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What’s the best way to handle this? Firm is V40, and I’m nervous I wouldn’t get an offer if I told them, especially when the main needs are in corporate.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Fri May 07, 2021 4:13 pm

What’s the best way to handle this? Firm is V40, and I’m nervous I wouldn’t get an offer if I told them, especially when the main needs are in corporate.

what year is the clerkship?

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Fri May 07, 2021 6:52 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Fri May 07, 2021 4:13 pm

What’s the best way to handle this? Firm is V40, and I’m nervous I wouldn’t get an offer if I told them, especially when the main needs are in corporate.

what year is the clerkship?

Rising 3L, and it’s 2022-23.

If it's a V40 you'll get an offer unless you prove yourself to be woefully incompetent by other means. You don't have to tell your SA firm yet, but I think it's helpful to do so. If most of the needs are in corporate, saying that you have a clerkship offer is a good way to distinguish yourself among the other litigation hopefuls at your firm. I had a clerkship offer before I started working at my SA and I think that it was helpful in networking, especially with other attorneys at the firm who had clerked. A V40 firm should be happy to keep your offer open while you're clerking--it's likely the need for litigation will be a lot higher by the time you would return to the firm than it is now.

namefromplace wrote: ↑

Sat May 08, 2021 11:35 am

If it's a V40 you'll get an offer unless you prove yourself to be woefully incompetent by other means. You don't have to tell your SA firm yet, but I think it's helpful to do so. If most of the needs are in corporate, saying that you have a clerkship offer is a good way to distinguish yourself among the other litigation hopefuls at your firm. I had a clerkship offer before I started working at my SA and I think that it was helpful in networking, especially with other attorneys at the firm who had clerked. A V40 firm should be happy to keep your offer open while you're clerking--it's likely the need for litigation will be a lot higher by the time you would return to the firm than it is now.

Thanks! Who would you tell?

I accepted a D. Ct. clerkship during a 2L SA (V50). My firm was receptive to me interviewing and my offer letter even included a clerkship bonus. They might try to lock you down so you'll come back after the clerkship, especially if it will make you more marketable.

No-offering someone for having a clerkship seems like a great way scare off any decent candidates in future years. Also a great way to piss off a judge. Word travels when firms do shitty things.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sat May 08, 2021 3:21 pm

I accepted a D. Ct. clerkship during a 2L SA (V50). My firm was receptive to me interviewing and my offer letter even included a clerkship bonus. They might try to lock you down so you'll come back after the clerkship, especially if it will make you more marketable.

No-offering someone for having a clerkship seems like a great way scare off any decent candidates in future years. Also a great way to piss off a judge. Word travels when firms do shitty things.

OP here. That makes me feel better. Who did you tell, and when did you tell them?

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sat May 08, 2021 3:27 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sat May 08, 2021 3:21 pm

I accepted a D. Ct. clerkship during a 2L SA (V50). My firm was receptive to me interviewing and my offer letter even included a clerkship bonus. They might try to lock you down so you'll come back after the clerkship, especially if it will make you more marketable.

No-offering someone for having a clerkship seems like a great way scare off any decent candidates in future years. Also a great way to piss off a judge. Word travels when firms do shitty things.

OP here. That makes me feel better. Who did you tell, and when did you tell them?

I told a trusted partner who was writing me an LOR (I was a 1L SA in the same office so I asked him during the intervening year). I told the recruiting person when I needed a day off to interview. At the end of the summer I also ran it by the hiring/managing partners, just to make sure that my offer would be held open during the clerkship (judge's policy is we can't accept offers until the end of the clerkship -- but this varies between chambers). I'm sure I also told other people just because these things come up in conversation -- I didn't broadcast it but I also didn't make any effort to hide it.

My 2L summer was at a DC firm and probably half of the summer class had a clerkship lined up by the end, it was just expected and not a big deal that we all had to interview, etc. over the summer. The scale was probably somewhat unique to DC but biglaw firms anywhere should be used to it.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sat May 08, 2021 11:58 am

namefromplace wrote: ↑

Sat May 08, 2021 11:35 am

If it's a V40 you'll get an offer unless you prove yourself to be woefully incompetent by other means. You don't have to tell your SA firm yet, but I think it's helpful to do so. If most of the needs are in corporate, saying that you have a clerkship offer is a good way to distinguish yourself among the other litigation hopefuls at your firm. I had a clerkship offer before I started working at my SA and I think that it was helpful in networking, especially with other attorneys at the firm who had clerked. A V40 firm should be happy to keep your offer open while you're clerking--it's likely the need for litigation will be a lot higher by the time you would return to the firm than it is now.

Thanks! Who would you tell?

I emailed my recruiting contact (a non-lawyer in talent management who was organizing the SA program for my office) a couple weeks after I accepted the clerkship offer. The email basically just said that I had a personal update that I wanted the firm to be aware of that I would be clerking the year after my graduation. I also mentioned it to a couple of mentor attorneys that I discussed career plans with. After I received the offer from my firm I checked with my judge what his policy was on accepting offers from firms and I sent an email to the same recruiting contact asking if I could keep the offer open. They said that would be fine and sent me a modified offer letter. I went through the same basic process with no pushback after I accepted another clerkship a few months later. Firm was V40, but one with a bit more of an emphasis on lit than most.