Clerk job hunting thread 2012/2013 Forum

[Anonymous User]

"c/o 2012 grad here. Took a very competitive, desirable SSC and otherwise have the grades/school to be competitive for biglaw (T6, top 1/3 at graduation). But I never actually did a SA during law school, struck out both 2L and 3L year. Are biglaw firms going to have a problem with not doing a SA? Most people at my clerkship who want it get biglaw- but they are going back to firms they summered or worked for before the clerkship. I don't have anyone else in my situation to compare to."

I know of two people who did exactly this last year - no SA; SSC --> firm. But with good credentials from top schools. Cast a very wide net, and apply through the clerk-specific process at firms that have one - you should get some interviews. Also, to the extent you can get your judge to go to bat for you, you should absolutely work that angle.

[Anonymous User]

"c/o 2012 grad here. Took a very competitive, desirable SSC and otherwise have the grades/school to be competitive for biglaw (T6, top 1/3 at graduation). But I never actually did a SA during law school, struck out both 2L and 3L year. Are biglaw firms going to have a problem with not doing a SA? Most people at my clerkship who want it get biglaw- but they are going back to firms they summered or worked for before the clerkship. I don't have anyone else in my situation to compare to."

I know of two people who did exactly this last year - no SA; SSC --> firm. But with good credentials from top schools. Cast a very wide net, and apply through the clerk-specific process at firms that have one - you should get some interviews. Also, to the extent you can get your judge to go to bat for you, you should absolutely work that angle.

Thx. Makes me feel more optimistic about my chances.

[Anonymous User]

Just starting preparing a good, plausible narrative for why there's no BigLaw on your resume, preferrably explaining why your 2L summer job was something you actively sought out and wanted to spend the summer doing.

[Anonymous User]

Final update from me: I was in a weird boat, since I was applying for corporate positions. I sent ten applications to NY around January and have been rejected from six. Despite getting an offer in my clerkship city and calling to check on my status with the NY firms, I still have heard nothing from the other four.

I threw in about ten applications to Bay Area firms and while a few are still pending, the rest were rejections.

I then applied to seven firms in my clerkship city, got three interviews, three offers, and will be very happily staying.

I don't know anything about the litigation job market, but it basically appeared to me that if I didn't have a summer position at the NY firms, I wasn't going to break into corporate at those places.

[Anonymous User]

Final update from me: I was in a weird boat, since I was applying for corporate positions. I sent ten applications to NY around January and have been rejected from six. Despite getting an offer in my clerkship city and calling to check on my status with the NY firms, I still have heard nothing from the other four.

I threw in about ten applications to Bay Area firms and while a few are still pending, the rest were rejections.

I then applied to seven firms in my clerkship city, got three interviews, three offers, and will be very happily staying.

I don't know anything about the litigation job market, but it basically appeared to me that if I didn't have a summer position at the NY firms, I wasn't going to break into corporate at those places.

So if I already struck out with all the firms in my clerkship city, what's left?

[Anonymous User]

Is anyone else in a "rolling" clerkship... i.e. could be 2 years at the judges discretion? I kind of want to test the waters and see what the market is like before committing to a 2nd year. Ay tips?

[theaccidentalclerk]

Yikes! Meant to be anonymous there.

[lolwat]

100+ applications

62 rejections of various sorts (except as below)
3 interviews (one upcoming)
2 rejections post-interview (of course, not rejected from the upcoming one)
approximately 55-60 applications still out there currently

Blah.

[Anonymous User]

100+ applications

62 rejections of various sorts (except as below)
3 interviews (one upcoming)
2 rejections post-interview (of course, not rejected from the upcoming one)
approximately 55-60 applications still out there currently

Blah.

Where are you applying?

[Anonymous User]

100+ applications

62 rejections of various sorts (except as below)
3 interviews (one upcoming)
2 rejections post-interview (of course, not rejected from the upcoming one)
approximately 55-60 applications still out there currently

Blah.

FWIW I had similar results. Sent out ~100 applications, got maybe ~35 rejections, three interviews, and the rest radio silence. Fortunately for me, two of those three interviews turned into offers, meaning with your one upcoming interview, you might be all set. Just keep telling yourself that it's a numbers game and it only takes one.

[Anonymous User]

Is anyone else in a "rolling" clerkship... i.e. could be 2 years at the judges discretion? I kind of want to test the waters and see what the market is like before committing to a 2nd year. Ay tips?

I am. I have to tell my judge whether I'm going to do the second year by the time he hires new clerks (we're interviewing over the next month) so he can know whether he wants them to start this fall or next (he's alum-only). If I get an offer after he hires, it's up to me to negotiate with my replacement for an earlier start date. I've sent out a handful of apps in the past few months and had a few interviews. One rejection, one implicit rejection, one "we'll let you know in a month or two" that I'm not optimistic about, and one promising one (the hiring partner wants to do a call in the next week to talk about "where they see me at the firm" and compensation).

[lolwat]

FWIW I had similar results. Sent out ~100 applications, got maybe ~35 rejections, three interviews, and the rest radio silence. Fortunately for me, two of those three interviews turned into offers, meaning with your one upcoming interview, you might be all set. Just keep telling yourself that it's a numbers game and it only takes one.

Pretty much what I'm doing, yeah. I figure a firm isn't wasting time interviewing if they aren't legitimately interested, since this isn't OCI anymore where they're sending someone over with 20 interview timeslots. My interview skills aren't the best, but I should be able to crush a 20-40 minute interview with this firm specifically. Callback might be another issue, but let's get there first.

Where are you applying

Primarily hitting up LA/SF/NYC/DC/CHI right now. I have absolutely no desire to stay where my clerkship is but I'll look at other areas when it feels like my chances at my desired markets are getting closer to zero.

[20160810]

FWIW I had similar results. Sent out ~100 applications, got maybe ~35 rejections, three interviews, and the rest radio silence. Fortunately for me, two of those three interviews turned into offers, meaning with your one upcoming interview, you might be all set. Just keep telling yourself that it's a numbers game and it only takes one.

Pretty much what I'm doing, yeah. I figure a firm isn't wasting time interviewing if they aren't legitimately interested, since this isn't OCI anymore where they're sending someone over with 20 interview timeslots. My interview skills aren't the best, but I should be able to crush a 20-40 minute interview with this firm specifically. Callback might be another issue, but let's get there first.

Where are you applying

Primarily hitting up LA/SF/NYC/DC/CHI right now. I have absolutely no desire to stay where my clerkship is but I'll look at other areas when it feels like my chances at my desired markets are getting closer to zero.

Have you taken the bar yet? That seems like a pretty wide swath of territory to apply in. I pretty much didn't even consider jobs outside of CA.

[lolwat]

Have you taken the bar yet? That seems like a pretty wide swath of territory to apply in. I pretty much didn't even consider jobs outside of CA.

I'm probably in a slightly different situation than most clerks which is likely affecting things. I won't get into it too much, but I basically ended up with a gap year in which I did minimal legal work (probably about half the year). The location of my clerkship also likely isn't helping much.

I'm admitted in CA but have otherwise minimal ties there. I haven't had much luck there--most of my rejections so far are from CA (and DC) firms. I felt about a month ago that my remaining options there are dying down, which prompted me to immediately send out massive numbers of applications to the other areas.

[Anonymous User]

Have you taken the bar yet? That seems like a pretty wide swath of territory to apply in. I pretty much didn't even consider jobs outside of CA.

I'm probably in a slightly different situation than most clerks which is likely affecting things. I won't get into it too much, but I basically ended up with a gap year in which I did minimal legal work (probably about half the year). The location of my clerkship also likely isn't helping much.

I'm admitted in CA but have otherwise minimal ties there. I haven't had much luck there--most of my rejections so far are from CA (and DC) firms. I felt about a month ago that my remaining options there are dying down, which prompted me to immediately send out massive numbers of applications to the other areas.

Where are you clerking? I'm also going to try to break into CA after clerking in a non-CA district and going to a non-CA non-T14 school (but I did grow up and go to undergrad there), so I'm glad to see someone else was just as foolishly optimistic.

[lolwat]

Where are you clerking? I'm also going to try to break into CA after clerking in a non-CA district and going to a non-CA non-T14 school (but I did grow up and go to undergrad there), so I'm glad to see someone else was just as foolishly optimistic.

Would rather not say (it would easily out me, imo) but it's not a place that people typically end up staying unless they were originally from here. It's not impossible to get a couple of interviews in CA (I had two--one before the clerkship and one during) but it is definitely tough from my experience. And yeah, I went to a non-CA non-T14 school too.

[20160810]

Have you taken the bar yet? That seems like a pretty wide swath of territory to apply in. I pretty much didn't even consider jobs outside of CA.

I'm probably in a slightly different situation than most clerks which is likely affecting things. I won't get into it too much, but I basically ended up with a gap year in which I did minimal legal work (probably about half the year). The location of my clerkship also likely isn't helping much.

I'm admitted in CA but have otherwise minimal ties there. I haven't had much luck there--most of my rejections so far are from CA (and DC) firms. I felt about a month ago that my remaining options there are dying down, which prompted me to immediately send out massive numbers of applications to the other areas.

My experience is that ties are only essential if you're applying in Sacramento or Fresno. Assuming you want one of the bigger cities in CA, you should be A-OK with a clerkship and minimal ties, assuming the rest of the qualifications are squared away. I have interviewed with a couple dozen LA firms between OCI and the present day, and not one of them asked me why I wanted to live in LA, which is good, frankly, because I don't.

[lolwat]

My experience is that ties are only essential if you're applying in Sacramento or Fresno. Assuming you want one of the bigger cities in CA, you should be A-OK with a clerkship and minimal ties, assuming the rest of the qualifications are squared away. I have interviewed with a couple dozen LA firms between OCI and the present day, and not one of them asked me why I wanted to live in LA, which is good, frankly, because I don't.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, or perhaps all the little issues with my resume add up to a red flag, or something else is at play then. I have literally had one interview with a California firm so far in the middle of a ton of rejections from the bigger firms in LA and SF (I'm including Silicon Valley in with SF). I expected rejections from firms like Munger and Keker, which were just unrealistic reaches anyway, but I figured I had a decent shot at most other places.

I guess we'll see soon from the rest. At least one firm specifically told me they're reviewing applications this month.

[Anonymous User]

This thread making me a little uneasy. I had basically a year of unemployment (few document review projects) before starting my current two year district clerkship. While planning on a tentatively offered clerkship for that gap year that got delayed, I was nervous and accepted my current clerkship instead. By the the time 1st tentative offer became an official offer I could not accept it because the timing of the clerkship I accepted conflicted (the offer i accepted would have required me to start in 6 months).

So now I am now concerned how that gap year would affect me when I start applying next year for post-clerkship position.

[Anonymous User]

For those who have interviewed: How long have you typically had to wait between interview and offer/rejection?

[lolwat]

About a week (for rejections).

[Anonymous User]

Do rejections come by snail mail?

[lolwat]

Both post-interview rejections I've gotten came from snail mail, yeah.

[Anonymous User]

DC market does not seem to have much movement. Sidley DC seems to be full for both the incoming entry-level class and for mid-levels.

[Anonymous User]

Just got off of a phone interview with the managing partner of a 500ish person non-NYC firm. I hate phone interviews. I hate firms that require multiple interviews. This one: Short preliminary phone interview with the director of the office. One hour in person interview with three of the attorneys. Phone interview with the national MP. Now I'm going to have to back there yet again for the final round (I hope!) interview with all of the partners in the office.

It's a good match. The office is in my home market (secondary city, not NYC/DC/SF/LA/Chicago/Boston). They're specfically looking for someone with my experience (I did 4-5 years of specialized lit for the government before clerking). They'd hire me as counsel with a two year partnership look-see window. But this process is very frustrating. And I'm (foolishly) procrastinating on reaching out to other firms until this is resolved one way or the other.