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Would love some input from folks to help me think out an issue I've been sorta mulling over.
I went to a T1 in the heartland- had decent but not great grades, and struck out during my 2L quest to get a clerkship. I'm a first year lit associate at one of the biggest firms in my midsized city.
However, I've recently discovered a connection with a fed mag judge and a ssc judge of my state and may possibly have the chance to clerk for them.
Pros: More chance to move markets within my state or to a different state in the future.
I really would like to be a judge/prof in the future (like 20 years down the line, so maybe too far in advance?) and feel that this'll help my credentials.
Cons: pay cut.
I really like my job and believe I have decent partnership prospects at my current firm (although, we are really an eat what you kill firm for partners), i'd come back to my firm after my clerkship most likely but am worried about losing retirement benefits and possible goodwill from partners I've gained a decent reputation with. I've briefly in passing mentioned my slight interest in clerking, some partners have been encouraging others have stated I already have the job and urged me it would be a waste.

Last caveat- I have a soft offer from the biggest firm in my city, pay is significantly higher than my firm's, however, they tend to push folks out after about 6-10 years. Would audibling to these folks behoove me for my unicorn/longterm goals or is that just a totally different conversation? Actually pretty confident I will pass on this offer, but just wanted some input.

This is kind of tangential to your overall question, but I don’t think becoming a prof and becoming a judge really have anything in common as career paths. In any case, clerking can help a little with both, but isn’t a major factor. (Certainly not if you’re not aiming to be a prof until 20 years down the line, which would likely at that point be more about your practice experience than anything else.)

I think both a local SSC and mag judge gig could help you make good local connections, but they’re probably not going to transform you as a candidate 20 years down the road. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do them, though.

I can’t really comment on how clerking would play out with your current gig. About going to the bigger firm - do you know where people who leave it generally end up? Look at your local judges - what kind of paths did they take to get there? How realistic are your chances for partner where you are and does eat what you kill work for you?

(If you want to be a prof you pretty much need to start writing legal scholarship, which is a whole different ball of wax.)

This is the OP. Thanks for your response, Nixy. I appreciate it!

For the prof stuff: I'm not interested in doing it fulltime- I'm currently an adjunct and do have some published scholarship. I just wouldn't want to have this be my main role until I saved up a decent chunk of change and was burnt out on practice.

Judge: this is my ultimate goal, however, I'm not sure how realistic this goal is tbh. Seems like a crapshoot and not sure it is worth attempting to manage a career over it.

The bigger firm exit options seem to be to the fortune 500 companies that're here locally or to the big name hospitals here.

Local Judges state level: all different paths, which is nice to see but makes it harder to follow/make a path. I'd say a slight edge goes to ADAs/PDs/AGs/AUSAs going into these roles (maybe around 35-45% of them), so perhaps pursuing something like that later in my career could be worth it?

Local fed judges: AUSAs and the biggest firms (i.e. the 2 biggest firms in my city and the 3 biggest firms in the other big city in my state), none from my current firm or its sister city firm equivalents.

Partnership chances: At my current firm- I'd say close to 80-90%. It is pretty rare they hire folks. I was the only SA for my split summer here. Seems like everyone who stays makes partner, but partner pay is so varying, which has me worried as I am slightly introverted (not debilitatingly so though) and would like to be making north of 200k and not associate pay as a partner and am worried about making that gamble. I do love the independence of my current firm though and the flexibility (i.e. they let me adjunct, we have no billables).

I'm sure none of this really helped, but just talking through it all gives me a clearly picture.

Are you aiming to be a state or a federal judge?

This is the OP. State appeals is the main goal, probs. I want to do appellate work and think my chances of getting to do that as a fed judge are essentially 0. But I'd take just about any gig happily.

In general, especially if you want to do appeals, SSC > flyover magistrate imo. I may have advice about specific judges in your state depending on which it is—I’m a flyover native and still reasonably well-connected back home, feel free to DM me. The best way to become a judge is to become a good, well-connected attorney. Being a state court trial judge is actually maybe a realistic career goal, but SSC and federal positions are more competitive and hence more random.