Clerkship decision point Forum

[Anonymous User]

Trying to weigh transfer options here and clerking post-law school is the top goal (district court, not a COA gunner). Working for a fed dist ct judge this summer in the district I want to wind up in. We are getting along well.

I can do one of the following:

1) Stay at my T25, ranked between top 5-10%, graded onto law review. Solid $$, would probably be given more. Debt doesnt concern me much.

2) Transfer to T14, have a crack at their law review during the write-on (not quite a long shot but not a sure thing), school is in the major city I want to practice/clerk in (already accepted)

3) Transfer to T6, law review is a way long shot, school places well in the city I want. (havent gotten in yet)

Would take a clerkship anywhere. Have a good pre-LS resume (masters degree from top program, solid high level work experience, published once (not law related)). Yes, that was a nested parenthetical.

I think the question really comes down to how important is law review and is it worth the gamble of writing on...

[OldManHunger]

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[Anonymous User]

Thank you for this reply. The T25 is NOT awesome for my target city though it is doable. No judges in the target district went to my school though some of the judges in the rest of the circuit did.

[Anonymous User]

You'll almost certainly be able to write on to the T14 LR, given your background, so long as you put some effort into it, so that might be the safer bet.

Agree generally with everything else you said, but I completely disagree with this. Unless OP has looked into how many transfers are typically able to write on, there is no "certainty" about it.

I booked (CALI award) both semesters of legal writing 1L, killed the law review write on at my old school, and I'm positive I wrote a dynamite note for the write on competition at my transfer school, but didn't get on law review at the new school, largely due to the fact that they typically only accept 1 or 2 transfers onto law review out of about 20 transfers who normally complete the competition.

OP, I don't think you can bank on getting on at the new school, and law review is pretty huge for clerkships, especially if you end up on the ed board, publish, etc. (Less so at DCs as opposed to COA, but still a factor from what I have observed.)

I think all OldMan's other considerations are spot on though, and are definitely the things you should be considering.

[CanadianWolf]

Sounds like the above poster transferred to Chicago which is limited to one or two transfer write-ons.

OP: File a couple transfer apps to see if you are successful & to give yourself options.

[legalese_retard]

Thank you for this reply. The T25 is NOT awesome for my target city though it is doable. No judges in the target district went to my school though some of the judges in the rest of the circuit did.

If your T25 does not place well in your target city, then you should definitely consider transferring, especially if you do not have legitimate strong ties to the area (i.e. grew up there, family connections, undergrad, previous employment, etc). Since you are fine with ANY fed. district clerkship, I think transferring is worth the risk. You may not clerk for a judge in your target area or in a major city, but I think your 1L grades and new law school will make you competitive for a district court clerkship in flyover country .

[OldManHunger]

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[Anonymous User]

OP here.

I think the anonymous poster above had to be referring to Chicago which makes it very hard for transfers to write on. The T14 I was referring to takes between 6-8 transfers on the law review which makes the chances somewhat better though still not a lock. I would be okay with winding up on a secondary journal but am really shooting for law review.

I guess I never knew how big of a deal law review was, I'm lucky I graded on at my current school.