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I am currently a second-year litigation associate at a large-ish firm in a secondary market (lets call it Secondary Market X). I was recently informed that I'm being terminated for workflow reasons (along with a few others). I've been applying to jobs, and just a few days ago received an offer from a midsized firm in Secondary Market X. I like the firm and it's a solid offer, but it's a pretty sizeable pay cut.

I graduated top 20% from a top 20 school in another secondary market, let's call it Secondary Market Y. Since being informed of my termination, I've been looking for jobs in both X and Y, as well as clerkships all around the country. It has always been a goal of mine to clerk. This afternoon, I was asked to interview for a six-month long federal district court clerkship to fill a vacancy. The clerkship is in an adjacent state (my home district, actually), but lawyers in Markets X and Y don't do much work there.

What I want to know is, what is the value of this clerkship? Would it be less valuable than a 1 or 2-year clerkship? What are the odds I be able to springboard from this into another market-paying job?

I don't want to accept this interview if I'm not willing to accept, and I don't want to accept if its not the right move for me. Appreciate any insights folks can provide.

This is tough. If the Judge is willing to go to bat for you and help you find a good job, either in his district or your two favored locations, this could be worth it. Otherwise, it doesn't immediately sound like it fits your goals (except, of course, your goal to clerk). Also, the temporary nature of the clerkship is likely to be apparent on a resume, and may therefore have less "value" (not saying it should, but it could).

I have no idea about how employers will look at it, but 6 months is probably long enough to learn something that you could attempt to sell to employers. (Probably; I was K-JD-Clerk). You might be in a better spot to get a similar paying job to the one you have, but birds in hands and bushes and all that.

I guess, you've gotta ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?

If you've always wanted to clerk, this might be the best opportunity for you. While 6 months may not be ideal for a future law firm job, you would become more competitive for another clerkship in your preferred legal market. If your financial situation allows this (meaning you can afford moving costs and living on savings for a few months after the clerkship ends), then I say go for it.