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I have a clerkship interview with SDNY and EDCA/SDCA. I intend to practice in LA/SF, but not in either of EDCA/SDCA. I have a v10 job in SF/LA lined up so I'm not worried about immediate post-clerkship employment. In terms of very general career prospects down the road, I have a few questions:

(1) Is SDNY that much more superior? Would future employers be much more impressed with SDNY than EDCA/SDCA?
(2) How competitive are EDCA/SDCA?
(3) Which should I choose if I had offers from SDNY and EDCA/SDCA?
(4) If I'm interested in getting a 2/9 circuit court clerkship down the road, would SDNY give me more of a bump than EDCA/SDCA because it's more competitive?

SDNY

~ 2/9/DC COA clerk practicing at a top shop in the cities you're targeting. To us and peers, SDNY > SDCA > EDCA.

Anonymous User wrote:SDNY

~ 2/9/DC COA clerk practicing at a top shop in the cities you're targeting. To us and peers, SDNY > SDCA > EDCA.

Thanks. In the SDNY > SDCA > EDCA spectrum, where would you add EDNY, CDCA, and NDCA? A professor of mine offered to call judges in a region of my choice.

For whatever it's worth, I practice in LA (and clerked in one of EDCA/SDCA), and I think that it would be more useful to clerk in a CA district court if you are planning to litigate in CA. An SDNY clerkship will be more helpful for the Second Circuit, but I think EDCA/SDCA will be as good or better if you want to clerk in the Ninth (especially if your district judge has a connection to a Ninth Circuit judge, which they often do).

This depends a little bit on where you want to practice. NDCA and CDCA will be viewed more positively in CA than elsewhere. If CA, then SDNY/NDCA/CDCA ----------> SDCA/EDCA. The gap there is considerable. If NY/east coast, I imagine SDNY will be viewed much more favorably.

Which district you should choose is too idiosyncratic for this forum to give you the correct answer. For example, if I wanted to practice in San Diego than SDCA would be my choice, notwithstanding perceptions of prestige. A lasting connection with a federal judge in your district will serve you far more in your career than the prestige, which really helps with your first post-clerkship hire and fades thereafter.

In terms of helping you get an appellate clerkship, your judge's connections and willingness to use them will trump any of the above.

go to SDNY. Generally speaking, I'd say to stay in CA but DDC and SDNY are the two exceptions.

Thanks for the responses. To reiterate, I will NOT be practicing in either of SDCA/EDCA -- I'm only interested in working in SF/LA long term, which I already have a job lined up that I'm fully content with. But I don't mind living in NY for a year if it'll be beneficial for (1) 2/9 circuit clerkships and (2) general future career prospects. At this time, I don't know what I'm interested in beyond general commercial litigation.

How much more competitive is SDCA compared to EDCA, if at all?

Just like how SDNY would help for 2nd Circuit, could a similar argument be made that SDCA/EDCA would help for 9th Circuit?

I'm asking these extremely nuanced questions because I have a professor connection for the SDNY judge and am curious how far I should pursue it. The answer would normally be that I have nothing to lose if I go all out for SDNY, but if I can decide on EDCA/SDCA, I'd like to save this professor's good will for 2/9 opportunities.

Anonymous User wrote:
Just like how SDNY would help for 2nd Circuit, could a similar argument be made that SDCA/EDCA would help for 9th Circuit?

I'm asking these extremely nuanced questions because I have a professor connection for the SDNY judge and am curious how far I should pursue it. The answer would normally be that I have nothing to lose if I go all out for SDNY, but if I can decide on EDCA/SDCA, I'd like to save this professor's good will for 2/9 opportunities.

My sense is that this is very judge dependent, rather than district dependent. Some D.Ct judges are well-connected with circuit court judges and are willing to make calls on behalf of their clerks. So it's not necessarily that just having a SDCA/EDCA clerkship will be a noticeable advantage in securing a circuit clerkship, but that if you get the right judge, they'll want to help you find a COA clerkship with judges they know. But having a SDNY clerkship seems likely to be a plus for 9th Circuit judges, given the exposure you'd receive that year.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:
Just like how SDNY would help for 2nd Circuit, could a similar argument be made that SDCA/EDCA would help for 9th Circuit?

I'm asking these extremely nuanced questions because I have a professor connection for the SDNY judge and am curious how far I should pursue it. The answer would normally be that I have nothing to lose if I go all out for SDNY, but if I can decide on EDCA/SDCA, I'd like to save this professor's good will for 2/9 opportunities.

My sense is that this is very judge dependent, rather than district dependent. Some D.Ct judges are well-connected with circuit court judges and are willing to make calls on behalf of their clerks. So it's not necessarily that just having a SDCA/EDCA clerkship will be a noticeable advantage in securing a circuit clerkship, but that if you get the right judge, they'll want to help you find a COA clerkship with judges they know. But having a SDNY clerkship seems likely to be a plus for 9th Circuit judges, given the exposure you'd receive that year.

But do these potential calls from judges even matter if I'm looking to get a 2/9 clerkship right now?

Anonymous User wrote:Thanks for the responses. To reiterate, I will NOT be practicing in either of SDCA/EDCA -- I'm only interested in working in SF/LA long term, which I already have a job lined up that I'm fully content with. But I don't mind living in NY for a year if it'll be beneficial for (1) 2/9 circuit clerkships and (2) general future career prospects. At this time, I don't know what I'm interested in beyond general commercial litigation.

How much more competitive is SDCA compared to EDCA, if at all?

Just like how SDNY would help for 2nd Circuit, could a similar argument be made that SDCA/EDCA would help for 9th Circuit?

I'm asking these extremely nuanced questions because I have a professor connection for the SDNY judge and am curious how far I should pursue it. The answer would normally be that I have nothing to lose if I go all out for SDNY, but if I can decide on EDCA/SDCA, I'd like to save this professor's good will for 2/9 opportunities.

SDCA is more competitive than EDCA, but it's hard to quantify how much. Why are you interested in SDNY/2d Cir if you want to practice in CA? I get that they are prestigious, but beyond that, it seems like a weird fit.

If you want to do big-ticket securities/antitrust/high finance litigation, then I guess SDNY will give you more transferable experience. But if you are doing medium-large commercial disputes in CA, most of them are going to be in state court or diversity cases in federal court, and clerking in CA will be much more useful for those.

hlsperson1111 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Thanks for the responses. To reiterate, I will NOT be practicing in either of SDCA/EDCA -- I'm only interested in working in SF/LA long term, which I already have a job lined up that I'm fully content with. But I don't mind living in NY for a year if it'll be beneficial for (1) 2/9 circuit clerkships and (2) general future career prospects. At this time, I don't know what I'm interested in beyond general commercial litigation.

How much more competitive is SDCA compared to EDCA, if at all?

Just like how SDNY would help for 2nd Circuit, could a similar argument be made that SDCA/EDCA would help for 9th Circuit?

I'm asking these extremely nuanced questions because I have a professor connection for the SDNY judge and am curious how far I should pursue it. The answer would normally be that I have nothing to lose if I go all out for SDNY, but if I can decide on EDCA/SDCA, I'd like to save this professor's good will for 2/9 opportunities.

SDCA is more competitive than EDCA, but it's hard to quantify how much. Why are you interested in SDNY/2d Cir if you want to practice in CA? I get that they are prestigious, but beyond that, it seems like a weird fit.

If you want to do big-ticket securities/antitrust/high finance litigation, then I guess SDNY will give you more transferable experience. But if you are doing medium-large commercial disputes in CA, most of them are going to be in state court or diversity cases in federal court, and clerking in CA will be much more useful for those.

I have the credentials for 2/9 and want to at least try pursuing them. I'd also like to live in NY for a few years (friends/significant other/family) before moving to the West Coast.

I clerked for SDCA and the 9th Circuit. I think only Judge Huff regularly sends clerks to the COA. My year in San Diego was a super fun year, but firms weren’t all that impressed with that resume line. I’d take SDCA over SDNY because I’m insane about surfing, but that’s pretty much the type of reasoning it takes to go with anything over CDCA/NDCA/SDNY.

Since SDNY is that much superior to EDCA/SDCA, if I have the credentials for SDNY (HYS + top grades), should I just drop the EDCA/SDCA interview and only pursue SDNY/NDCA/CDCA?

Anonymous User wrote:Since SDNY is that much superior to EDCA/SDCA, if I have the credentials for SDNY (HYS + top grades), should I just drop the EDCA/SDCA interview and only pursue SDNY/NDCA/CDCA?

You could always just do EDCA/SDCA and then 9th Cir/2d Cir. if your grades are so good.

Thanks for the responses. I've added a quick poll to see what everyone else thinks.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Since SDNY is that much superior to EDCA/SDCA, if I have the credentials for SDNY (HYS + top grades), should I just drop the EDCA/SDCA interview and only pursue SDNY/NDCA/CDCA?

You could always just do EDCA/SDCA and then 9th Cir/2d Cir. if your grades are so good.

i also prefer always just do EDCA/SDCA and then 9th Cir/2d Cir.

Sorry, but the answer to the question whether you should drop the California interviews is, "No." You may not get the SDNY job. Judges vary in terms of interview:offer ratios. Do your best to accommodate interview/offer timelines, but you're not done until you have an offer.

Agreed, don't drop an interview on the chance that you might land that SDNY job.

BlackAndOrange84 wrote:Agreed, don't drop an interview on the chance that you might land that SDNY job.

I'm a former COA + SDNY/DDC/NDCA clerk. having great grades is necessary but nowhere near sufficient

On the other hand, if your creds really are there then go for it. I sort of regret not just holding out for SDNY only. I was top 2-3% at a T6 when I first started applying, and sure clerkships are hard to land, but if you have similar stats you're pretty much guaranteed interviews even in SDNY.

Anonymous User wrote:On the other hand, if your creds really are there then go for it. I sort of regret not just holding out for SDNY only. I was top 2-3% at a T6 when I first started applying, and sure clerkships are hard to land, but if you have similar stats you're pretty much guaranteed interviews even in SDNY.

Why exactly do you regret this?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:On the other hand, if your creds really are there then go for it. I sort of regret not just holding out for SDNY only. I was top 2-3% at a T6 when I first started applying, and sure clerkships are hard to land, but if you have similar stats you're pretty much guaranteed interviews even in SDNY.

Why exactly do you regret this?

Just would have been easier for my personal life to stay east. I ended up clerking on CDCA/NDCA so I don’t tbink the career prospects are any different.