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Hi all,

Has anyone negotiated a clerkship bonus with a firm that says they do not give them at this time? I am finishing up a District Court clerkship prior to 2021, and so am starting the dreaded job hunt. I am focusing on one geographic area (a secondary market) for post-clerkship employment. As I stated earlier, the firm I am currently negotiating with says that they do not give clerkship bonuses -- though they do give progression credit. Has anyone heard of this before? Trying not to sound pretentious, but I thought this was standard (though prior to this, I worked in NYC, which might have just ruined my expectations). This firm would be my first choice, but I'm not sure what the process is for leveraging offers from other places that may or may not give a bonus to try to get one myself.

I'm purposefully trying to be as vague as possible because of my employment situation, but let me know if you want me to PM you with more information.

Thanks in advance!

Don’t really have any negotiating advice, but no or a minimal clerkship bonus is unfortunately common/standard in many secondary markets.

Halp wrote:Don’t really have any negotiating advice, but no or a minimal clerkship bonus is unfortunately common/standard in many secondary markets.

This is really helpful, since I clearly had no idea. Thank you!

Never heard of anyone negotiating a bonus from a firm that never gives them, but I have heard of folks negotiating an above-market clerkship bonus, FWIW.

hdivschool wrote:Never heard of anyone negotiating a bonus from a firm that never gives them, but I have heard of folks negotiating an above-market clerkship bonus, FWIW.

Every bit of information helps. Thank you!

I'd be pretty careful about trying to leverage a clerkship bonus out of a firm that doesn't give them. In many secondary markets even the local-market bonus is quite small (say $5k) if anything, and I really wonder if the risk of rubbing people the wrong way is worth ~$3.75k after tax. Or even $7.5k after tax, especially if the point of going to a firm like this is a 5-6 year, fairly secure path to partnership and the kind of life that can provide for in a secondary market.

BlackAndOrange84 wrote:I'd be pretty careful about trying to leverage a clerkship bonus out of a firm that doesn't give them. In many secondary markets even the local-market bonus is quite small (say $5k) if anything, and I really wonder if the risk of rubbing people the wrong way is worth ~$3.75k after tax. Or even $7.5k after tax, especially if the point of going to a firm like this is a 5-6 year, fairly secure path to partnership and the kind of life that can provide for in a secondary market.

I appreciate your thoughtful advice. This really resonates with what I've been debating - especially what the trade-off would be. Thank you!