Delaware Superior Court Clerkship Forum

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any information concerning the marketability of a delaware superior court clerkship? I plan on practicing in Delaware but am not sure how former clerks are looked at by the bigger firms in the state - primarily those in the Wilmington market. I have an interview coming up and am curious whether it is a worthwhile opportunity. At the moment it's the best thing going for me for post graduate employment so that might be the ultimate deciding factor if I'm lucky enough to land it!

[vulaw]

Anyone have any information concerning the marketability of a delaware superior court clerkship? I plan on practicing in Delaware but am not sure how former clerks are looked at by the bigger firms in the state - primarily those in the Wilmington market. I have an interview coming up and am curious whether it is a worthwhile opportunity. At the moment it's the best thing going for me for post graduate employment so that might be the ultimate deciding factor if I'm lucky enough to land it!

2L or 3L?

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any information concerning the marketability of a delaware superior court clerkship? I plan on practicing in Delaware but am not sure how former clerks are looked at by the bigger firms in the state - primarily those in the Wilmington market. I have an interview coming up and am curious whether it is a worthwhile opportunity. At the moment it's the best thing going for me for post graduate employment so that might be the ultimate deciding factor if I'm lucky enough to land it!

2L or 3L?

OP here I'm a 3L

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any information concerning the marketability of a delaware superior court clerkship? I plan on practicing in Delaware but am not sure how former clerks are looked at by the bigger firms in the state - primarily those in the Wilmington market. I have an interview coming up and am curious whether it is a worthwhile opportunity. At the moment it's the best thing going for me for post graduate employment so that might be the ultimate deciding factor if I'm lucky enough to land it!

2L or 3L?

OP here I'm a 3L

It's not looked at badly but you're not likely to be courted by big firms. It's a modest benefit and you'll have to do your own leg work to find a job. That said, it's a shitload better than unemployment.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any information concerning the marketability of a delaware superior court clerkship? I plan on practicing in Delaware but am not sure how former clerks are looked at by the bigger firms in the state - primarily those in the Wilmington market. I have an interview coming up and am curious whether it is a worthwhile opportunity. At the moment it's the best thing going for me for post graduate employment so that might be the ultimate deciding factor if I'm lucky enough to land it!

2L or 3L?

OP here I'm a 3L

It's not looked at badly but you're not likely to be courted by big firms. It's a modest benefit and you'll have to do your own leg work to find a job. That said, it's a shitload better than unemployment.

OP here, thank you for your insight. This is more or less my thinking....sure beats unemployment. Definitely didn't think that big firms would court a superior court clerk. My question was more about how such a clerkship would be perceived by the bigger firms in Delaware. I know of some partners at bigger firms here that clerked on the superior court but obviously this was 1000 years ago and things have drastically changed. Does anyone know of the exit options, clearly with a good deal of leg work. Would attempting to bootstrap up to the Del. Supreme Court be a possibility?

[Anonymous User]

Well yeah, trading up is always an option. It helps to have a judge who knows others and will go to bat for you. From what I've gathered it's viewed as... kinda good. You have the natural hurdle of most firms like to hire people who participated in their summer program. Some clerkships help you overcome that obstacle. Superior court not as much. So while it's sort of a benefit, I don't know if it's enough of a benefit. It probably then depends upon your school/journal/grades, etc. Were you awesome and fell through the cracks? Are you fringy for those firms or generally not what they take? It also depends upon hiring needs. So basically, it's better than unemployment, but I wouldn't look at a Superior Court clerkship as your road to a big DE firm.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Yes many variables at play. I guess the most cogent part of the discussion is it beats unemployment. Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

Delaware is such a small legal market that I think it would be beneficial. The pay is not good though, FYI. On the bright side, you could knock out a lot of the bar requirements (the treasure hunt). As for trading up, the problem is that with the exception of the Chief Justice, the justices only get one law clerk. Some justices have famous corporate law professors choosing their clerks. It's very competitive, but you never know.

[Anonymous User]

OP here, thank you for the additional response above poster. The pay isn't too horrible. I think it's like $50K, which compared to other state trial court clerkships is pretty good...I think the neighboring trial level PA courts pay something like $40K (I won't be substantially paying off my debt on this salary but at least I'll be able to pay rent and go grocery shopping). Just doing a brief west law search of national firms with Delaware offices, at least some portion of their cases are in Superior Court. Of course these firms have offices in Delaware for the Chancery Court but it doesn't seem as if a complex commercial case in the Superior Court is beneath them. As has been reiterated, most importantly it sure beats unemployment

[Anonymous User]

Oh wow, the pay must have gone up a lot in the past few years. It sounds like a good gig and the col is pretty low especially in lower Delaware (unless you want to be on the beach).