Top Law Schools

For students looking to clerk (federal or state) and who want to work in a large private firm (my personal interest is business/transactional but litigation suggestions are great too), what are the recommended 2L/3L courses?

Thanks for any help!

Alyosha wrote:For students looking to clerk (federal or state) and who want to work in a large private firm (my personal interest is business/transactional but litigation suggestions are great too), what are the recommended 2L/3L courses?

Thanks for any help!

The general "clerkship courses" are 1) fed courts, 2) admin and 3) evidence. Not required, but helpful.

For transactional, I'd say 1) corporations, 2) secured transactions and 3) negotiation/deals workshops if your school offers them

For litigation, I'm not really sure. Probably you can specialize based on type of lit, but I imagine advanced civpro, fed courts and admin would be helpful as well.

Alyosha wrote:For students looking to clerk (federal or state) and who want to work in a large private firm (my personal interest is business/transactional but litigation suggestions are great too), what are the recommended 2L/3L courses?

Thanks for any help!

Isn't clerking a little superfluous for transactional work?

Law and Ancient Egyptian Basket Weaving FTW!

mikeytwoshoes wrote:

Alyosha wrote:For students looking to clerk (federal or state) and who want to work in a large private firm (my personal interest is business/transactional but litigation suggestions are great too), what are the recommended 2L/3L courses?

Thanks for any help!

Isn't clerking a little superfluous for transactional work?

Law and Ancient Egyptian Basket Weaving FTW!

I don't know. I guess I was under the impression that there were more benefits to clerking than just learning how to be a litigator. I have heard that it is better for litigators though. I'm just a 1L right now as well, and it's still possible I will pursue litigation.

Law and ancient basket weaving sounds fun though

Imhuckbass, thanks for the suggestions. Any of those you would recommend not taking during the same semester? For example, I've heard fed courts and admin are fairly difficult courses and you shouldn't take them together. I guess I'm worried about hurting my gpa if I take too many difficult classes.

So I should clarify I'm a 1L, so you should take my advice with a grain of salt. That said, I've heard the above from multiple people.

I've heard that you shouldn't take fed. courts with either evidence or admin during the same semester. All three are supposedly heavy workloads and have really hard curves because a lot of top students gunning for clerkships take them.

For the transactional courses, I don't think there's a general consensus that you shouldn't take them, but some are prerequisities for the others.

As for clerking if you want to do transactional, it seems it's not very "helpful" and I know several people who could have easily clerked but chose not to because they wanted to do transactional. Then again, I also know several people who clerked for the experience even though they knew they wanted to do transactional and loved it. So I think it's personal preference, but undoubtedly it's much more helpful for litigation than transactional.

.

TTT-LS wrote:Well, if you want to do transactional work, there are plenty of clerkships out there that would fit. Bankruptcy court clerkships, Delaware Chancery, Delaware Supreme Court, or SDNY would all give you valuable experience, for instance.

I don't think there's a legal career path out there that wouldn't benefit from an SDNY clerkship.

vanwinkle wrote:

TTT-LS wrote:Well, if you want to do transactional work, there are plenty of clerkships out there that would fit. Bankruptcy court clerkships, Delaware Chancery, Delaware Supreme Court, or SDNY would all give you valuable experience, for instance.

I don't think there's a legal career path out there that wouldn't benefit from an SDNY clerkship.

Small town law, everyone knows everyone and outsiders (especially New Yorkers) need not apply.

vanwinkle wrote:

TTT-LS wrote:Well, if you want to do transactional work, there are plenty of clerkships out there that would fit. Bankruptcy court clerkships, Delaware Chancery, Delaware Supreme Court, or SDNY would all give you valuable experience, for instance.

I don't think there's a legal career path out there that wouldn't benefit from an SDNY clerkship.

Plus one.

I've met with a bunch of transactional attorneys that have 0 courtroom work in their practice. Many clerked, all loved it, all recommend it, all found it beneficial. And, for the record, they were all regular CoA or D. Court clerkships, not bankruptcy or anything.

imchuckbass58 wrote:

Alyosha wrote:For students looking to clerk (federal or state) and who want to work in a large private firm (my personal interest is business/transactional but litigation suggestions are great too), what are the recommended 2L/3L courses?

Thanks for any help!

The general "clerkship courses" are 1) fed courts, 2) admin and 3) evidence. Not required, but helpful.

For transactional, I'd say 1) corporations, 2) secured transactions and 3) negotiation/deals workshops if your school offers them

For litigation, I'm not really sure. Probably you can specialize based on type of lit, but I imagine advanced civpro, fed courts and admin would be helpful as well.

Securities regulation is also supposed to be quite helpful for transactional work. A lot of associates at firms also recommended taking an accounting class; although it's definitely not required in any sense, they said it made the learning curve at the firm a little less steep.

Transactional: Payment systems, secured transactions, corporations, agency & partnership.

Litigation: you either have or you don't..sorry.