Mouse]

This is tough, and again, will vary by state. Generally I agree that a state appellate clerkship is going to be most helpful for making connections/getting a job in that state. I don't think it will *hurt* you in your home state, and arguably getting associated with a crap firm might do so. It's just the appellate clerkship may not help you that much (but it doesn't sound like the firm job will either.) However, one benefit of taking the clerkship is that it buys you one more year to hustle and network and find something else. Will you be able to do that more effectively from a state away, or in a crap firm? I can't answer that. Good luck.

[lolwat]

If you can and it's not too late yet to do it (if you still have a couple hours), try to look up past clerks for this appellate judge and see where they ended up... and look up the judge to see if s/he might have some connections to firms in your home state. I mean, IIRC, where I went to law school, we bordered right on another state, so the attorneys practicing in that city would fairly often end up in courts in the other state as well.

The more I think about it, the more I think taking the clerkship is a much, much better move.

[Anonymous User]

Generally, a state appellate court clerkship will only be effective in that particular state regarding job prospects and even that depends. A similar argument could be made for state supreme court clerks as well. What those exit options are varies from state to state in my opinion. Some use it as jumping point to federal clerkships, others feed into mid-law or their state's biglaw if they summered there. If you hate the state where the court is located, you may want to pass if those courts only feed into firms in that same state.

how do I know whether the court feeds into firms in other states?

You'd google any of the judges and "clerk" to see where their clerks ended up. This can be inaccurate because some clerks come in with offers from firms where they summered. You'd probably have to research the clerk to see whether that was the case. Not too hard to do, but can be time consuming.

[Anonymous User]

Also I assume because you mentioned "appellate court judge" it means NOT state supreme court... makes it quite a bit less desirable.

This isn't necessarily true, some states covet appellate-level clerks. NJ comes to mind.

[MarinaraSauce]

Thanks for all the advice. Still not sure what to do. I am on the west coast so still have some time. Have not been able to discover who this judge's former clerks are or where they ended up after the clerkship.

[MarinaraSauce]

All,

thanks for advice. I decided to apply. Probably will not get the clerkship anyway, but we'll see.