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I attend a TTTT but managed to snag a two-year district court clerkship in the state I want to practice in. I am ranked slightly outside the top 10% of my class but will graduate with honors.

Will the federal clerkship help my chances at biglaw? I attend a TTTT and am not #1, so my gut tells me my chances are slim. But I am still wondering what my post-clerkship job prospects look like.

Yes.

It will still be tough, but much better chances after clerkship. Try to tap into your judges’ network, you do this by making your judge like and respect you and want to help you out. Get to know attorneys as much as possible. Two years is a long time to establish a network in a city with your judges’ support.

Thanks! Can anyone else chime in?

Get to know the other judge's clerks (if any). Also a network to tap into.

I went to a second tier, clerked for a Fed d ct and Fed COA Judge. Had huge problems landing biglaw in my desired city (the city my d ct judge is in). I actually landed zero interviews there. After sending out hundreds of apps I ended up in dc biglaw. Dc seems to like clerks so I had lots of interviews out here.

I think my problem was that my district court judge’s city is super desireable, but there’s basically no biglaw type work. The handful of biglaw offices there are small, do work largely outside of the city, and are full of HYS grads.

All you can do is try, see if your Judge can make calls for you, and hope for the best.