Clerking After Firming Forum

[Anonymous User]

If one has the grades to be competitive for Circuit court clerkships. Will it be easier, harder or about the same to land one applying while in school (as a 3L) or applying with a few years of work experience at a v10?

[daryldixon]

If one has the grades to be competitive for Circuit court clerkships. Will it be easier, harder or about the same to land one applying while in school (as a 3L) or applying with a few years of work experience at a v10?

It depends on where you go to school.

[Anonymous User]

CCNMVP

[bk1]

I suspect it'll be easier since you will be eligible for all the judges who either require or prefer work experience. Not sure why school would matter.

[daryldixon]

I suspect it'll be easier since you will be eligible for all the judges who either require or prefer work experience. Not sure why school would matter.

Inverse grade aging. Basically "good" grades from a top school beat or are equal to "top" grades from a T1 when you are a 3L. However in a couple years the T1 "top" student will be competing against many people with "good" grades from top schools but only a couple people from T1s with "top" grades. Work experience is a big plus but you stand out more for being one of the few people with "top" grades and work experience. Of course there are a few categories of students that will have a better shot than the T1 student with "top" grades and work experience but not many. The inverse is true for people in the top schools (think t6). Their grades looks worse over time unless they are at the very top of their class. Especially in the clerkship context where so many students from their school apply every year. Of course all of this is highly individualized by the judge. Some judges are blatantly biased towards the T14. Some are biased towards their local regional school or alma mater. It just all depends.

BTW, I did not make this up. I heard this discussed by two associates at my firm this summer that had both looked into leaving to do a clerkship after a couple years of big law. One went to NYU for law school and said he was sure he experience some "prestige degradation" when he applied to clerkships after his second year at a firm. The other had heard about it but said he never experienced it.

[A. Nony Mouse]

As with everything to do with clerking, it depends on the judge, but I have never heard of inverse grade aging and the description of what it is doesn't make any sense to me.

OP, generally work experience helps for the reason bk gave. There are a few judges who want to mentor people straight out of LS, but there are others who want work experience, and I think that these days the latter outnumber the former. But it will depend.

[Anonymous User]

Anecdotal: I applied as a 2L to a competitive district court for the term immediately following graduation with no success. I applied as a 3L (for the term starting one year after graduation) and received five interview offers. When I applied as a 3L, I had one strong, additional semester of grades (so my grades were better, but the change was pretty incremental). So, in my view, work experience did some work, as did applying earlier.

I'm at HYS, for what its worth. I am now applying for COA in the same area, so will let you know how that goes.

[MyNameIsFlynn!]

I suspect it'll be easier since you will be eligible for all the judges who either require or prefer work experience. Not sure why school would matter.

Inverse grade aging. Basically "good" grades from a top school beat or are equal to "top" grades from a T1 when you are a 3L. However in a couple years the T1 "top" student will be competing against many people with "good" grades from top schools but only a couple people from T1s with "top" grades. Work experience is a big plus but you stand out more for being one of the few people with "top" grades and work experience. Of course there are a few categories of students that will have a better shot than the T1 student with "top" grades and work experience but not many. The inverse is true for people in the top schools (think t6). Their grades looks worse over time unless they are at the very top of their class. Especially in the clerkship context where so many students from their school apply every year. Of course all of this is highly individualized by the judge. Some judges are blatantly biased towards the T14. Some are biased towards their local regional school or alma mater. It just all depends.

BTW, I did not make this up. I heard this discussed by two associates at my firm this summer that had both looked into leaving to do a clerkship after a couple years of big law. One went to NYU for law school and said he was sure he experience some "prestige degradation" when he applied to clerkships after his second year at a firm. The other had heard about it but said he never experienced it.

Does this post make sense to anyone? It sounds like nonsense tbh. I don't understand how t6 grades look worse over time per se, or why you'd be competing against more "good" people post-grad than when applying during school.

[bk1]

I guess what he's trying to say is that the proportional number of T14 grads with top ~1/3 grades goes up while the proportional number of T1 grads with top ~1/10 grades goes down? I guess the logic being that a lot of those T14 grads are in biglaw and thus will try to use a clerkship to exit biglaw while the T1 grads are less likely to be in biglaw and less likely to do that? And because T1 applicants are now rarer they are more likely to do well compared to T14 applicants who will do poorer because they face more competition?