Delaware chancery clerkship after a few years at biglaw worth it? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Recent graduate at lower T14, heading to biglaw for transactional work this fall. Missed the boat for 21-22/22-23 terms but wondering if a 1-year clerkship at Delaware chancery makes sense after 2-3 years at the firm?

Thanks!

[LBJ's Hair]

If you want to go M&A transactional --> DE M&A litigation (for whatever reason), sure. If you want to keep doing transactional work after the clerkship, absolutely not

[Anonymous User]

If you want to go M&A transactional --> DE M&A litigation (for whatever reason), sure. If you want to keep doing transactional work after the clerkship, absolutely not

Thanks so much for your reply! Would you mind explaining a bit more? I do wanna continue transactional work but thought a chancery clerkship would be a great/helpful experience. Any difference between a clerkship straight after law school vs one after a couple years at a firm in terms of its value for a career in transactions?

[LBJ's Hair]

If you want to go M&A transactional --> DE M&A litigation (for whatever reason), sure. If you want to keep doing transactional work after the clerkship, absolutely not

Thanks so much for your reply! Would you mind explaining a bit more? I do wanna continue transactional work but thought a chancery clerkship would be a great/helpful experience. Any difference between a clerkship straight after law school vs one after a couple years at a firm in terms of its value for a career in transactions?

IMO, if you want to get better at transactional work--or any work, really--the best way to do it is to just do more of that work. DE chancery = spending a year not doing transactional work. Yeah you'll probably learn some useful deal litigation stuff, but for a transactional lawyer that's not as useful as just doing the deals themselves.

Plus, gotta factor in the loss of momentum at the firm you'll have by leaving/coming back in, definitely not worth it. The firms usually won't say it, but they hate it when people leave and come back. Super annoying for everyone--you de-staff, they replace you, you return, they have to start finding you work again.

I'm sure you'd learn interesting stuff at DE chancery, and it's a well-regarded clerkship, but if you're transactional I don't really see the professional benefit vis-a-vis another year of experience at your firm

[Anonymous User]

I actually think it could be okay. My old boss at the SEC did:
law school -> V5 M&A -> DE (Supreme Court, not CC) -> same V5 M&A -> SEC (not ENF)

He highly recommended it to me when I expressed interest in M&A. Said it was a great experience, great mentorship, and the substantive law actually came up at the cutting edge.