Prospective Academic: Plans for Year After Clerkship?
Posted: Tue May 02, 2023 2:13 pm
TLDR: What do I do the year between clerkship and fellowship?
Graduated from HYS last year and have been working in big law in NY. Will be leaving soon to clerk on one of CADC/CA2/CA9.
I’m interested in moving into business-legal academia (keeping it intentionally vague, but think one of governance, restructuring, tax, etc.). Plans are to apply for fellowships in my niche the year after I finish my clerkship (my third year since graduating). Average for profs in my field seems to be three years of some mix of clerking and practicing before moving into academia. While nothing’s guaranteed, the prof who hires fellows at my alma mater is my recommender, so I’ll likely be returning for that.
My wife is in grad school and will be moving to CA the year I finish my clerkship to start in finance. She’ll be the breadwinner going forward, so I’m trying not to disrupt her career progression too badly. At the same time, (i) we’d both like to minimize the amount of time we’re doing long distance (since we’ll already be apart for a year while i clerk), (ii) I’ve only passed the UBE, and (iii) neither of us really wants me to sit for the CA bar, since I only intend to spend another year or two in practice before heading into academia. Big law money isn’t much of a consideration, in light of my wife’s income and the fact that I’ll be pursuing public-service loan forgiveness.
Since I’ll have to start publishing in my niche within a couple of years after I start the fellowship, the bigger utility practice affords is as a vehicle for topic selection. This in mind, the following are the options I’m currently considering:
1. Rotate through my firm’s CA office the year after I clerk. No guarantee that I can do this, but I’ve spoken with other associates who have done so, and it sounds feasible. No need to take the CA bar as long as it’s only for a year. The downside is that my firm is a generalist practice, so I won’t get much substantive exposure to the field I intend to write about. The upside is that my wife and I won’t have to do another year of long distance.
2. Do a second clerkship in my niche practice area. The upside is that it would allow me to live with my wife for that year. The downside is that I’ll only have been a practicing attorney for a year before I enter the academy, which is kind of lame. A lesser consideration, but one that isn’t entirely immaterial in the prestige-conscious world of academia, is that this second clerkship wouldn’t be especially prestigious.
3. Take the CA bar and recruit into a firm that practices in my niche area. I’d gain substantive exposure and practice experience while being able to live in CA, but I’d have to take the CA bar…
4. Recruit into a firm that practices in my niche area, practice for a year, then leave and never take the CA bar. Can this even be done?
5. Go back to NY after my clerkship—either to my firm or one that’s better known for my niche—and either do long distance with my wife, or she’ll have to re-recruit or rotate to her firm’s satellite office in NY. Not great, since (i) this will be her first year on the job and (ii) although I only plan to work in the private sector for a short while longer, she hopes to spend many more years at her firm.
What would you recommend I do with my pre-fellowship year? Any possibilities I’m not considering? Thank you!
Graduated from HYS last year and have been working in big law in NY. Will be leaving soon to clerk on one of CADC/CA2/CA9.
I’m interested in moving into business-legal academia (keeping it intentionally vague, but think one of governance, restructuring, tax, etc.). Plans are to apply for fellowships in my niche the year after I finish my clerkship (my third year since graduating). Average for profs in my field seems to be three years of some mix of clerking and practicing before moving into academia. While nothing’s guaranteed, the prof who hires fellows at my alma mater is my recommender, so I’ll likely be returning for that.
My wife is in grad school and will be moving to CA the year I finish my clerkship to start in finance. She’ll be the breadwinner going forward, so I’m trying not to disrupt her career progression too badly. At the same time, (i) we’d both like to minimize the amount of time we’re doing long distance (since we’ll already be apart for a year while i clerk), (ii) I’ve only passed the UBE, and (iii) neither of us really wants me to sit for the CA bar, since I only intend to spend another year or two in practice before heading into academia. Big law money isn’t much of a consideration, in light of my wife’s income and the fact that I’ll be pursuing public-service loan forgiveness.
Since I’ll have to start publishing in my niche within a couple of years after I start the fellowship, the bigger utility practice affords is as a vehicle for topic selection. This in mind, the following are the options I’m currently considering:
1. Rotate through my firm’s CA office the year after I clerk. No guarantee that I can do this, but I’ve spoken with other associates who have done so, and it sounds feasible. No need to take the CA bar as long as it’s only for a year. The downside is that my firm is a generalist practice, so I won’t get much substantive exposure to the field I intend to write about. The upside is that my wife and I won’t have to do another year of long distance.
2. Do a second clerkship in my niche practice area. The upside is that it would allow me to live with my wife for that year. The downside is that I’ll only have been a practicing attorney for a year before I enter the academy, which is kind of lame. A lesser consideration, but one that isn’t entirely immaterial in the prestige-conscious world of academia, is that this second clerkship wouldn’t be especially prestigious.
3. Take the CA bar and recruit into a firm that practices in my niche area. I’d gain substantive exposure and practice experience while being able to live in CA, but I’d have to take the CA bar…
4. Recruit into a firm that practices in my niche area, practice for a year, then leave and never take the CA bar. Can this even be done?
5. Go back to NY after my clerkship—either to my firm or one that’s better known for my niche—and either do long distance with my wife, or she’ll have to re-recruit or rotate to her firm’s satellite office in NY. Not great, since (i) this will be her first year on the job and (ii) although I only plan to work in the private sector for a short while longer, she hopes to spend many more years at her firm.
What would you recommend I do with my pre-fellowship year? Any possibilities I’m not considering? Thank you!