Top Law Schools

I’m currently at a 2L summer clerkship with a midsize local firm in my home region, which I desperately want to leave. I took two days off last week to attend a job fair, but basically told the people at my SA that it was a networking event (technically true) that I signed up for before I knew I’d be working there (true). No one really pressed me on it or has seemed to care, as there’s been a shortage of work for a while. This firm hasn’t given any indication that they plan on hiring anyone, but also hasn’t said that they AREN’T. All my feedback has been good, but the clerkship ends next week, and I still don’t know if they’re hiring. I’d be okay working here, but it’s not ideal. My first half clerkship essentially told me that they really liked me, but they weren’t sure they had money to hire and they’d be in touch.

Now I have a callback from the job fair. This firm is my absolute dream job, and I don’t want to fuck it up. Their HR person will be contacting me tomorrow to schedule the callback, and I’m a little at a loss.
My first plan is obviously to try to schedule the callback for two weeks from today (I want to fulfill my obligation here, there’s a project in progress that I should be here for, etc.), which would avoid all the problems above. If that’s not possible, though, and they want to schedule it for next week, how do I tell my current SA that I need ANOTHER one or two days off?

They know I’m applying to judicial clerkships, so I considered telling them it was a short notice clerkship interview, and picking a judge in the area who’s actually interviewing (who no one at the firm worked for or near... it’s across the country, so that’s likely). The only way I can see that backfiring is if they call chambers, which I don’t think they care enough to do/don’t think chambers would even tell them anything.

Does anyone have any other ideas on how to make this work? Is lying about why I need the time off a bad idea, or is the truth worse? Should I fake dental surgery or a family emergency? What the heck am I supposed to do?

Should I fake dental surgery or a family emergency?

That actually sounds much better than lying about a judicial clerkship interview. The legal profession is smaller than you imagine, so if you really need to lie about something, don't get any other legal professionals involved.

I think one day isn't too difficult. Just tell them you're very sick, like you get a bad cavity, you get food poisoning, or (if you are a girl) menstrual cycle is disturbing you too badly, while at the same time, tell them that you're more than happy to work from home. They care more about you get work done than whether you're physically present. I doubt the CB will last more than 7 hours. After the CB, if you find that you're assigned work, do them anyway. Also make sure to stay only in the firm you have a CB and your place. If you wander around, chances are you will bump into them and they find out you're lying.