Law Clerk/Staff Attorney/Fellowships at BigLaw? Forum
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Anonymous User
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Law Clerk/Staff Attorney/Fellowships at BigLaw?
Does anybody know if these positions exists, and, if so, where to find them? I have been licensed for a year and went to a T1, but I definitely don't have the GPA/pedigree typical of a BigLaw hire. I would be more than happy to take a position that pays a third of a BigLaw associates' salary just for the opportunity to get the foot in the door. Anybody have any thoughts?
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ZyzzBrah
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Re: Law Clerk/Staff Attorney/Fellowships at BigLaw?
yes they exist--staff attys at skadden make $100k for instance
however, many of these positions are clear: you will not become an associate
As for fellowships some bigfirms have them but they are just as competitive as getting an associate position (ie FFs fellowship, skadden fellowship)
however, many of these positions are clear: you will not become an associate
As for fellowships some bigfirms have them but they are just as competitive as getting an associate position (ie FFs fellowship, skadden fellowship)
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Anonymous User
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Re: Law Clerk/Staff Attorney/Fellowships at BigLaw?
This. The staff attorney positions are typically bullshit like doc review, but they do pay pretty decently ($100-125k /year isn't atypical for a staff attorney who's been doing it for a few years). You probably won't acquire marketable skills, so there's that, but it might be better than your other options.ZyzzBrah wrote:yes they exist--staff attys at skadden make $100k for instance
however, many of these positions are clear: you will not become an associate
As for fellowships some bigfirms have them but they are just as competitive as getting an associate position (ie FFs fellowship, skadden fellowship)
Fellowships tend to be more orientated towards public interest work, rather than becoming a full-time associate at the firm. Skadden fellowship definitely will not lead to becoming a Skadden associate--the Skadden foundation is not a part of Skadden; it's just something that Skadden donates money to, so that they seem less evil. FF claims you are encouraged to interview to return to FF, but I suspect most fellows don't. Moreover, I'd argue that these fellowships are more competitive than actual associate positions, since there's so few of them that are granted each year and basically every single PI orientated person applies to them (particularly the Skadden fellowship).
There's really no backdoor way into biglaw. Literally the easiest way into biglaw is through a 2L SA. If you're not competitive enough to get one of those SAs, you're most likely not going to get into biglaw (the only exception I can think of for this are t14 transfers back in 2009 who got locked out of SAs because firms just weren't hiring transfers, but then many of them crushed their 2L year, clerked for art III judges, and managed to get into biglaw after the economy picked up again last year).
