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Hello - I was selected to join a prestigious government honors program, but am having second thoughts. While I do believe I eventually want to end up in litigation and it would be great to be an AUSA, the department I was placed in is not my first choice for career path. I know it is easier to transfer departments once you are already in an agency, but for all I know it could take years to achieve. I feel like I gave up too quickly in pursuing a clerkship, and now that I have moved to the top of my class grades-wise and have some great experience under my belt, I'm having some regrets. I guess I have several questions: 1) how much would it hurt my future career prospects in applying to other departments after a clerkship if I basically rescind my acceptance; 2) would doing a clerkship even be worth doing over the honors program if my goal is to be an AUSA; 3) is it common for honors program attorneys to do a clerkship after a couple years of experience; 4) how would I best explain how I rescinded my offer to a judge I was applying to? I know I am being slightly vague, but I do wish to try to protect my anonymity as much as possible. Thanks!

A federal district court, and especially Court of Appeals, clerkship in the district in which you would like to eventually become an AUSA would be infinitely more valuable to you than almost any DoJ Honors position.

Given the lead time in clerkship hiring, the best path is probably to take the honors program and then plan to clerk afterwards, if you can't secure an AUSA position that you'd like between now and then. District courts (which is what you'd want, given your career goal) often hire clerks with prior work experience and it makes for a very natural transition after your honors program. Personally, I also think you'll appreciate the clerkship more if you work first.

Many honors programs are expected to result in permanent hires, so clerking “after” doesn’t make a ton of sense unless you know for certain when you’d want to leave the honors agency. (Because you couldn’t guarantee getting an AUSA gig during the clerkship term, but you wouldn’t be able to go back to the honors agency.)

If the honors position is an expressly term position - 1-2 years or the like - then clerking after makes more sense. So just make sure which your program is.

Rescinding an honors position shouldn’t burn you for all government positions, but probably will burn you for future positions with that agency.