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I graduated from a T14 just outside of cum laude (shucks!) and was on the eboard of a secondary journal. No publications. I took a tangentially legal-related job out of law school for the money. I make more than most Public Interest Lawyers but less than most lawyers in gainful private practice.

I have no real complaints about my life, but worry that every day I spend in the non-legal world is further disqualifying me from practice because legal employers would feel I'm too old / too rusty. I can't really afford to take a significant pay cut for some lawyer jobs, especially if they don't offer rapid advancement.

One thought I had is waiting this out (0-3 years) until I find some USDC or Magistrate judge clerkship somewhere, ideally for a vacancy that can't take student applicants.

Thoughts? Not exactly a sob story but not a resounding success story either.

Honestly, I think it's going to be tough to get back in, which is kind of absurd as it's not as if new grads have any skills that could become rusty. I wouldn't count on being able to get any kind of clerkship as a backdoor, regardless of how lacking in prestige it may be. If you're going to be working for three years in something that is tangentially related to law, I think your only real chance would be to make some real strong connections so that there's someone willing to take you.

Really sucks to go to law school and then be shut out of law - particularly when you went to one that mythology would have you believed was a guarantee of a decent, if not great, job. But look at the bright side, your gig beats my $10/hr. Go Blue!

I think you may be right especially the longer I stay out here... I'm a 2011 grad so I'd hate to think that my hopes of ever landing in law are dashed because of working somewhere else for 1-3 years. Starting to think about home state clerkships or state gov law jobs, even with a sizable pay cut, just to use my trade.