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I have the opportunity to extern for the State Department. It is a full-time, semester-long externship. I really want to do it--I think the work is interesting, I have strong connections to the DC area, and it just seems like a great opportunity.

I have a CoA clerkship lined up after graduation already, but I am wondering whether taking the externship would affect (in particular negatively) my chances at another clerkship. I would only really be targeting competitive/feeder judges on 2nd/9th/DC and a couple of district judges.

I have not been able to find much about the L externship at all here or elsewhere, so I have no idea whether sacrificing a semester of class is a death blow to clerkships or whatever.

Thanks in advance for any insight!

You'll already get a huge boost from the COA clerkship, and I don't know if the externship would add a whole lot more. It definitely won't hurt your application. But you should 1000% do the externship, especially if you have any interest in working for the federal government later on. A lot of the federal internships are incredible learning experiences with a lot of substantive work, and prior federal service is a huge part of getting a federal job later on.

I don't think it would hurt, unless your transcript as a whole looks kind of fluffy. I think judges would only care if it looks as though you've avoided important more "difficult" or clerkship-adjacent classes (the ones I believe judges care most about are admin law and fed jur, but criminal procedure and certain constitutional law classes are valued as well) in favor of seminars and externships, some judges may see that as an attempt to inflate your GPA or a lack of work ethic. Some judges just also really like their clerks to have a good foundation of admin law and fed jur.

Otherwise, I don't see it being a problem and it seems like a good career move. I did a semester-long externship in DC, loved the experience, and definitely think it helped me get the clerkship I have. It gave me more practical experience than previous summer externships and was a great talking point for my interview. I think my classmates who did similar semester-long externships with the federal government would agree that the experience was more beneficial for their clerkship chances and overall career development than a normal semester at law school.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 25, 2020 8:08 pm

I have the opportunity to extern for the State Department. It is a full-time, semester-long externship. I really want to do it--I think the work is interesting, I have strong connections to the DC area, and it just seems like a great opportunity.

I have a CoA clerkship lined up after graduation already, but I am wondering whether taking the externship would affect (in particular negatively) my chances at another clerkship. I would only really be targeting competitive/feeder judges on 2nd/9th/DC and a couple of district judges.

I have not been able to find much about the L externship at all here or elsewhere, so I have no idea whether sacrificing a semester of class is a death blow to clerkships or whatever.

Thanks in advance for any insight!

Can't see it hurting you.

For what it's worth, imo double COA makes sense for very few applicants and those applicants are usually semi-feeder/semi-feeder or semi-feeder/true feeder. I can't see many situations in which a merely "competitive" 2/9/DC judge makes sense as a second appellate clerkship. Livingston is debatably the only one on the Second who justifies it for example (Katzmann doesn't take double appellate students, Lohier/Park/etc. probably aren't feeder-y enough, at least yet). Why not try for DDC/EDVA/NDCA/CDCA/SDNY/EDNY instead if you want to target those areas?

OP here. Thanks for the responses so far. One thing I forgot to add: I am on the flagship journal, but my ability to be on the admin/executive board may be affected (or foreclosed altogether) by externship. Judging by the responses in the related thread a bit below, that is not a huge problem in terms of careers/clerkships, but I am just confirming.

I definitely am not taking the externship for fluff reasons, and the rest of my courses are pretty rigorous and my grades are great.

For what it's worth, imo double COA makes sense for very few applicants and those applicants are usually semi-feeder/semi-feeder or semi-feeder/true feeder. I can't see many situations in which a merely "competitive" 2/9/DC judge makes sense as a second appellate clerkship. Livingston is debatably the only one on the Second who justifies it for example (Katzmann doesn't take double appellate students, Lohier/Park/etc. probably aren't feeder-y enough, at least yet). Why not try for DDC/EDVA/NDCA/CDCA/SDNY/EDNY instead if you want to target those areas?

I probably should not have said "competitive." I should have said that I would only be targeting appellate judges that would substantially improve SCOTUS clerking chances or district judges I like or that are in areas I want to live in.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 25, 2020 11:21 pm

OP here. Thanks for the responses so far. One thing I forgot to add: I am on the flagship journal, but my ability to be on the admin/executive board may be affected (or foreclosed altogether) by externship. Judging by the responses in the related thread a bit below, that is not a huge problem in terms of careers/clerkships, but I am just confirming.

I definitely am not taking the externship for fluff reasons, and the rest of my courses are pretty rigorous and my grades are great.

For what it's worth, imo double COA makes sense for very few applicants and those applicants are usually semi-feeder/semi-feeder or semi-feeder/true feeder. I can't see many situations in which a merely "competitive" 2/9/DC judge makes sense as a second appellate clerkship. Livingston is debatably the only one on the Second who justifies it for example (Katzmann doesn't take double appellate students, Lohier/Park/etc. probably aren't feeder-y enough, at least yet). Why not try for DDC/EDVA/NDCA/CDCA/SDNY/EDNY instead if you want to target those areas?

I probably should not have said "competitive." I should have said that I would only be targeting appellate judges that would substantially improve SCOTUS clerking chances or district judges I like or that are in areas I want to live in.

Ah that makes perfect sense then. You should talk to the current exec board of your law review. I'm on exec board of one and we have some roles that are low-commitment and could probably be doable remotely without much trouble--anything involving the online edition is probably a good bet--though I doubt you could be e.g. EIC.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 25, 2020 11:32 pm

Ah that makes perfect sense then. You should talk to the current exec board of your law review. I'm on exec board of one and we have some roles that are low-commitment and could probably be doable remotely without much trouble--anything involving the online edition is probably a good bet--though I doubt you could be e.g. EIC.

Yeah, I am trying to get answers ASAP from the leadership. There are definitely some positions that I could do. I have absolutely no interest in being EIC, but being a managing editor or something is at least superficially appealing, so I at least want to know what's up. But my sense is that being an articles editor or whatever is not substantially better clerkship-wise than the externship would be, so I am not that worried about it.