What are big law prospects like after clerking for a magistrate judge? Forum

[hreed]

What are big law prospects like after clerking for a magistrate judge? And what is the timeline like, do they interview after district/appellate judges have made their picks?

[objctnyrhnr]

1. Did you SA or do biglaw before and 2. Are you clerking right now, or is it in the future?

[hreed]

#1: No. I'm about top-33 at a T-25. I will be doing my 2L summer at a 15 lawyer boutique.
#2: I'm applying for summer of 2020.

[objctnyrhnr]

#1: No. I'm about top-33 at a T-25. I will be doing my 2L summer at a 15 lawyer boutique.
#2: I'm applying for summer of 2020.

Litigation junior/mid lateral opportunities are hot right now. When I clerked, this was not the case. I did not SA and I did an A3 when I graduated. Pickings were slim and, absent SA, biglaw was not gettable for me even with the clerkship. I went to government and got a ton of great experience and jumped a couple years later when the market picked up.

I think if the market continues like this or even in this general range and you are geographically flexible, your post-magistrate clerkship biglaw prospects should be decent. However, if it slows down, it might be tougher. Sorry that this isn’t really a firm answer to your question.

If the corollary is whether a magistrate clerkship would be worth doing from your position, given what I said above, I would say probably (if biglaw is goal and you can’t get it otherwise).

[hreed]

Which area of the law were you doing in gov't?

[objctnyrhnr]

Which area of the law were you doing in gov't?

My field is litigation but I don’t wanna give too much more info for obvious reasons.