Post-clerkship hiring question (Bankr. SDNY/DE clerk) Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey all,

I am starting a Bankr. SDNY/DE clerkship next month. I would like to do corporate restructuring work and for personal reasons I would like to end up in Chicago post clerkship if at all possible. So, for obvious reasons K&E Chicago is fairly high up on my list at this point. Having read through some of the previous threads on post-clerkship application timing my sense is that the time to apply is like January or February. But K&E Chicago has listed on its website that it is currently accepting applications from rising 3Ls interested in restructuring. Plus, my understanding is that the Chicago market is still pretty rough. Now, I am not a rising 3L but I will be entry level-ish after my clerkship--would it be worth it to reach out to the recruiting coordinator now? Or should I just wait until clerkship hiring season rolls around? Or is this one of those instances where it probably wouldn't hurt to reach out now but it probably won't help either?

Thanks in advance for your input!

[Anonymous User]

Hey all,

I am starting a Bankr. SDNY/DE clerkship next month. I would like to do corporate restructuring work and for personal reasons I would like to end up in Chicago post clerkship if at all possible. So, for obvious reasons K&E Chicago is fairly high up on my list at this point. Having read through some of the previous threads on post-clerkship application timing my sense is that the time to apply is like January or February. But K&E Chicago has listed on its website that it is currently accepting applications from rising 3Ls interested in restructuring. Plus, my understanding is that the Chicago market is still pretty rough. Now, I am not a rising 3L but I will be entry level-ish after my clerkship--would it be worth it to reach out to the recruiting coordinator now? Or should I just wait until clerkship hiring season rolls around? Or is this one of those instances where it probably wouldn't hurt to reach out now but it probably won't help either?

Thanks in advance for your input!

If I were you, I would do both. Just indicate in cover letter that you will finish clerkship, rather than finish 3L.

If you don't mind me asking, what are your stats? I ask because I, too, want to clerk in DE/SDNY bk.

[Anonymous User]

Hey all,

I am starting a Bankr. SDNY/DE clerkship next month. I would like to do corporate restructuring work and for personal reasons I would like to end up in Chicago post clerkship if at all possible. So, for obvious reasons K&E Chicago is fairly high up on my list at this point. Having read through some of the previous threads on post-clerkship application timing my sense is that the time to apply is like January or February. But K&E Chicago has listed on its website that it is currently accepting applications from rising 3Ls interested in restructuring. Plus, my understanding is that the Chicago market is still pretty rough. Now, I am not a rising 3L but I will be entry level-ish after my clerkship--would it be worth it to reach out to the recruiting coordinator now? Or should I just wait until clerkship hiring season rolls around? Or is this one of those instances where it probably wouldn't hurt to reach out now but it probably won't help either?

Thanks in advance for your input!

If I were you, I would do both. Just indicate in cover letter that you will finish clerkship, rather than finish 3L.

If you don't mind me asking, what are your stats? I ask because I, too, want to clerk in DE/SDNY bk.

Thanks for your input! Stats: top 15% at a t20 (K-JD); booked a few relevant courses, including BK; interned with a BK judge during LS; worked at a mid-sized firm during LS that did a lot of bankruptcy work (trustee and creditor); did Duberstein; currently finishing a term clerkship with a BK judge in flyover country.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[Anonymous User]

Hey all,

I am starting a Bankr. SDNY/DE clerkship next month. I would like to do corporate restructuring work and for personal reasons I would like to end up in Chicago post clerkship if at all possible. So, for obvious reasons K&E Chicago is fairly high up on my list at this point. Having read through some of the previous threads on post-clerkship application timing my sense is that the time to apply is like January or February. But K&E Chicago has listed on its website that it is currently accepting applications from rising 3Ls interested in restructuring. Plus, my understanding is that the Chicago market is still pretty rough. Now, I am not a rising 3L but I will be entry level-ish after my clerkship--would it be worth it to reach out to the recruiting coordinator now? Or should I just wait until clerkship hiring season rolls around? Or is this one of those instances where it probably wouldn't hurt to reach out now but it probably won't help either?

Thanks in advance for your input!

If I were you, I would do both. Just indicate in cover letter that you will finish clerkship, rather than finish 3L.

If you don't mind me asking, what are your stats? I ask because I, too, want to clerk in DE/SDNY bk.

Thanks for your input! Stats: top 15% at a t20 (K-JD); booked a few relevant courses, including BK; interned with a BK judge during LS; worked at a mid-sized firm during LS that did a lot of bankruptcy work (trustee and creditor); did Duberstein; currently finishing a term clerkship with a BK judge in flyover country.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

You should start applying at firms in the fall when you begin your clerkship (late September or early October). Waiting until January or February does you no good. I say this as a current DE/SDNY clerk.

[Anonymous User]

Hey all,

I am starting a Bankr. SDNY/DE clerkship next month. I would like to do corporate restructuring work and for personal reasons I would like to end up in Chicago post clerkship if at all possible. So, for obvious reasons K&E Chicago is fairly high up on my list at this point. Having read through some of the previous threads on post-clerkship application timing my sense is that the time to apply is like January or February. But K&E Chicago has listed on its website that it is currently accepting applications from rising 3Ls interested in restructuring. Plus, my understanding is that the Chicago market is still pretty rough. Now, I am not a rising 3L but I will be entry level-ish after my clerkship--would it be worth it to reach out to the recruiting coordinator now? Or should I just wait until clerkship hiring season rolls around? Or is this one of those instances where it probably wouldn't hurt to reach out now but it probably won't help either?

Thanks in advance for your input!

If I were you, I would do both. Just indicate in cover letter that you will finish clerkship, rather than finish 3L.

If you don't mind me asking, what are your stats? I ask because I, too, want to clerk in DE/SDNY bk.

Thanks for your input! Stats: top 15% at a t20 (K-JD); booked a few relevant courses, including BK; interned with a BK judge during LS; worked at a mid-sized firm during LS that did a lot of bankruptcy work (trustee and creditor); did Duberstein; currently finishing a term clerkship with a BK judge in flyover country.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

You should start applying at firms in the fall when you begin your clerkship (late September or early October). Waiting until January or February does you no good. I say this as a current DE/SDNY clerk.

Wow. Current DE/SDNY bankruptcy clerk? Or current DE/SDNY district court clerk? Out of curiosity... what are you stats? I am trying to get into DE/SDNY.

[Anonymous User]

You should start applying at firms in the fall when you begin your clerkship (late September or early October). Waiting until January or February does you no good. I say this as a current DE/SDNY clerk.

Wow. Current DE/SDNY bankruptcy clerk? Or current DE/SDNY district court clerk? Out of curiosity... what are you stats? I am trying to get into DE/SDNY.

Current DE/SDNY bankruptcy clerk. Top 1/3 at a top 25 law school. Demonstrated interest in bankruptcy and a very good rec letter from a bankruptcy professor.

[Anonymous User]

Hey all,

I am starting a Bankr. SDNY/DE clerkship next month. I would like to do corporate restructuring work and for personal reasons I would like to end up in Chicago post clerkship if at all possible. So, for obvious reasons K&E Chicago is fairly high up on my list at this point. Having read through some of the previous threads on post-clerkship application timing my sense is that the time to apply is like January or February. But K&E Chicago has listed on its website that it is currently accepting applications from rising 3Ls interested in restructuring. Plus, my understanding is that the Chicago market is still pretty rough. Now, I am not a rising 3L but I will be entry level-ish after my clerkship--would it be worth it to reach out to the recruiting coordinator now? Or should I just wait until clerkship hiring season rolls around? Or is this one of those instances where it probably wouldn't hurt to reach out now but it probably won't help either?

Thanks in advance for your input!

If I were you, I would do both. Just indicate in cover letter that you will finish clerkship, rather than finish 3L.

If you don't mind me asking, what are your stats? I ask because I, too, want to clerk in DE/SDNY bk.

Thanks for your input! Stats: top 15% at a t20 (K-JD); booked a few relevant courses, including BK; interned with a BK judge during LS; worked at a mid-sized firm during LS that did a lot of bankruptcy work (trustee and creditor); did Duberstein; currently finishing a term clerkship with a BK judge in flyover country.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

You should start applying at firms in the fall when you begin your clerkship (late September or early October). Waiting until January or February does you no good. I say this as a current DE/SDNY clerk.

OP here. Thanks so much for the insight. So you are coming to the end of your clerkship then? If you don't mind my asking how has the job hunt been for you and your co-clerks? Did you all end up with offers from the bigger restructuring firms? Which markets (specifically Chicago or NY)?

Thanks again and if anyone else has any input I would love to hear it.

[Anonymous User]

You should start applying at firms in the fall when you begin your clerkship (late September or early October). Waiting until January or February does you no good. I say this as a current DE/SDNY clerk.

OP here. Thanks so much for the insight. So you are coming to the end of your clerkship then? If you don't mind my asking how has the job hunt been for you and your co-clerks? Did you all end up with offers from the bigger restructuring firms? Which markets (specifically Chicago or NY)?

Thanks again and if anyone else has any input I would love to hear it.

Yes, I'm finishing up my clerkship. The job hunt has been tough for clerks because the bankruptcy market is so slow right now, which is one reason I say you should start early. There really is no downside to starting early because at worst firms that are not hiring until January or February (when most of the big firms have dinners where they invite all of the clerks) will just hold your application. One clerk had a job offer before January. Others only got offers in the last month or so.

I don't think any clerk I know of was interested in Chicago. Out of the ones going to NYC, the big firms (Weil, Kirkland, Skadden, etc.) are not represented. Most offers are a big step down from that and at least one accepted a position not in a restructuring group. One even accepted a position not at a big firm. That is likely the result of fewer mega cases.

[Anonymous User]

Not to hijack, but when would be a good time to apply to these positions for 2016?

[Anonymous User]

Not to hijack, but when would be a good time to apply to these positions for 2016?

OP here. I applied for my DE/SDNY clerkship (2014-2015) in the Spring of 2013 so I guess I would suggest getting your apps out by like next April (I got my offer in June if I remember correctly). The other anon posting in this thread would probably know better, though, since s/he has actually gone through hiring in chambers for one of these judges.

You should start applying at firms in the fall when you begin your clerkship (late September or early October). Waiting until January or February does you no good. I say this as a current DE/SDNY clerk.

OP here. Thanks so much for the insight. So you are coming to the end of your clerkship then? If you don't mind my asking how has the job hunt been for you and your co-clerks? Did you all end up with offers from the bigger restructuring firms? Which markets (specifically Chicago or NY)?

Thanks again and if anyone else has any input I would love to hear it.

Yes, I'm finishing up my clerkship. The job hunt has been tough for clerks because the bankruptcy market is so slow right now, which is one reason I say you should start early. There really is no downside to starting early because at worst firms that are not hiring until January or February (when most of the big firms have dinners where they invite all of the clerks) will just hold your application. One clerk had a job offer before January. Others only got offers in the last month or so.

I don't think any clerk I know of was interested in Chicago. Out of the ones going to NYC, the big firms (Weil, Kirkland, Skadden, etc.) are not represented. Most offers are a big step down from that and at least one accepted a position not in a restructuring group. One even accepted a position not at a big firm. That is likely the result of fewer mega cases.

Thanks again for your helpful advice. One more question: when you applied to firms did you just send your materials to whoever was listed on NALP or the firm's website as the recruiting contact or the head of the restructuring department? Someone else?

[Anonymous User]

Not to hijack, but when would be a good time to apply to these positions for 2016?

OP here. I applied for my DE/SDNY clerkship (2014-2015) in the Spring of 2013 so I guess I would suggest getting your apps out by like next April (I got my offer in June if I remember correctly). The other anon posting in this thread would probably know better, though, since s/he has actually gone through hiring in chambers for one of these judges.

You should start applying at firms in the fall when you begin your clerkship (late September or early October). Waiting until January or February does you no good. I say this as a current DE/SDNY clerk.

OP here. Thanks so much for the insight. So you are coming to the end of your clerkship then? If you don't mind my asking how has the job hunt been for you and your co-clerks? Did you all end up with offers from the bigger restructuring firms? Which markets (specifically Chicago or NY)?

Thanks again and if anyone else has any input I would love to hear it.

Yes, I'm finishing up my clerkship. The job hunt has been tough for clerks because the bankruptcy market is so slow right now, which is one reason I say you should start early. There really is no downside to starting early because at worst firms that are not hiring until January or February (when most of the big firms have dinners where they invite all of the clerks) will just hold your application. One clerk had a job offer before January. Others only got offers in the last month or so.

I don't think any clerk I know of was interested in Chicago. Out of the ones going to NYC, the big firms (Weil, Kirkland, Skadden, etc.) are not represented. Most offers are a big step down from that and at least one accepted a position not in a restructuring group. One even accepted a position not at a big firm. That is likely the result of fewer mega cases.

Thanks again for your helpful advice. One more question: when you applied to firms did you just send your materials to whoever was listed on NALP or the firm's website as the recruiting contact or the head of the restructuring department? Someone else?

Spring is the correct time frame to apply. Apply by paper if the Judge doesn't have a listing up on OSCAR.

When applying to firms, I think it is best to apply to the head of the group. Some will just forward it immediately to the head of recruiting, but others will take a quick look when if you had sent it directly to the recruiting director, they would not have ever seen your resume. I also think you are more likely to get a response (even a "We're not hiring") from the head of the group versus complete silence from the recruiting director.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone received calls from the DE bankruptcy judges? I think there are three DE bankruptcy judges who might have called applicants.