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true story,
have friend who graduated from t10, has two clerkships (district, coa),
now he is looking for biglaw and his linkedin says "looking for opportunities in . . ."
he has been out of second clerkship since last September

i dont want to out him by disclosing the linkedin page

is lateral/legal mkt for clerks bad?

Anonymous User wrote:true story,
have friend who graduated from t10, has two clerkships (district, coa),
now he is looking for biglaw and his linkedin says "looking for opportunities in . . ."
he has been out of second clerkship since last September

i dont want to out him by disclosing the linkedin page

is lateral/legal mkt for clerks bad?

if not flame, i really dont think i will apply for clerkships anymore lol

Anonymous User wrote:true story,
have friend who graduated from t10, has two clerkships (district, coa),
now he is looking for biglaw and his linkedin says "looking for opportunities in . . ."
he has been out of second clerkship since last September

i dont want to out him by disclosing the linkedin page

is lateral/legal mkt for clerks bad?

Do you actually know that he is still looking for work and not that he simply hasn't updated his Linkedin profile?

Totally depends on where/who the clerkships were. It can be a tough slog away from the coasts.

not going to out him
but his district clerkship was in one of these: ND Cal, CD Cal, D Del
and his appellate clerkship was in one of these: 9th/5th Cir

and yes, he struck out on the few recruiter interviews he had off the appellate clerkship and has been actively seeking associate employment for the last 9 months.

t10, dont know his grades, he has a pretty normal personality

I've heard of people struggling coming out of clerkships, but this is a little more surprising. How picky has your friend been? There should be something on the west coast for that person.

Anonymous User wrote:I've heard of people struggling coming out of clerkships, but this is a little more surprising. How picky has your friend been? There should be something on the west coast for that person.

Friend's pickiness has been declining with time. He is waiting to hear back from a recent callback for a "Career associate" position at a v50.

He said they seemed very interested. I'll update when I hear.

There's something fishy to this:

(1) Where did your friend spend his 2L summer?

(2) Why did your friend not get an offer from his 2L summer firm?

Anyways, it is highly unusual for someone to double clerk and then not have a job. There are other factors at play here - i.e., your friend would have been in an even worse position had he not clerked. Perhaps the bigger question here is, how did he get the clerkships in the first place?

Anonymous User wrote:There's something fishy to this:

(1) Where did your friend spend his 2L summer?

(2) Why did your friend not get an offer from his 2L summer firm?

Anyways, it is highly unusual for someone to double clerk and then not have a job. There are other factors at play here - i.e., your friend would have been in an even worse position had he not clerked. Perhaps the bigger question here is, how did he get the clerkships in the first place?

not sure. just reporting what i know about him. maybe he sucked at work. i highly doubt it. and i dont know his grades, so i dont know how he got the clerkships in the first place.

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Do you actually know that he is still looking for work and not that he simply hasn't updated his Linkedin profile?[/quote]


This. /thread

Lawquacious wrote:

Do you actually know that he is still looking for work and not that he simply hasn't updated his Linkedin profile?

yeah he's still looking. he last updated his linkedin profile couple days ago a slightly different status.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:There's something fishy to this:

(1) Where did your friend spend his 2L summer?

(2) Why did your friend not get an offer from his 2L summer firm?

Anyways, it is highly unusual for someone to double clerk and then not have a job. There are other factors at play here - i.e., your friend would have been in an even worse position had he not clerked. Perhaps the bigger question here is, how did he get the clerkships in the first place?

not sure. just reporting what i know about him. maybe he sucked at work. i highly doubt it. and i dont know his grades, so i dont know how he got the clerkships in the first place.

Yeah, but your posts are pretty useless without providing any background info. I mean, if you can't even say whether or not your "friend" (or linkedin profile you stumbled across) had a 2L SA or whether they received an offer from the 2L SA, then it's pretty tough for anyone to be able to comment on why your "friend" doesn't have an associate position. Honestly, it seems like you are trying to stoke people's fears. Also, it's a bit odd that your friend's judges aren't picking up the phone on his behalf.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:There's something fishy to this:

(1) Where did your friend spend his 2L summer?

(2) Why did your friend not get an offer from his 2L summer firm?

Anyways, it is highly unusual for someone to double clerk and then not have a job. There are other factors at play here - i.e., your friend would have been in an even worse position had he not clerked. Perhaps the bigger question here is, how did he get the clerkships in the first place?

not sure. just reporting what i know about him. maybe he sucked at work. i highly doubt it. and i dont know his grades, so i dont know how he got the clerkships in the first place.

Yeah, but your posts are pretty useless without providing any background info. I mean, if you can't even say whether or not your "friend" (or linkedin profile you stumbled across) had a 2L SA or whether they received an offer from the 2L SA, then it's pretty tough for anyone to be able to comment on why your "friend" doesn't have an associate position. Honestly, it seems like you are trying to stoke people's fears. Also, it's a bit odd that your friend's judges aren't picking up the phone on his behalf.

i understand what you're saying. have no interest in stoking anyone's fears whatsoever. maybe his grades tanked 3L year or something. i dont have any way to actually ask him why he's having trouble, there's no appropriate way to do that.

i just found it a bit alarming and thought there might be more information here about the state of the post-clerkship market

maybe gtlrev can chime in?

I have heard that two year clerkships have been sketchy for employment in recent years, but COA? Ridic.

It's a tough market and a lot depends on need. Your friend is probably holding out for biglaw, which is tricky in this economic climate because firms by Nd large no longer take qualified grads just to have them; they only take them to fill specific needs. If there isn't a hiring need, he probably can't just slide on in like he would have been able to 5 years ago

Also it's not surprising his judge isn't sticking his neck out for him. Although many judges do this, it is frowned upon by many others because it can feel coercive. If your friend casted a wider net and threw his resumes at more employers with more diversified needs, he'd get a job.

Former COA clerk here. Every other clerk on my court -- at least the ones I know of -- had multiple biglaw/USAO type offers. I don't think anyone had any problems. So I am skeptical of this person's situation. No doubt that a random Eighth Circuit clerkship is not a guaranteed ticket to NY v10, but the anecdote described above seems odd bordering on flame.

Can someone just quickly explain to me what a "flame post" is? I am not up to date on the jargon.

vegeta wrote:Can someone just quickly explain to me what a "flame post" is? I am not up to date on the jargon.

A post about a situation so unlikely to be true that it is more probable that the poster just wrote it to drum up discussion/attention. I.e. "I'm #1 at Yale and can't even find a midlaw offer," or "my friend has a 180/4.0 and can't get into a T3."

zomginternets wrote:

vegeta wrote:Can someone just quickly explain to me what a "flame post" is? I am not up to date on the jargon.

A post about a situation so unlikely to be true that it is more probable that the poster just wrote it to drum up discussion/attention. I.e. "I'm #1 at Yale and can't even find a midlaw offer," or "my friend has a 180/4.0 and can't get into a T3."

Gotcha. Much thanks.