Federal Circuit Clerk -> appeals work? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi all,

Almost done with my clerkship at the Federal Circuit. I'm a t-14 grad and would like to do appellate work in DC after. I worry that if I apply to a general practice firm, they'll say I'll do appellate and then throw me in the district court trenches. Any appellate boutiques in the DC area I should look at? Or gen practice firms that keep their promises?

[Anonymous User]

Orrick has several Fed Cir clerks in their appellate group, and who exclusively do appellate work. Not as fancy a brand, but the appellate group is still strong and the people there seem happy.

[Anonymous User]

Morgan Lewis’ IP Lit group has a few Fed Cir clerks they like to put on appeals work. You wouldn’t be able to just do appeals, though. And their DC office’s lit work is very skewed towards ITC work which is soul crushing.

[Anonymous User]

Pure appellate positions in DC biglaw are extraordinarily competitive. There are lots of threads on them on here but the TLDR is you will likely need to do trial work too, leave DC, and/or go to work in government. There are some DC appellate boutiques, most notably Goldstein & Russell, but they are also very competitive.