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So my law school allows rising 3Ls to write-on and I'm trying to decide whether to do it. I missed last year and want to try again. However the main reason I would try to write on is to look better for clerkship apps and my law school announces who makes law review after the june deadline. So it can't help me there; is it still worthwhile? From what any of you know how important is law review in getting a job? I didn't get an offer out of OCI so those types of firms are no longer a possibility.

greg737 wrote:So my law school allows rising 3Ls to write-on and I'm trying to decide whether to do it. I missed last year and want to try again. However the main reason I would try to write on is to look better for clerkship apps and my law school announces who makes law review after the june deadline. So it can't help me there; is it still worthwhile? From what any of you know how important is law review in getting a job? I didn't get an offer out of OCI so those types of firms are no longer a possibility.

I have never heard of this......how many spots do they have and how many people try to write on again? Personally I would never do it again. I would actually go back in time and never participate in the write-on if I had the chance.

I'm mostly a clerkship newb, but don't judges want exec board experience? The actual experience you get as a 2L staffer is horrible. Almost everyone on my journal just viewed it as getting your foot in the door so you can run for EIC/whatever the following year. To be a staffer just for the sake of being a staffer seems ... odd.

Some judges care about executive board, some don't - I don't think it's a universal expectation for clerking. A lot of people say unless you're EIC it's not going to make that much difference. Being on LR or at least a journal is more commonly expected (although I was just talking with my co-clerk - career clerk who's been involved with the hiring here every year - about how hard it is to find out if people can write because getting on LR doesn't tell you anything).

I think the only concern about not having LR/journal on your resume is that it's one of the standard boxes to tick, so people will ask why you didn't do it. And if you only do it one year, people may ask that anyway (although some may just not realize it's only one year). Obviously biglaw and clerkships like it, but I'm not sure how much difference it makes for any other jobs. I think government employers (state/fed) would rather see you get experience doing relevant work than be on a journal, but that's just a gut impression.

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A friend of mine wrote on as a 3L and ended up published. So why not try it? Can't hurt.

kalvano wrote:A friend of mine wrote on as a 3L and ended up published. So why not try it? Can't hurt.

There are easier ways to get published...