Applying for clerkships and fellowships? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am an up and coming 3L and I would like to apply for both clerkships and fellowships (EJW and Skadden). However, I am wondering if applying for both could create a conflict, since fellowship-sponsoring organizations probably want to know that they are sponsoring someone who will definitely accept if he or she actually gets a fellowship (and doesn't drop out of the running if he manages to get a clerkship). Anyone have any idea on how this works? I would also love some tips if anyone has any experience on applying for both, particularly regarding timing of interviews, etc.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[thesealocust]

When do EJW and Skadden Fellowships do their thing? My understanding is that most post-graduation clerkship hiring, at least on the federal level, happens very quickly in the fall - so there might not be that much of a conflict?

[Anonymous User]

I applied to both last year.

I would recommend just being honest and upfront with your potential sponsoring organizations. If you never inform your sponsor that you are applying to both, you might burn some bridges if you accept a clerkship after your host has spent a lot of time developing your proposal (and there are some organizations that just won't consider this arrangement at all). But there are also a lot of organizations that recognize the difficulty of the public interest job market and allow their candidates to apply to both.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks! I plan on being honest with sponsoring organizations, I'm just nervous about how they will react. Thanks for putting my nerves at ease (at least a little bit). Hopefully the agencies that I talk with are just as understanding!

[imchuckbass58]

This doesn't directly answer your question, but just so you know there are a good number of people who do Skadden Fellowships after clerking. So one way you might go about it is to make clear to your sponsoring organization that you definitely will work for them, but may want to push back a year if you get a clerkship.