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Im a 3l and was wondering if it is too late to apply to clerkships starting in 2017. Not looking for anything to prestigious. just some type of clerkship. Is it too late for me if i just decided to apply and have not collected any materials yet?

It's likely too late for 2017, though keep an eye on the US Courts webpage where they tend to post short-notice positions. If you look around here you'll see there are 2018-19 and even 2019-20 threads in place already, but you might get lucky.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:It's likely too late for 2017, though keep an eye on the US Courts webpage where they tend to post short-notice positions. If you look around here you'll see there are 2018-19 and even 2019-20 threads in place already, but you might get lucky.

Agreed, particularly if you're not geographically limited and you're just looking for a clerkship of any type. If I were in your shoes, I'd be checking in with OSCAR daily or almost daily.

Of course, you should also get your application together immediately. Getting letters of recommendation from professors may take a little while (it did for me).

I'm in the same boat because the clerkship I thought I had fell through. You'll need to get your materials together ASAP. There are still positions open and opening up, but there are much less of them then there were 6 months ago.

It is not as likely, but not impossible. My school suggested to keep a lookout for potential new judicial appointments after the election as new judges would need to hire people for basically an immediate start. Of course this assumed judges are actually confirmed . . .

OP Here. Thanks guys. Sounds like there is a chance. I'm going to at least give it a try. My thoughts are worst comes to worse, i have all my materials and apply again next cycle. My follow up question is do judges care what kind of work i am doign at hte firm before doing doign a clerkship. Right now, I have slotted into either bankruptcy or corporate. Is either one of those better to do prior to doing a clerkship? I want to do a clerkship so i can pivot to lit eventually.

Anonymous User wrote:OP Here. Thanks guys. Sounds like there is a chance. I'm going to at least give it a try. My thoughts are worst comes to worse, i have all my materials and apply again next cycle. My follow up question is do judges care what kind of work i am doign at hte firm before doing doign a clerkship. Right now, I have slotted into either bankruptcy or corporate. Is either one of those better to do prior to doing a clerkship? I want to do a clerkship so i can pivot to lit eventually.

I don't think it matters immensely, although ideally it'll fit into a coherent story about what you'd like to do in the future (or at least what you thought you'd like to do when you were choosing if you're now pivoting to litigation). Some judges care a lot about deliberateness in picking out a career path.

Bankruptcy would help with applications to bankruptcy judges, except that if you clerked for a bankruptcy judge there's a strong likelihood of pigeonholing you into bankruptcy.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Bankruptcy would help with applications to bankruptcy judges, except that if you clerked for a bankruptcy judge there's a strong likelihood of pigeonholing you into bankruptcy.

The goal is kind of to get out of that situation. So i would only apply to district court and circuit court ones. SO my question is do those judges like it if I'm working at a high level bankruptcy shop doing mostly bankruptcy lit work and then pitch it as wanting to pivot to lit. more than if i was just doing general corporate with no lit and want to pivot to lit