Cook County Circuit Court clerkship Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm an unemployed 2020 T10 grad that must live in Chicago. I have not had any traction with any positions I've applied or the few interviews I've had with firms. The clerkship is in the chancery division and mostly involves declaratory judgements and injunctions. So, it will not be much substantive work and it does not have the prestige factor along with a low salary (49k). Should I apply or hope a miracle happens and I get something better?

[LawrenceGazebo]

I'm an unemployed 2020 T10 grad that must live in Chicago. I have not had any traction with any positions I've applied or the few interviews I've had with firms. The clerkship is in the chancery division and mostly involves declaratory judgements and injunctions. So, it will not be much substantive work and it does not have the prestige factor along with a low salary (49k). Should I apply or hope a miracle happens and I get something better?

Is the alternative unemployment? Have you figured out why you aren't getting any traction anywhere else? What kind of places are you applying, and what is happening at these interviews?

[nixy]

I'm not a T10 grad, but I tend to think that any (legal) job is better than no job, especially for a recent grad with no experience, especially these days. It's easier to spin some experience rather than no experience.

In any case, applying there doesn't stop you from continuing to apply elsewhere. Getting the job doesn't stop you from continuing to apply elsewhere. I don't think there are any employers who will be more likely to hire you with no experience than with "lesser" experience.

[ninthcircuitattorney]

Cook County Chancellory handles mainly foreclosures. While the work is usually not high level and not particularly prestigious, a clerk would definitely learn alot about civil procedure, and the rules of civil procedure can be incredibly important and tend to be more or less similar in all states and federal court. I would take it over a non-legal job in a heartbeat, unless the non-legal job paid north of $70k.

[jkech1]

Cook County Chancellory handles mainly foreclosures. While the work is usually not high level and not particularly prestigious, a clerk would definitely learn alot about civil procedure, and the rules of civil procedure can be incredibly important and tend to be more or less similar in all states and federal court. I would take it over a non-legal job in a heartbeat, unless the non-legal job paid north of $70k.

I don't think its accurate that Cook County Chancery does "mainly foreclosures" and I'm frankly not aware that they even do foreclosures at all. I am pretty sure there is a special division that handles foreclosures and it is not Chancery.

In my experience Chancery is actually regarded by practitioners as the most "prestigious" division of the Cook County Circuit Court because they tend to handle a lot of complex commercial cases. The work would, I imagine, be far more substantive than that of any clerk in Law Division or any other division. That said, OP is correct that no Cook County Circuit Court clerkship is regarded as prestigious, so def don't do it for prestige. The quality of the Chancery judges is somewhat better than the average Cook County judge, but that is not saying a lot.

My 2 cents is that, if you have no job, yes just apply to the Chancery division judges. Even if the pay is terrible, you'll at least have some legal experience on your resume. I doubt getting a clerkship there is really that competitive, though it would help to leverage a school connection (though most of the Cook County judges are not from a T10 school).

[Anonymous User]

I know a T6 grad who did basically exactly this. Landed a litigation position in Chicago midlaw after finishing two years in the Chancery court. Now he gets to do a lot of motion practice etc. in State courts and some in federal courts. At the end of the day the same work that the big boys do, just for smaller clients. Seems pretty happy.

Worth it I’d say.

[Anonymous User]

I know a T6 grad who did basically exactly this. Landed a litigation position in Chicago midlaw after finishing two years in the Chancery court. Now he gets to do a lot of motion practice etc. in State courts and some in federal courts. At the end of the day the same work that the big boys do, just for smaller clients. Seems pretty happy.

Worth it I’d say.

I think I know who this is describing ('18 UofC grad?) and he actually did a Law Division clerkship. If not that makes two people who have followed this path though.

[Anonymous User]

I know a T6 grad who did basically exactly this. Landed a litigation position in Chicago midlaw after finishing two years in the Chancery court. Now he gets to do a lot of motion practice etc. in State courts and some in federal courts. At the end of the day the same work that the big boys do, just for smaller clients. Seems pretty happy.

Worth it I’d say.

I think I know who this is describing ('18 UofC grad?) and he actually did a Law Division clerkship. If not that makes two people who have followed this path though.

I know a couple of people who have gone through these clerkships with similar credentials. Both ended up in totally respectful jobs.

My advice is that it totally sucks to make that much money coming out of a t6 with your credentials. But the job (at least from those I know) is pretty chill (think 9:00-5:00 or 6:00 with a lunch break), provides reasonably useful experience, and, since you won't be working that much, you can spend time networking at lunch with lawyers at big/mid size firms and chatting up big/mid size lawyers that come in to your court rooms. It is a job where multiple people in this thread have seen people use it as a launching pad to a totally respectable firm job.

Also, agree chancery is more prestigious than law. Neither is particularly prestigious though, and cook county court is generally viewed as a dumpster fire.

[Anonymous User]

I know a T6 grad who did basically exactly this. Landed a litigation position in Chicago midlaw after finishing two years in the Chancery court. Now he gets to do a lot of motion practice etc. in State courts and some in federal courts. At the end of the day the same work that the big boys do, just for smaller clients. Seems pretty happy.

Worth it I’d say.

I think I know who this is describing ('18 UofC grad?) and he actually did a Law Division clerkship. If not that makes two people who have followed this path though.

I know a couple of people who have gone through these clerkships with similar credentials. Both ended up in totally respectful jobs.

My advice is that it totally sucks to make that much money coming out of a t6 with your credentials. But the job (at least from those I know) is pretty chill (think 9:00-5:00 or 6:00 with a lunch break), provides reasonably useful experience, and, since you won't be working that much, you can spend time networking at lunch with lawyers at big/mid size firms and chatting up big/mid size lawyers that come in to your court rooms. It is a job where multiple people in this thread have seen people use it as a launching pad to a totally respectable firm job.

Also, agree chancery is more prestigious than law. Neither is particularly prestigious though, and cook county court is generally viewed as a dumpster fire.

Op here. Why is cook county considered a dumpster fire?

[ninthcircuitattorney]

Cook County is considered a dumpster fire because alot of judges are John Marshall grads who licked the city council members' boots to get on the bench. Occasionally a federal judge doesn't get the law, but this is pretty normal in Cook County Circuit. That said, County judges are still presiding over some big cases.

[Iowahawk]

Cook County is considered a dumpster fire because alot of judges are John Marshall grads who licked the city council members' boots to get on the bench. Occasionally a federal judge doesn't get the law, but this is pretty normal in Cook County Circuit. That said, County judges are still presiding over some big cases.

Illinois state courts in general are a dumpster fire because the appointment and election processes are so messed up. They're genuinely embarrassing to the state considering how large of a state it is and how much sophisticated litigation is under Illinois law in some way.

[Pomeranian]

Have you exhausted your career services? I know it's not the best economy, but someone with t10 (t6?) credentials should have some options in Chicago.

If you do decide on the Cook County Clerkship, you could probably spin it with your credentials as something you wanted to do.

[Jkcm1977]

This would be useful experience if you want to practice litigation in Cook County. If that's what you want to do, go for it and use the experience to learn as much as possible about the local practice and other judges. If you don't want to practice litigation in Chicago, I'd keep looking.