Top Law Schools

3L with two summers of government work (both civil and criminal), T20 school, top 25%, LR e-board. I am currently a finalist in DOJ Honors for antitrust division in D.C., but at this point I'm almost certainly an alternate, so I'd only potentially get an offer if someone else turns it down, and even then I don't know how many other alternates there are.

So I'm trying to figure out what to do next. My backup plan is currently waiting to hear back from a local state agency that I interviewed with, and looking for clerkships. At this point the only available ones are some state appellate level, and potentially some state district courts that wouldn't start advertising until next semester (I was told by the current legal staff that they don't start looking until May). I absolutely want to practice antitrust law, so I'm wondering if there are any other entry level options that I can look at to help start me on that path? School is in the midwest and I have no NY, LA, or DC connections.

I would talk to your career services. Other than mass mailing firms that have an antitrust practice, you might want to start searching for states that have an antitrust enforcement agency. For example, California has one: https://oag.ca.gov/antitrust. You could mass mail every state that has any antitrust thing going on and maybe get lucky. I would also check your alumni directory to see if anyone works in the state governments you're mass mailing -- having an inside connection is often crucial for that kind of thing.

Almost same situation as OP and also struggling to figure out how to get a foot in the door in antitrust. Was DOJ SLIP in antitrust division. Have an offer from a BigLaw firm, but not in antitrust practice group (due to weird circumstances that would take awhile to explain) and it looks like I will have to fight hard to be able to switch to it after I start.

Mass mailing various state antitrust/CP agencies might be tempting, but I'm wondering if just targeting some firms with a cover letter leveraging my other firm offer is worthwhile.