Rising 3L currently summering in the lit group at a DC ~V50. I've secured a 2025 term d. ct. clerkship in the area. Have been having a not terribly fantastic SA so far and am potentially interested starting out post-grad in the lit group at a different BL firm, leveraging my clerkship. I know that this situation presents a bit of a double-edged sword to firms: a candidate with the credential of a clerkship down the line, but with the knowledge that I will leave the firm after 1 year and may not come back. Throw in current market conditions and I'm wondering if 3L recruiting is worth pursuing, or if I should just work through the gap year and try post-clerkship?
If now is worth a shot, are there any firms in DC known to be amenable to 3L hiring, direct or otherwise (only Quinn is coming to my school and we all know that they have a certain reputation)?
If this is something for later, is post-clerkship hiring really as doom-and-gloom as it appears on that TLS thread? I'm not interested in appellate, would be happy working on lit and govt investigations matters, and have secured a clerkship in a highly competitive district relevant to BL DC practices (not a flyover).
3L post-grad / pre-clerkship hiring? Forum
Forum rules
Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are sharing sensitive information about clerkship applications and clerkship hiring. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned."
Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are sharing sensitive information about clerkship applications and clerkship hiring. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned."
-
Anonymous User
- Posts: 432495
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: 3L post-grad / pre-clerkship hiring?
I don't think post-clerkship hiring is quite as doom and gloom as the TLS threads suggest, mainly b/c there's a lot more incentive to come here and post about it if you're struggling and want support than if you got a job no problem and are sailing along. One problem with post-clerkship hiring is that it's not as standardized as OCI, but people often expect to get a job offer early and easily (I think sort of conditioned by OCI), and panic when they don't. (Not saying that's unreasonable, I totally get worrying). Many people won't get jobs until what feels like very late in the clerkship; also, sometimes people who are not great candidates for national biglaw jobs get clerkships (for a whole variety of possible reasons) and are then frustrated (again, understandably) when a biglaw job is still hard to get.
I haven't been in your shoes, but I don't see any reason not to throw your hat into the 3L hiring ring - what have you got to lose? I've never seen any evidence that this will lose you the offer you will doubtless get from your current firm - with continuing at your current firm as a backup. Assuming that your firm likes people to clerk and doesn't suffer some massive financial crisis between now and then, they can also be a backup for your job search while clerking. Even if post-clerkship hiring is tougher than you expect, presumably you can stick with the current firm and be no worse off than you are now, and continue to apply elsewhere.
I haven't been in your shoes, but I don't see any reason not to throw your hat into the 3L hiring ring - what have you got to lose? I've never seen any evidence that this will lose you the offer you will doubtless get from your current firm - with continuing at your current firm as a backup. Assuming that your firm likes people to clerk and doesn't suffer some massive financial crisis between now and then, they can also be a backup for your job search while clerking. Even if post-clerkship hiring is tougher than you expect, presumably you can stick with the current firm and be no worse off than you are now, and continue to apply elsewhere.
