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I know it's annoying to be posting a question about job prospects for a COA clerk the day before OSCAR opens, but here it goes anyway. Is any COA clerkship a golden-ticket to biglaw in DC/NYC? Or are there certain COA clerkships in "flyover" places that won't necessarily guarantee success on the biglaw market?

Are there any COA clerks out there who had trouble getting biglaw jobs in major markets?

Anonymous User wrote:I know it's annoying to be posting a question about job prospects for a COA clerk the day before OSCAR opens, but here it goes anyway. Is any COA clerkship a golden-ticket to biglaw in DC/NYC? Or are there certain COA clerkships in "flyover" places that won't necessarily guarantee success on the biglaw market?

To my knowledge and as a extreme generality, the answer is yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're getting your first (or second, or third . . .) choice of biglaw firms in those markets. The only non-2d/9th/DC COA clerk I've sort of kept in contact with got an offer in DC.

More than likely no problems, I am assuming if you did have a problem you could forgo the bonus in order to entice at least one biglaw employer to hire you. I would presume that the hardest market to enter is DC.... I would think there would be 0 worries of securing NYC.

Do others agree that DC biglaw is significantly more selective than NYC these days?

lsa1 wrote:Do others agree that DC biglaw is significantly more selective than NYC these days?

smaller market

Anonymous User wrote:

lsa1 wrote:Do others agree that DC biglaw is significantly more selective than NYC these days?

smaller market

Smaller market + along with desirable regulatory and appellate litigation work (and good litigation work in general). Unless you're comparing Wachtell or something, DC likely to be a harder nut to crack.

lsa1 wrote:Do others agree that DC biglaw is significantly more selective than NYC these days?

Yes. Does anybody even come close to disagreeing with this?

Anonymous User wrote:I know it's annoying to be posting a question about job prospects for a COA clerk the day before OSCAR opens, but here it goes anyway. Is any COA clerkship a golden-ticket to biglaw in DC/NYC? Or are there certain COA clerkships in "flyover" places that won't necessarily guarantee success on the biglaw market?

Are there any COA clerks out there who had trouble getting biglaw jobs in major markets?

1. In the real world, people generally care much more who you clerked for than where you clerked for. To the extent that anyone really cares (and its questionable that anyone cares beyond the COA clerkship itself), employers will often be more impressed by say a Gorsuch or Ebel clerkship than a random, rural 9th Circuit clerkship.

2. It's always good to come from a well-respected judge, but its often hard for law students to figure out who these judges are.

3. In general, people's job prospects are based on their qualifications coming into the clerkship. If you're #1 at a T6, you're going to have great options regardless of whether you clerk on the 8th Circuit, 9th Circuit, or CDCA (or any other court). If you're median at a T100 and didn't have an SA, then you might have problems coming out of any clerkship.

ClerkAdvisor wrote:3. In general, people's job prospects are based on their qualifications coming into the clerkship. If you're #1 at a T6, you're going to have great options regardless of whether you clerk on the 8th Circuit, 9th Circuit, or CDCA (or any other court). If you're median at a T100 and didn't have an SA, then you might have problems coming out of any clerkship.

There is obviously a good bit of GPA self-selection inherent in the process, but I'm not sure grades matter quite so much following a COA clerkship, particularly with a well-respected judge and a year or two of work experience preceding the clerkship.