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hey TLS

3L going to Davis Polk/Kirkland/Weil - probably going to end up in the BK group. I know this is going to sound hypocritical: I'm going to be working mostly on the transactional side of BK but I'm also curious about BK clerkships. I only have one semester left of courses - do I really have to take federal courts, evidence, and appellate advocacy for a BK clerkship? which ones are mandatory and which ones can i skip?

If you haven't done so already, you should definitely take secured transactions.

Take any civil procedure courses offered and federal courts if possible.

DE/SDNY BK Clerk here...take Evidence, secured transactions and any advanced bankruptcy courses your school offers. An advanced article 2 course or a advanced civ pro/discovery could be helpful but not necessary. Fed Courts and appellate advocacy is probably a waste of time. An internship (as awful as that sounds during 3L) with a bankruptcy judge will also be a huge plus when applying to BK clerkships.

Also a DE/SDNY clerk. First and foremost, take any bankruptcy-related class you have not already taken. Then I would suggest secured transactions. After that I would probably suggest federal courts (jurisdiction of the BK court has been a hot issue lately). I don't really know that civ pro and evidence courses would be all that helpful--these issues just didn't come up in BK as much as they do in traditional litigation and honestly you'll probably learn enough evidence during bar prep to get by. From a practice perspective (less so for a clerkship) securities regulation would be helpful, as well as any advanced m&a courses your school may offer. If you could get credit for a BK court externship that may not be a bad way to go either.

Also, protip, read this before you start (firm or clerkship): http://www.wlrk.com/files/2015/Distress ... itions.pdf

I don't think taking fed courts is a big deal. If you've done well in BK and secured transactions, you're probably cool.