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Trying to gauge whether it is appropriate to inquire about a clerkship bonus in this situation. I was an associate at a fairly large plaintiffs firm for one year before leaving for a district clerkship, which I am currently finishing up. My firm was not particularly thrilled about me leaving for the clerkship, but we remained on good terms and I've now received an offer to return to the firm with no mention of a clerkship bonus. Would it be inappropriate to ask about negotiating for a clerkship bonus?

No. Definitely ask, unless your cool with just leaving $50K on the table. Tons of biglaw shops would love to hire/pay a bonus to someone coming off a district court clerkship.

You absolutely should ask about it. The more difficult question I think is if they refused to give you a bonus, would you look elsewhere? Like pp said, it is a lot of money to leave on the table, and offering a clerkship bonus is routine. It might be worth putting in some apps at firms that do offer bonuses so that you have some options/data points when you negotiate with your old firm.

Was in a similar boat, except my employer was cool with me leaving to clerk and then coming back. I didn’t ask about the bonus when I returned. I just figured an AmLaw 100 firm would do the right thing. They did not.

My Amlaw 100 firm tried to screw me out of a clerkship bonus. I literally had to go out and field other offers before they gave me one. It was BS.

Lacepiece23 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 06, 2022 9:51 am

My Amlaw 100 firm tried to screw me out of a clerkship bonus. I literally had to go out and field other offers before they gave me one. It was BS.

this gives me distinct Cadwalader vibes

Thanks for the replies. This makes me feel more confident about asking for a clerkship bonus.

As a follow-up: I'm aware of the market clerkship bonus for Big Law firms, but do any folks know if top plaintiffs firms offer clerkship bonuses as well, and rough estimates for what those look like? I would absolutely put in apps at other firms to get some good comparison points, but my offer expires about a week from now.

Unless it's a cravath scale firm I wouldn't expect it to be typical for them to pay a bonus. Why don't you leverage the clerkship into a market paying firm?

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 06, 2022 12:00 pm

Thanks for the replies. This makes me feel more confident about asking for a clerkship bonus.

As a follow-up: I'm aware of the market clerkship bonus for Big Law firms, but do any folks know if top plaintiffs firms offer clerkship bonuses as well, and rough estimates for what those look like? I would absolutely put in apps at other firms to get some good comparison points, but my offer expires about a week from now.

Not sure about plaintiffs firms in particular, but at my NYC lit boutique it was $50k for one and $75k for two clerkships.

Regrettably, I think it's pretty unusual for plaintiff-side firms to pay clerkship bonuses. Maybe some do, but even at the high end it's not universal.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 06, 2022 11:43 pm

Regrettably, I think it's pretty unusual for plaintiff-side firms to pay clerkship bonuses. Maybe some do, but even at the high end it's not universal.

Thanks! This is what I was hoping to know.