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I am a rising 3L and recently accepted a federal district court clerkship. I will either be going to a firm afterwards or will be doing a federal circuit clerkship (which one I do just depends on how the applications go for the next clerkship hiring season). As far as going to a firm is concerned, I'm also not sure to which firm I would go. I'm thinking that there is a better than even chance it would be one in NYC.

1) Should I take the bar before I start the district court clerkship?

2) Where should I take it? (the state in which I'm doing the clerkship, wait and see where I go for the circuit one, NYC because that might be where I go ultimately, or are there other considerations I'm neglecting to mention?)

Thanks!

I would take the bar. You get a pay increase if you clerk a second year. You may be able to waive in to other states after as well.

Anonymous User wrote:I am a rising 3L and recently accepted a federal district court clerkship. I will either be going to a firm afterwards or will be doing a federal circuit clerkship (which one I do just depends on how the applications go for the next clerkship hiring season). As far as going to a firm is concerned, I'm also not sure to which firm I would go. I'm thinking that there is a better than even chance it would be one in NYC.

1) Should I take the bar before I start the district court clerkship?

2) Where should I take it? (the state in which I'm doing the clerkship, wait and see where I go for the circuit one, NYC because that might be where I go ultimately, or are there other considerations I'm neglecting to mention?)

Thanks!

Do you want to live where you are clerking? Taking ny and nj (easy add on) makes sense. You can use those states to waive in elsewhere (DC comes to mind).
What is your home state?

I agree. If you do the second clerkship, you can't get the second-year pay increase unless you're admitted to a bar. And it's much easier to study/take the bar (for the first time) during the summer when you're not working. You don't need to be admitted to clerk, and unless you think you'd stay in your federal-clerkship-state, there's no point in taking that one (ditto for COA). Based on what you've said, I'd vote NY. There aren't a ton of places (other than DC) that let you waive in without having practiced for 5 years, so you might still have to take a second exam if you end up elsewhere, but in the end you just have to make a choice.

NYC

The other choices are probably CA (if you're interested in going there) or VA (if you're pretty dead set on DC)

In addition to the pay increase thing already mentioned, another reason to take a bar this summer is that, if you decide to work in BIGFED, it won't matter which bar you took.

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Definitely take a bar right after 3L. Having no other responsibilities makes it a lot easier to thoroughly go through the material.

I took second bar in Feb while clerking just studying at nights and on weekends starting in January when I wasn't working. I found that the MBE subjects were still fresh in my mind from studying them all summer so I could focus more on state subjects. I think learning the material from scratch while working would be much more difficult.