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Anyone have a good sense of the hiring projections for litigation in about a year? Reading ATL and other law blogs, it seems like the attorneys that are getting laid off are in litigation. Additionally, most new job postings I came across this past year were looking for transactional/real estate attorneys.

I am asking because my mag clerkship ended this year and I could not find a firm job. Luckily I secured a district court clerkship, but I will have to start the job searching process again in a couple of months and I am not feeling optimistic.

Anecdotal evidence: two clerks I know are going to big law firms to do litigation. So...hurray?

The problem is -- what are your stats? Where was your magistrate clerkship at (flyover?) and where is your district court clerkship at?

I honestly don't know what the market is like for people coming off magistrate clerkships. Generally speaking, I don't think the market is as good as it used to be and I think what clerkship you're doing (and where at) matters even more than it used to. Two people with similar credentials, one clerking in a flyover COA and the other clerking on 2/9/DC Cir., will probably have slightly different results in their job searches.

I think you will have better luck now that you have a district court clerkship. I think it will definitely help if this clerkship is in a "competitive" district.

Re: anecdotal evidence, did the two clerks already have the biglaw gigs lined up (e.g., from a 2L SA)?

lolwat wrote:The problem is -- what are your stats? Where was your magistrate clerkship at (flyover?) and where is your district court clerkship at?

I honestly don't know what the market is like for people coming off magistrate clerkships. Generally speaking, I don't think the market is as good as it used to be and I think what clerkship you're doing (and where at) matters even more than it used to. Two people with similar credentials, one clerking in a flyover COA and the other clerking on 2/9/DC Cir., will probably have slightly different results in their job searches.

I think you will have better luck now that you have a district court clerkship. I think it will definitely help if this clerkship is in a "competitive" district.

Re: anecdotal evidence, did the two clerks already have the biglaw gigs lined up (e.g., from a 2L SA)?

Yeah, forgot to mention that too. =/ So it's probably not very helpful anecdotal information either.

lolwat wrote:The problem is -- what are your stats? Where was your magistrate clerkship at (flyover?) and where is your district court clerkship at?

I honestly don't know what the market is like for people coming off magistrate clerkships. Generally speaking, I don't think the market is as good as it used to be and I think what clerkship you're doing (and where at) matters even more than it used to. Two people with similar credentials, one clerking in a flyover COA and the other clerking on 2/9/DC Cir., will probably have slightly different results in their job searches.

I think you will have better luck now that you have a district court clerkship. I think it will definitely help if this clerkship is in a "competitive" district.

Re: anecdotal evidence, did the two clerks already have the biglaw gigs lined up (e.g., from a 2L SA)?

Well I have no interest in practicing in cities like DC, NYC, or LA. Both clerkships are in TX and that is where I want to remain once I am done.

BTW, how is your job search going? Any new developments?

Limiting your markets does make it more difficult and I think it might very well just depend on the market. Have you tried contacting and keeping in touch with some of the boutiques in the area (I mean, if that's a place where you wouldn't mind ending up)? I mean firms like Gibbs & Bruns, Yetter Coleman, etc... I got a bunch of stock "we're not hiring right now" letters from those places but who knows about next year. I do know of one lit boutique in Dallas that was hiring a little while ago (because I interviewed with them) but I have no idea if they'll need anyone a year out.

I have a few promising leads that have progressed to a good point (callback/post-callback contact) but no jurb yet.

lolwat wrote:Limiting your markets does make it more difficult and I think it might very well just depend on the market. Have you tried contacting and keeping in touch with some of the boutiques in the area (I mean, if that's a place where you wouldn't mind ending up)? I mean firms like Gibbs & Bruns, Yetter Coleman, etc... I got a bunch of stock "we're not hiring right now" letters from those places but who knows about next year. I do know of one lit boutique in Dallas that was hiring a little while ago (because I interviewed with them) but I have no idea if they'll need anyone a year out.

I have a few promising leads that have progressed to a good point (callback/post-callback contact) but no jurb yet.

Yeah I will be following up with some of those firms. Did your clerkship end already?

As a heads up, Baker McKenzie in Dallas is looking for a 3 year commercial litigation associate. I also know that Sutherland and Mayer Brown in Houston are currently interviewing law clerks.

Thanks dude. Yeah, the clerkship ended already. Trying not to panic yet; took a couple weeks off to have some fun (and get a couple interviews in the area I was visiting). It's back to applications starting as soon as I realize I still need to find a job The firms I knew were interviewing or had open spots were Lynn Tillotson, Susman Godfrey and Morgan Lewis (Houston).

No problem. Do you prefer Dallas or Houston? Also, did you clerk in TX or outside the state? You can PM me if you don't want that info in the open. I will forward any clerkship-preferred job openings I come across.

I clerked in a flyover district outside of TX. I'm not from there or anything and don't really know enough about either city to have a preference (I do have friends in Houston, but that's about it). I think I'm going to take this weekend to regroup and start applying again Monday!

lolwat wrote:I clerked in a flyover district outside of TX. I'm not from there or anything and don't really know enough about either city to have a preference (I do have friends in Houston, but that's about it). I think I'm going to take this weekend to regroup and start applying again Monday!

Got it. Well good luck with that! Have you considered another clerkship? Last week Judge Garcia and Judge Xavier in San Antonio just announced a district court clerkship that starts next month. They will share the clerk who will only work on their civil dockets. I think a second clerkship in Texas would be a huge boost and the salary increase as a second year law clerk is pretty decent (plus the COL in San Antonio can't be beat). Just a thought.

Hehe, thanks--sent out about 15 applications and already got dinged from two for not having positions available. Also, I'd imagine you're right in that it gives a boost in the market. I also do know the salary increase is pretty good; I got bumped to JSP-12 about halfway through my clerkship and it was like a $11k/year bump. I did think about it for a little while (and I think I actually missed the boat on the clerkship you mentioned; applications were due a few days ago per OSCAR; unless you were talking about a different one... and I need to send this other one out to D.D.C. in the next day or two), I'm just on the fence about applying for a second clerkship at the exact same level for various reasons.