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Hi there,

I know there is no straight answer to this question but I was hoping to get some different perspectives. I will be graduating in December and want to extern for a judge in my last semester. I have been offered a state court appellate externship and just submitted my information for federal court externships today. I will be a summer associate at a large firm this summer so it may not be as important to expect employment from the externship, I just wanted to know how these two externships would be viewed. Is there an advantage of either one? A disadvantage?

Thanks.

People don't really care about externships. But, to the extent that it matters, a federal district court clerkship >>> a state appellate court clerkship. There might be some rare exceptions to this. So, for example, I'm not sure that externing for a very well-respected appellate court judge in the area in which you want to practice isn't better than externing for a not particularly respected senior fed dj a couple of hours out of town (or in a different jx).

I would also add that you may want to consider the type of practice you will likely be involved in at the firm. A big firm generally means work in all parts of the country so you'd likely benefit more from a federal district court externship.

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It's important to note that some judges look for some modicum of clerkship experience when hiring full-time clerks. So, if you want to clerk on a state court, extern in that state court. If you want to clerk for a federal court, try to extern in that district or circuit. Judges have been known in the past to hire their former externs/interns, and if you do well in your externship, it'll only serve to help you when looking for clerkships in that court or another federal court.

If you don't want to clerk, consider what types of law you're interested in practicing after law school. Do you want to practice law in state court? Do you want to shoot for a USAO or some other federal government position? Do you want to join a law firm? Is that law firm a local law firm that deals with state cases, or does it handle bigger-stakes federal cases?

Generally, federal clerkships are much more prestigious and more difficult to secure than state court clerkships.

For some reason, I have done both. I think dist ct externships are generally more valuable because you work on motions to dismiss or motions for summary judgment. The clerks at the dist ct pitch it as being a very useful experience for future SAs.