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I worked for a BigLaw firm as a 1L last summer. This summer I will spend most of the summer at a different big law firm but will be going back to the 1L firm for a few weeks too. The partner I worked for last summer wrote one of my LOR for clerkship apps.

Assuming I have locked up a clerkship before my 2L summer starts, when should I tell the firms? Will they consider me for an offer along with everyone else even if I won't be able to accept right away?

Unless your firm is anti-clerkship, which I think is pretty rare, I don't think the timing will matter much. Based on what I heard from friends who already had clerkships lined up before 2L summer, they had the same experience as everyone else at their firms re: offers. I didn't have my clerkship fully lined up before starting with my 2L summer firm, but I was totally open about the fact that clerking was my plan. They gave me an offer just like (almost) everybody else.