Apply for 2nd BK clerkship? Forum
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Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are sharing sensitive information about clerkship applications and clerkship hiring. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned."
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lightsandbuzz
- Posts: 32
- Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2010 4:47 pm
Apply for 2nd BK clerkship?
I graduated from a T30 in May 2013 and will begin a bankruptcy clerkship at the end of next month. The clerkship is in a neighboring state to the state where I'm barred and ultimately want to be. I was wondering whether it would be beneficial to apply for a 2015-2016 clerkship in the state in which I ultimately want to practice. Although I have not started this clerkship yet, I am not 100% thrilled with the idea of clerking for 2 full years before finally practicing law. However, I am willing to do it if it means my chances of getting a job in this state would be higher. There are still at least 3 judges in this state accepting applications. Just wanted to get your opinion!
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emciosn
- Posts: 386
- Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 3:53 pm
Re: Apply for 2nd BK clerkship?
I think the biggest benefit would be: (1) forging a strong tie to your desired market (if being barred there and presumably from there wasn't enough); and (2) (perhaps more importantly) being able to take advantage of whatever connections your judge has in the area. Most BK judges are very well connected in their area and in states with multiple BK judges, all of the judges will help the clerks get jobs (at least that has been my observation). It is possible that your judge this fall will have some decent connections but probably not as good. Plus you would be more attractive to local firms having clerked for a judge that you will practice in front of from time to time.
I would say that doing the second clerkship would be helpful and two years of clerking won't give you any kind of career clerk "stigma" (to the extent that even exists) but there is no guarantee that you will be in any better position after your second clerkship than you were after your first. Its a bit of a gamble. The risk should be balanced against your willingness to spend two years of your life clerking. I personally like clerking but I am not necessarily one of those "clerking is the best experience ever!" people. Overall it is a pretty chill gig (especially with filings so down) and you get $60k+ your first year and 70k+ your second so there are definitely worse jobs. Also you will learn a TON of substantive BK law and have the opportunity to observe good and bad practitioners in action so in that sense it is worth it too. It's not working for a firm, though, and you are not really "practicing" law.
I guess my feeling is that it would not hurt to apply. Clerking for an extra year won't hurt and could help quite a bit. You may be bored with clerking by the end of year two but you won't hate it and your pay will be decent. Its only a few applications and the judges may not even pick you for an interview. I will say that with your ties and previous clerking experience you will probably at least be an attractive candidate. Unless you think you can line something up in biglaw or a really good regional midlaw firm I would say clerking is as good a gig as any other that you will find at this stage in your career.
Source: graduated from a T20, currently clerking for a BK judge and will be starting a second BK clerkship this fall.
I would say that doing the second clerkship would be helpful and two years of clerking won't give you any kind of career clerk "stigma" (to the extent that even exists) but there is no guarantee that you will be in any better position after your second clerkship than you were after your first. Its a bit of a gamble. The risk should be balanced against your willingness to spend two years of your life clerking. I personally like clerking but I am not necessarily one of those "clerking is the best experience ever!" people. Overall it is a pretty chill gig (especially with filings so down) and you get $60k+ your first year and 70k+ your second so there are definitely worse jobs. Also you will learn a TON of substantive BK law and have the opportunity to observe good and bad practitioners in action so in that sense it is worth it too. It's not working for a firm, though, and you are not really "practicing" law.
I guess my feeling is that it would not hurt to apply. Clerking for an extra year won't hurt and could help quite a bit. You may be bored with clerking by the end of year two but you won't hate it and your pay will be decent. Its only a few applications and the judges may not even pick you for an interview. I will say that with your ties and previous clerking experience you will probably at least be an attractive candidate. Unless you think you can line something up in biglaw or a really good regional midlaw firm I would say clerking is as good a gig as any other that you will find at this stage in your career.
Source: graduated from a T20, currently clerking for a BK judge and will be starting a second BK clerkship this fall.
