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Hi all, so I am really enjoying my clerkship so far. I plan to work after this for a few years (I'm thinking three, four, or more years) and clerk again for a higher court.

Is this possible? Would three to four years be too long to work? I really have enjoyed clerking but I don't think I can afford non-biglaw work for another year (bills and other personal things).

What are your thoughts. Does anyone have any ideas?

I think this is possible and not unusual, though it especially makes sense if you're trying to make a transition to another job. I think a firm might look askance at a fourth year going off to clerk, then coming back (but that's speculation - and if the higher court was SCOTUS I'd imagine it doesn't apply!). But if you want some time to look for a new job, especially to get into a different area of law (e.g. firm --> private sector), clerking works well.

Otherwise I'd ask what you want to accomplish by doing a second clerkship.

I don't think it's a good idea unless, as A. Nony Mouse said, you're looking to transition to another job, but I imagine it's something that varies case-by-case (and firm-by-firm).

A. Nony Mouse wrote:I think this is possible and not unusual, though it especially makes sense if you're trying to make a transition to another job.

Perhaps also a way to transition to another geographic area?

los blancos wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:I think this is possible and not unusual, though it especially makes sense if you're trying to make a transition to another job.

Perhaps also a way to transition to another geographic area?

Yes, definitely - I have seen people who've clerked then worked take a second clerkship as their first job moving into a new area (previous clerking experience often makes you an appealing clerk candidate).

If the path was USDC->biglaw->COA, I'm not really even that sure that it would be a problem coming back to the same employer. You probably wouldn't get a second clerkship bonus, and you might have to take a year hit towards the partnership track (though I'd doubt it), but my guess is that most firms wouldn't have a problem with this.

theaccidentalclerk wrote:If the path was USDC->biglaw->COA, I'm not really even that sure that it would be a problem coming back to the same employer. You probably wouldn't get a second clerkship bonus, and you might have to take a year hit towards the partnership track (though I'd doubt it), but my guess is that most firms wouldn't have a problem with this.

That's pretty much along the lines of what I'm thinking. I wanted to work for a few years before going for a COA-type "higher court" type gig because I wanted to earn some money and because I don't know if I'd have the credentials to go straight from District to COA.