2019-2020 Post-Clerkship Hiring Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi all – bankruptcy court clerk here. Curious if any of these timelines or standards are different for bankruptcy clerks? It doesn’t seem to me that we get recruited to the same extent as other fed clerks. Any recommendations on how to reach out to firms I may be interested in? I plan to stay in the CA area, and it seems relatively competitive here (probably the nature of how saturated the field is here). Any advice on how to stand out or what to highlight when I reach out to firms? Thanks

[Anonymous User]

Hi all – bankruptcy court clerk here. Curious if any of these timelines or standards are different for bankruptcy clerks? It doesn’t seem to me that we get recruited to the same extent as other fed clerks. Any recommendations on how to reach out to firms I may be interested in? I plan to stay in the CA area, and it seems relatively competitive here (probably the nature of how saturated the field is here). Any advice on how to stand out or what to highlight when I reach out to firms? Thanks

Fellow bankruptcy clerk. I've interviewed with certain NYC groups (which are definitely already moving) and with several groups in a large secondary market close to where I'm clerking. No idea on CA specifically, but I would recommend working with a recruiter (for firms that will take recruiter submissions) and mass mailing firms that don't take clerk submissions from a recruiter (including the main debtor shops). I'd reach out to partners or recruiting contacts at larger firms now and smaller firms by late January.

[MichelleMichelle]

Hi all – bankruptcy court clerk here. Curious if any of these timelines or standards are different for bankruptcy clerks? It doesn’t seem to me that we get recruited to the same extent as other fed clerks. Any recommendations on how to reach out to firms I may be interested in? I plan to stay in the CA area, and it seems relatively competitive here (probably the nature of how saturated the field is here). Any advice on how to stand out or what to highlight when I reach out to firms? Thanks

Fellow bankruptcy clerk. I've interviewed with certain NYC groups (which are definitely already moving) and with several groups in a large secondary market close to where I'm clerking. No idea on CA specifically, but I would recommend working with a recruiter (for firms that will take recruiter submissions) and mass mailing firms that don't take clerk submissions from a recruiter (including the main debtor shops). I'd reach out to partners or recruiting contacts at larger firms now and smaller firms by late January.

Former BK clerk, currently in big law. I started applying in November/December, went to several firm receptions for clerks around Dec/Jan. I do not know anything about the CA market, but if you have any interest at all in going to NY/Chicago/Houston for BK, then I think you should send out some applications in the next few weeks to at least keep your options open. IIRC things started heating up shortly after New Years for me and my fellow law clerks - I got my offer in late February. Seemed like that was when most people started getting interviews. Don't be surprised if you don't find anything until late into the Spring, esp if you want to stay in CA. Someone I knew didn't get anything until a few weeks before the end of her clerkship.

Not sure about the above advice to work with a recruiter. The general wisdom is that you should apply directly - why would a firm pay a recruiter fee to hire you when there are so many other/cheaper law clerks? But I agree that you should reach out to firms in January (probs best to not do it now as everyone is out of office until Jan 6).

[cali7802000]

Any new movement on the interview/hiring front?

[Anonymous User]

Dinged by Selendy and DPW this week. Interviews offered at Molo NY, QE (NY). Radio silent elsewhere.

[cali7802000]

Thanks for the update. Any other big law firms sent out mailers to your chambers?

[Anonymous User]

We got one from Freshfields, Kirkland and several more boutiques.

[Anonymous User]

I know of interviews at the elite DC lit shops.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the updates. Which DC elite lit shops?

[lavarman84]

I'm not trying to work biglaw, but I know from friends that Jones Day has been interviewing.

[Anonymous User]

Kellogg and Williams & Connolly.

[Anonymous User]

Thank you! Any other movement in DC or NYC?

[theswisswereright]

Should I be panicking that I've seen no response from the approximately fifty applications I've sent out for post-clerkship employment thus far? Some of them have been to open positions, some to general "judicial clerk" resume drops, and some emails to recruiters (I only did that when the firm's website specifically said "judicial clerks email X").

Any tips on finding more firms to apply with? Do I bother applying to jobs that say "2+ years of experience"? I'm aware it sounds like I'm freaking out, and I kind of am.

[Anonymous User]

Speaking of elite shops, I’m guessing if they are interviewing they did not originally summer there correct? Asking as someone hoping to get another bite at KH and W&C

[beepboopbeep]

Speaking of elite shops, I’m guessing if they are interviewing they did not originally summer there correct? Asking as someone hoping to get another bite at KH and W&C

It depends. At my former boutique everyone had to reinterview in the summer + clerkship scenario, though it was more or less of a formality depending on prior reviews, etc. I am not sure whether that was also true for people who spent a gap year at the firm before clerking and then coming back, but I know at least some people were told that the policy was to have people reinterview in that situation too.

(The explanation I heard was that this was done to avoid judges' policies about clerks holding outstanding offers to return, though if I would guess it probably had more to do with gracefully cutting ties.)

FWIW I don't think it would affect your chances much whether they make people reinterview or not -- we were looking for a total number of new incoming associates, whether they had been prior summers or not.

[diesel0408]

Should I be panicking that I've seen no response from the approximately fifty applications I've sent out for post-clerkship employment thus far? Some of them have been to open positions, some to general "judicial clerk" resume drops, and some emails to recruiters (I only did that when the firm's website specifically said "judicial clerks email X").

Any tips on finding more firms to apply with? Do I bother applying to jobs that say "2+ years of experience"? I'm aware it sounds like I'm freaking out, and I kind of am.

So far I've gotten three rejections (expected - these were certainly reach firms for me), one response saying to check back this summer, and one request for more docs (I had only emailed a resume per the firm's website and they wanted a writing sample and transcript). No good news yet.

I'd also be interested in hearing advice on finding more firms to apply to. So far I've focused my applications on V100 firms.

[Anonymous User]

Starting to see some movement, dinged by a few V100s and boutiques, one callback at a V100, interviews and screeners at a few boutiques

[cjm2018]

Anyone seeing any movement in non-NYC/DC markets? Thinking Boston specifically.

[Anonymous User]

To what degree are post-clerkship interviews with firms different than OCI interviews? Anymore substantive (although we cannot talk about the nuances of cases we worked on)? Or does this really depend on the type of firm: big law v. boutique?

[Ontheroadbeatnik]

To what degree are post-clerkship interviews with firms different than OCI interviews? Anymore substantive (although we cannot talk about the nuances of cases we worked on)? Or does this really depend on the type of firm: big law v. boutique?

My big law interview was much like a regular OCI callback, maybe a bit more substantive cause I had actually seen cases at that point. Partners who clerked love asking why you like clerking

[theswisswereright]

Should I be panicking that I've seen no response from the approximately fifty applications I've sent out for post-clerkship employment thus far? Some of them have been to open positions, some to general "judicial clerk" resume drops, and some emails to recruiters (I only did that when the firm's website specifically said "judicial clerks email X").

Any tips on finding more firms to apply with? Do I bother applying to jobs that say "2+ years of experience"? I'm aware it sounds like I'm freaking out, and I kind of am.

So far I've gotten three rejections (expected - these were certainly reach firms for me), one response saying to check back this summer, and one request for more docs (I had only emailed a resume per the firm's website and they wanted a writing sample and transcript). No good news yet.

I'd also be interested in hearing advice on finding more firms to apply to. So far I've focused my applications on V100 firms.

Obviously I've had no success with this tactic, but on a wild hair, I google searched "judicial clerks" with something like "law firm hiring" and looked to see if any firms in the geographical areas that interest me had information about post-clerkship hiring.

I've piled up more dings over the last few days and have not been asked to interview once, so... take that as you will, but it's possible your chances are better than mine!

[Anonymous User]

Dinged by Skadden (Boston) and Gibson (DC). Interview extended at NY lit. boutique.

[Anonymous User]

Interestingly I haven’t really gotten any bites from standard biglaw firms but have gotten lots of interviews with objectively much more selective boutiques. I wonder what’s up with that.

[Anonymous User]

Maybe they're on different hiring timelines? Can you mention a few of the boutiques?

[Anonymous User]

I'm guessing it's just as bad to accept and renege for a post-clerking job as it is for summer associateships? Got an offer today from a firm in my district and it seems like most other firms (that I applied to) aren't moving yet. I don't want to string them along but I also don't want to accept and not be able to play the field (kind of a big motivation behind the clerkship tbh) just because they moved earlier than everyone else.