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Recent T10 grad (top 25%) here. I'll be clerking for a judge on a state's intermediate appellate court starting in September. It'll be in the same state my school is in, and I plan on/have already started to apply for SSC clerkships and every federal district clerkship in the state for August of 2014. Assuming (knock on wood) that I pass this state's bar, is it worth it to apply to federal courts out of state? To me, it seems that if I apply and somehow get a federal clerkship in another state, either (a) i'll have to take another state's bar exam if I get a job in that state (firm route) or (b) I try and come back to the state I'm in now after a federal clerkship and people question why I left in the first place when I was already here with a state clerkship. Any opinions?

I dunno, I'm clerking in a federal district court where I don't ultimately want to practice. Regarding (a), I don't think it's that big of a deal to study for the bar while clerking. And regarding (b), I don't think employers seriously question why you decided to clerk for a federal judge. They might ask, but as long as you come up with any answer at all, I imagine it would satisfy them.

Anonymous User wrote:(b) I try and come back to the state I'm in now after a federal clerkship and people question why I left in the first place when I was already here with a state clerkship. Any opinions?

I don't follow this. Federal clerkships are highly valued by firms (hence the $50K bonuses) and, relatedly, very hard to get. Because they're hard to get, most people can't be geographically choosy. Accordingly no one thinks it's weird to go someplace solely to clerk (and then to go somewhere else to work long-term). I don't see why having clerked for a state court before the federal clerkship would really change that.

GertrudePerkins wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:(b) I try and come back to the state I'm in now after a federal clerkship and people question why I left in the first place when I was already here with a state clerkship. Any opinions?

I don't follow this. Federal clerkships are highly valued by firms (hence the $50K bonuses) and, relatedly, very hard to get. Because they're hard to get, most people can't be geographically choosy. Accordingly no one thinks it's weird to go someplace solely to clerk (and then to go somewhere else to work long-term). I don't see why having clerked for a state court before the federal clerkship would really change that.

I agree with this.

Agreed with above.