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I will not specify the state, for purposes of preserving as much anonymity as possible, but I have been offered a district court clerkship with a senior judge....I did not go to a top law school nor did I have strong grades. I am a few years out of school, and for the most part, I think this is a no-brainer. I am currently in a JD-preferred job after toiling in contract work for several years. Please tell me if I'm crazy for thinking this is a no-brainer, because I am heavily leaning towards taking it.

Why wouldn't you take the job...?

Yeah, we really only know what you tell us, and you haven’t really told us any reasons that you shouldn’t. What are you concerned about?

Fair points

By referencing the eighth circuit, I was trying to make the point that this is going to be in flyover country. I am from the east coast and currently live in a major city. I think a fed clerkship speaks for itself, but elitist east coasters might be dismissive of a clerkship that is in a more rural area.

Also, my assumption is that staying in the location of the clerkship is not a longterm option - jobs appear to be scarce. How much would a fed clerkship overcome the underwhelming rest of my resume to this point?

You really really outed yourself. I'd recommend deleting if you can...

It seems there have been a lot of posts on this board from people who clerked midcareer and then had difficulty finding a job after clerking. The clerkship will absolutely make you a stronger candidate for practicing law if that is your goal, but it won't be a magic bullet that will overcome an otherwise weak resume. I clerked midcareer myself - it was an awesome experience and my post-clerkship result was exactly what I wanted, but I sent a LOT of resumes out and got a lot of radio silence, even though I thought I was a strongish candidate.

I assume you aren't happy with your current position? What exactly are you doing there if you can say?

TEIAM wrote:You really really outed yourself. I'd recommend deleting if you can...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I found you on linkedin - just take the job, delete the post, and run

kyle1978 wrote:

TEIAM wrote:You really really outed yourself. I'd recommend deleting if you can...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I found you on linkedin - just take the job, delete the post, and run

I concur.

f*ck....no idea how to delete

If that actually was your email address you’re good now.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:If that actually was your email address you’re good now.

It's still in the quote for Rowingguy2009's post.

Anonymous User wrote:I will not specify the state, for purposes of preserving as much anonymity as possible, but I have been offered a district court clerkship with a senior judge....I did not go to a top law school nor did I have strong grades. I am a few years out of school, and for the most part, I think this is a no-brainer. I am currently in a JD-preferred job after toiling in contract work for several years. Please tell me if I'm crazy for thinking this is a no-brainer, because I am heavily leaning towards taking it.

What do you want to do with your career? I ask only because several years of "JD-preferred" contract work followed by a clerkship doesn't necessarily make you employable as a lawyer.

Also, how senior of a judge are we talking about? Does he still take a fair number of cases?

I'm not trying to be negative or pessimistic; I'm just looking to answer your question.

mcmand wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:If that actually was your email address you’re good now.

It's still in the quote for Rowingguy2009's post.

Whoops! He kindly took care of that so NOW he’s good.

rpupkin wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I will not specify the state, for purposes of preserving as much anonymity as possible, but I have been offered a district court clerkship with a senior judge....I did not go to a top law school nor did I have strong grades. I am a few years out of school, and for the most part, I think this is a no-brainer. I am currently in a JD-preferred job after toiling in contract work for several years. Please tell me if I'm crazy for thinking this is a no-brainer, because I am heavily leaning towards taking it.

What do you want to do with your career? I ask only because several years of "JD-preferred" contract work followed by a clerkship doesn't necessarily make you employable as a lawyer.

Also, how senior of a judge are we talking about? Does he still take a fair number of cases?

I'm not trying to be negative or pessimistic; I'm just looking to answer your question.

Judge appears to be somewhat active based on my research...seems to be pumping out at least one published opinion per month (not sure if that's an accurate way of gaging things).

As to your question about what I want to do -- gee, with the number of times I've been asked that question, i've become so resentful of the process...I am realistic that some things I wanted to do (and have a unique background that would otherwise make me a viable candidate) are just too far of a reach given my spotty resume and fairly weak credentials. At this point, I just want to continue to make myself more marketable so that I can best position myself for strong future employment - whatever it might be. Kind of a poor response, I know, but it's an honest one.

I don't think you'll get much through cold applications, and you probably wouldn't land biglaw at this point, but perhaps through networking you'll be able to grab something at a small boutique firm or whatever. (But not the TLS standard definition of "elite boutiques.")

Some places might have a preference for where you clerked (firms in SoCal might look more favorably upon a C.D. Cal. clerkship than other clerkships), but at the very basic level, a clerkship is a clerkship, and better than no clerkship.

Anonymous User wrote:

rpupkin wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I will not specify the state, for purposes of preserving as much anonymity as possible, but I have been offered a district court clerkship with a senior judge....I did not go to a top law school nor did I have strong grades. I am a few years out of school, and for the most part, I think this is a no-brainer. I am currently in a JD-preferred job after toiling in contract work for several years. Please tell me if I'm crazy for thinking this is a no-brainer, because I am heavily leaning towards taking it.

What do you want to do with your career? I ask only because several years of "JD-preferred" contract work followed by a clerkship doesn't necessarily make you employable as a lawyer.

Also, how senior of a judge are we talking about? Does he still take a fair number of cases?

I'm not trying to be negative or pessimistic; I'm just looking to answer your question.

Judge appears to be somewhat active based on my research...seems to be pumping out at least one published opinion per month (not sure if that's an accurate way of gaging things).

As to your question about what I want to do -- gee, with the number of times I've been asked that question, i've become so resentful of the process...I am realistic that some things I wanted to do (and have a unique background that would otherwise make me a viable candidate) are just too far of a reach given my spotty resume and fairly weak credentials. At this point, I just want to continue to make myself more marketable so that I can best position myself for strong future employment - whatever it might be. Kind of a poor response, I know, but it's an honest one.

I say go for it. I don't see it hurting you. If anything, it might give you an in somewhere. You never know where your judge has former clerks.

If anybody could chime in as to their experience with clerking (without anything else lined up and a few years out of school), I'd love to hear them.

Anonymous User wrote:

rpupkin wrote: What do you want to do with your career? I ask only because several years of "JD-preferred" contract work followed by a clerkship doesn't necessarily make you employable as a lawyer.

Also, how senior of a judge are we talking about? Does he still take a fair number of cases?

I'm not trying to be negative or pessimistic; I'm just looking to answer your question.

Judge appears to be somewhat active based on my research...seems to be pumping out at least one published opinion per month (not sure if that's an accurate way of gaging things).

As to your question about what I want to do -- gee, with the number of times I've been asked that question, i've become so resentful of the process...I am realistic that some things I wanted to do (and have a unique background that would otherwise make me a viable candidate) are just too far of a reach given my spotty resume and fairly weak credentials. At this point, I just want to continue to make myself more marketable so that I can best position myself for strong future employment - whatever it might be. Kind of a poor response, I know, but it's an honest one.

One published opinion per month is pretty active for a senior status judge. That's a good sign.

As for your response about what you want to do, you've got to work on that. Like, now. If you start a clerkship, they're going to be a bunch of people--the judge and his former clerks--who might be able to help you land a job. But people like to help those who have some idea about what they want to do. That's true even for clerks who start their clerkships right after graduation. It's especially true for clerks who start their clerkships years after graduating from law school.

If someone asks you what you want to do and you respond "I'm looking for strong future employment," they're going to think you're weird. I assume you at least have an interest in litigation, so let's start there. Does any particular type of litigation interest you? Do you want a job where you'll have the opportunity to go to court a lot? Were there things about your contract work that you gave you some insight into what kind of lawyer you want to be? How about location? Do you want to work in your judge's district? (Hopefully yes.) What about firm size? Does the idea of a smaller firm appeal to you more than a larger firm?

Think about these types of questions and answer them for yourself. You can't afford not to.