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So, I'm interested in applying for a clerkship with a judge who worked at the firm I will be starting at in the fall. This judge worked at this (national) firm about 9-10 years ago, and was there immediately following law school for 2-4 years. He worked in a different city and a different practice area. I haven't mentioned plans to clerk to my firm because I'm starting in corporate and clerking wouldn't be of much use to them, so I imagine they would be a bit annoyed. I'm also of the mind set that landing a clerkship would be a long-shot, so no need to rock the boat unless I get the job. A main motivation for pursuing a clerkship is to move out of the city I'm currently in (do 1 year at the firm, line-up the 2015 clerkship, go from there). So that's the background.

I'm slightly concerned that by applying to this judge, my firm will find out. I have no idea if he has maintained contact with anyone at the firm, but there's obviously a chance that he would give a partner a call or something. My letters of rec are not from the firm, but the summer associateship and associate start date are on my resume. Is this a risk worth taking? I think that I would be able to explain to my firm that I'm trying to keep options open location-wise because my long term girlfriend is applying to PhD programs, but still it wouldn't be an ideal way to start with the firm.

Fimrs are generally supportive of people applying to clerkships. Do you know that they would react negatively if they did find out?

Anonymous User wrote:So, I'm interested in applying for a clerkship with a judge who worked at the firm I will be starting at in the fall. This judge worked at this (national) firm about 9-10 years ago, and was there immediately following law school for 2-4 years. He worked in a different city and a different practice area. I haven't mentioned plans to clerk to my firm because I'm starting in corporate and clerking wouldn't be of much use to them, so I imagine they would be a bit annoyed. I'm also of the mind set that landing a clerkship would be a long-shot, so no need to rock the boat unless I get the job. A main motivation for pursuing a clerkship is to move out of the city I'm currently in (do 1 year at the firm, line-up the 2015 clerkship, go from there). So that's the background.

I'm slightly concerned that by applying to this judge, my firm will find out. I have no idea if he has maintained contact with anyone at the firm, but there's obviously a chance that he would give a partner a call or something. My letters of rec are not from the firm, but the summer associateship and associate start date are on my resume. Is this a risk worth taking? I think that I would be able to explain to my firm that I'm trying to keep options open location-wise because my long term girlfriend is applying to PhD programs, but still it wouldn't be an ideal way to start with the firm.

I clerked for a judge who worked at a law firm years ago, and who still knows partners at the firm. If he got an application from someone who summered or is currently an associate at that firm, and if he was interested in the applicant, he wouldn't hesitate to call and ask his friends at the firm about their impressions of the applicant.

I'm not saying that my judge's MO is a common practice (I wouldn't know), but, based on my single data point, I would say it's not unrealistic to fear that the judge would call someone at the firm to ask about you.

OP here. The firm hasn't done or said anything that would make me think they'd be upset if I applied for a clerkship. I'm afraid however, that they will consider the application as me saying I want out of the practice area (which is the primary practice area in the office) and that I don't intend to stick around in the city for long, and as a result, will rescind my offer or something. Perhaps that's just me being neurotic.

Anonymous User wrote:OP here. The firm hasn't done or said anything that would make me think they'd be upset if I applied for a clerkship. I'm afraid however, that they will consider the application as me saying I want out of the practice area (which is the primary practice area in the office) and that I don't intend to stick around in the city for long, and as a result, will rescind my offer or something. Perhaps that's just me being neurotic.

So why do you want to clerk as a corporate attorney?

^ Prestige whores abound in biglaw, good sir.

When I was interviewing with my judge, he put out feelers at my former firm. One was obvious -- one of his former clerks had practiced with me there so he just called that person. One wasn't so obvious -- one of his then-current clerks had worked with someone who previously had been at the firm, so the clerk had that person put out feelers. I only found out about this when I was letting a friend at the firm know I was clerking, and that person responded "oh, I know, I got a call about you a couple of months ago."