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Reposting here for more general advice:

I recently accepted a lateral offer and am currently in between jobs. I unexpectedly received a clerkship interview with an immediate start date. I'm not sure how best to address the lateral offer and my current employment status during the clerkship interview. Do I just bring an updated resume to the interview and explain?

Order of operations matters here. Call/email your most favorable contact at your incoming firm. Tell her/him that you have immediate, unexpected clerkship interview and request their blessing to interview. If a litigation group, blessing should be forthcoming. Bring the updated resume, but just tell the judge/clerks at the interview. They won't need/ask for the resume, but offering an updated is better optics. Then state (truthfully) that you've sought/obtained blessing of incoming firm.

Do the bolded first and tonight.

Related question - I've recently accepted a lateral offer that would begin in a few months (moving and need to take a new state's bar exam). I was just contacted about an interview for a position that I applied for before accepting the first offer and (I think) would prefer to the one that I accepted. Is it crazy to go forward with the interview? What are the potential consequences? Do people do this frequently or is it sort of taboo (such that it might come back to bite me)?

(For what it's worth, the offer I accepted is with a very small boutique-ish firm and the potential interview is a government position.)

20181989 wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 30, 2019 9:32 pm

Order of operations matters here. Call/email your most favorable contact at your incoming firm. Tell her/him that you have immediate, unexpected clerkship interview and request their blessing to interview. If a litigation group, blessing should be forthcoming. Bring the updated resume, but just tell the judge/clerks at the interview. They won't need/ask for the resume, but offering an updated is better optics. Then state (truthfully) that you've sought/obtained blessing of incoming firm.

Do the bolded first and tonight.

Better to ask forgiveness than permission. If OP doesn't get an offer for the clerkship, will have rocked the boat for no reason.

Interview. If you get an offer, then raise with firm. That’s what I would do if in your shoes and wanted to clerk.

20181989 wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 30, 2019 9:32 pm

Order of operations matters here. Call/email your most favorable contact at your incoming firm. Tell her/him that you have immediate, unexpected clerkship interview and request their blessing to interview. If a litigation group, blessing should be forthcoming. Bring the updated resume, but just tell the judge/clerks at the interview. They won't need/ask for the resume, but offering an updated is better optics. Then state (truthfully) that you've sought/obtained blessing of incoming firm.

Do the bolded first and tonight.

This is awful advice.

New firm is trying to fill an immediate need. They don't want OP to interview for the clerkship, and they don't want OP to accept the clerkship. They want OP to come work for them, like, right now.

Say OP gets this clerkship. What does this firm do, hold this offer open for a year for someone who's never worked there, who may or may not accept it in 8 mos? They're trying to fill a need now, not in a year.

Absolutely do not tell new firm. If you want the clerkship, interview for clerkship. They're not gonna care that you're between firm jobs. If you get it, great. Tell new firm, and understand that they may not commit to hire you a year from now.

Yeah…. Don’t tell the new firm unless it’s a SCOTUS clerkship or flashy COA, which I assume this isn’t.

As poster above mentioned, new firm spent time and effort to hire someone for now. If you tell them, they may just tell you not to come in.