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Hi all, sorry if this is the wrong place for this, but I have a question.

I have received strong reassurances from both a state judge and the partner of a small-midsize law firm (like 5 partners, and maybe 20 associates) that if I send them my resume, they'd love to have me for next summer. So I guess I was wondering, if I have to choose between one or the other, which one would look better on my resume?

My current interest is soft IP law(trademark/copyright) and corporate/in-house counsel. If I were to law clerk at the firm, I think they pay like $1800-2000/week, which is a plus, but I'm already getting a full-ride at my law school so money really isn't an overriding concern right now. I'm more interested in what would look better on my resume for my future interests.

I should note the firm is in my hometown, which is why I have a good relationship already. However, I really don't want to be working in my hometown when I graduate. I would much prefer to work in the city. So if I took that internship, I wouldn't really be using it for the purpose of working there when I get out of school.

Any tips would be appreciated, thanks.

I'd take the law clerk gig. Where you work as a 1L doesn't really matter as long as you can come out of it with a few stories to tell during OCI about the work you did. You might as well get paid in the process.

Another positive is that if you do apply out of market but within state, the attys you work with might know people at the firms you apply to for OCI (though this doesn't necessarily apply if your hometown is in NY and you do CA OCI obviously).