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I am doing a two-year federal magistrate clerkship. I struck out at big/midlaw, did not even get an interview. People say that even getting a federal magistrate clerkship is competitive and the work experience is great, but I can't tell where the clerks end up after their clerkship ends. I check out the attorney profiles of firms in the city I want to practice in, and I have not come across any profile that lists magistrate clerkships. They all clerked at district courts, COA, state supreme, and bankruptcy courts. Do firms not hire mag clerks or just won't publish the clerkship on the website?

I guess I am wondering if the magistrate clerkship will boost my stats at all, at least for a regional firm. I went to a T50 school, secondary journal, published a couple of times, and graduated with honors. I can't make a comparison with the three clerks before me as they decided to have a family after their clerkship and don't practice law.

It will be a bump, but whether it's sufficient to get you a firm job is questionable. If you can and want to do D.Ct. for a year after Mag, that would certainly help. Network your ass off while you're there, get the judge to go to bat for you, etc.

Anonymous User wrote:I am doing a two-year federal magistrate clerkship. I struck out at big/midlaw, did not even get an interview. People say that even getting a federal magistrate clerkship is competitive and the work experience is great, but I can't tell where the clerks end up after their clerkship ends. I check out the attorney profiles of firms in the city I want to practice in, and I have not come across any profile that lists magistrate clerkships. They all clerked at district courts, COA, state supreme, and bankruptcy courts. Do firms not hire mag clerks or just won't publish the clerkship on the website?

I guess I am wondering if the magistrate clerkship will boost my stats at all, at least for a regional firm. I went to a T50 school, secondary journal, published a couple of times, and graduated with honors. I can't make a comparison with the three clerks before me as they decided to have a family after their clerkship and don't practice law.

It can't hurt. It gives you another crack at the job market. I mean, heck, it's a paying JOB. So if I were you with no firm offers, I'd be pretty happy to have a paying legal job after graduation.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I am doing a two-year federal magistrate clerkship. I struck out at big/midlaw, did not even get an interview. People say that even getting a federal magistrate clerkship is competitive and the work experience is great, but I can't tell where the clerks end up after their clerkship ends. I check out the attorney profiles of firms in the city I want to practice in, and I have not come across any profile that lists magistrate clerkships. They all clerked at district courts, COA, state supreme, and bankruptcy courts. Do firms not hire mag clerks or just won't publish the clerkship on the website?

I guess I am wondering if the magistrate clerkship will boost my stats at all, at least for a regional firm. I went to a T50 school, secondary journal, published a couple of times, and graduated with honors. I can't make a comparison with the three clerks before me as they decided to have a family after their clerkship and don't practice law.

It can't hurt. It gives you another crack at the job market. I mean, heck, it's a paying JOB. So if I were you with no firm offers, I'd be pretty happy to have a paying legal job after graduation.

Oh, I am definitely happy I got the job (already started). I'm planning on applying to some district court clerkships, especially the ones that request prior clerkship experience. I was just under the impression that even federal mag clerkships were respectable in terms of future employment. People keep saying that mag clerkships are competitive (there were over 200 people who applied for my position), but it seems like employers aren't very impressed with the clerkship when it comes to hiring. Ideally, I would like to work at a medium-smaller sized firm, but right now I am just hoping for a job at the end of the clerkship.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I am doing a two-year federal magistrate clerkship. I struck out at big/midlaw, did not even get an interview. People say that even getting a federal magistrate clerkship is competitive and the work experience is great, but I can't tell where the clerks end up after their clerkship ends. I check out the attorney profiles of firms in the city I want to practice in, and I have not come across any profile that lists magistrate clerkships. They all clerked at district courts, COA, state supreme, and bankruptcy courts. Do firms not hire mag clerks or just won't publish the clerkship on the website?

I guess I am wondering if the magistrate clerkship will boost my stats at all, at least for a regional firm. I went to a T50 school, secondary journal, published a couple of times, and graduated with honors. I can't make a comparison with the three clerks before me as they decided to have a family after their clerkship and don't practice law.

It can't hurt. It gives you another crack at the job market. I mean, heck, it's a paying JOB. So if I were you with no firm offers, I'd be pretty happy to have a paying legal job after graduation.

Oh, I am definitely happy I got the job (already started). I'm planning on applying to some district court clerkships, especially the ones that request prior clerkship experience. I was just under the impression that even federal mag clerkships were respectable in terms of future employment. People keep saying that mag clerkships are competitive (there were over 200 people who applied for my position), but it seems like employers aren't very impressed with the clerkship when it comes to hiring. Ideally, I would like to work at a medium-smaller sized firm, but right now I am just hoping for a job at the end of the clerkship.

My understanding is that a good number of clerks dont return to their summer firms, so the fact that you didn't summer somewhere shouldn't be a negative against you.

Are you looking for a job in a different city than your magistrate clerkship? If you stayed in the same city as your clerkship, your chances would probably be better, because firms may value your experience with a judge they appear before. For example, in my city (in the Pacific NW), I noticed that several of the associates at some prominent regional firms clerked for magistrate judges.

If you're looking in a different city, I think you should strive for a district court clerkship in that city.

Anonymous User wrote:Are you looking for a job in a different city than your magistrate clerkship? If you stayed in the same city as your clerkship, your chances would probably be better, because firms may value your experience with a judge they appear before. For example, in my city (in the Pacific NW), I noticed that several of the associates at some prominent regional firms clerked for magistrate judges.

If you're looking in a different city, I think you should strive for a district court clerkship in that city.

I will be going back to the same city where my law school is. I plan on applying for district court clerkships in that city, but I doubt I have the grades for those judges (even with prior clerkship experience).

OP can I ask you an unrelated question? You said in you intro that you had "a couple of publications" were those in the journal you were on at your school, or did you get your stuff published somewhere else? I ask because I am trying to get a sense of how hard it is to get published as a recent grad, outside of your own journal.

Anonymous User wrote:OP can I ask you an unrelated question? You said in you intro that you had "a couple of publications" were those in the journal you were on at your school, or did you get your stuff published somewhere else? I ask because I am trying to get a sense of how hard it is to get published as a recent grad, outside of your own journal.

One was in the journal I was on, one was in a state bar journal, and the other was in a different law school journal. All were published while I was still in law school though.

cast a wide net. students' works get published all the time. for example, these all got published when the writers were still 3Ls or fresh out of law school and none of them went to Michigan.
http://students.law.umich.edu/mjgl/17-2.html