Does clerkship (fed soc) make up for median grades? Forum

[Anonymous User]

If someone lands a clerkship through fed soc, but otherwise has median grades at a t14, would they be competitive for generic DC biglaw? (Regulatory practice etc)

[Anonymous User]

Probably not, at least in a slow economy. The Fed Soc judges who are best respected by biglaw hiring committees tend to hire people with stellar grades anyway. So clerking for a more extreme or less prestigious Fed Soc judge is not likely to offset poor grades.

[Anonymous User]

Yes, probably, especially if you secure the clerkship before OCI. Post-clerkship hiring is naturally more scattershot.

[Anonymous User]

Probably not, at least in a slow economy. The Fed Soc judges who are best respected by biglaw hiring committees tend to hire people with stellar grades anyway. So clerking for a more extreme or less prestigious Fed Soc judge is not likely to offset poor grades.

Who do you think are the fed soc judges best respected by big law hiring committees? But I’d still say a hypothetical median student from a T14 is going to be facially competitive and probably can get “generic DC biglaw” after a COA clerkship. TLS is starting to really exaggerate DC competitiveness. It is way different than transactional NYC recruiting but I have tons of friends who got multiple DC offers at OCI with median to slightly above median grades from CCN.

[Anonymous User]

Yes but only if you have it before OCI. Don't emphasize the fedsoc part too much. If you struck out at OCI then sure maybe it'll help but your issue at that point isn't grades it's that you struck out.

[jotarokujo]

I would guess that if you had biglaw experience as a 2l summer and clerked your first year out, you would be pretty competitive for the non-high tiers of DC biglaw (e.g. not Wilmer DC) coming in as a second year associate

[Anonymous User]

Probably not, at least in a slow economy. The Fed Soc judges who are best respected by biglaw hiring committees tend to hire people with stellar grades anyway. So clerking for a more extreme or less prestigious Fed Soc judge is not likely to offset poor grades.

Who do you think are the fed soc judges best respected by big law hiring committees? But I’d still say a hypothetical median student from a T14 is going to be facially competitive and probably can get “generic DC biglaw” after a COA clerkship. TLS is starting to really exaggerate DC competitiveness. It is way different than transactional NYC recruiting but I have tons of friends who got multiple DC offers at OCI with median to slightly above median grades from CCN.

Fed Soc judges that send a lot of clerks into e.g. appellate groups tend to be feeders and semi-feeders. Those judges also attract the clerks with the best grades. Though within that group I think degree of feeding is necessarily aligned with reputation. Like I don’t think Thapar and Pryor are necessarily more-respected than Livingston and Ikuta.