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Hi! I have a DC Circuit clerkship lined up and have been in the process of applying for district court clerkships. I have gotten offers from a DDC (not Boasberg or Moss) judge and a CD Cal judge. They both are great mentors and I am unsure about what to pick. I don't have any ties to a particular geographic area. I will be working in New Mexico during my gap year and then moving to DC for the clerkship.

One of my worries is that a DDC clerkship might be repetitive after doing a DC Circuit clerkship. As for CD Cal, the docket is pretty diverse, and it looks like I would gain lots of trial lit skills during that year, but CD Cal has a large docket and the hours seems scary (that said, the judge who has extended an offer is known to be a pretty humane boss).

I am also worried about the fact that I don't really know anyone in either city. LA seems more spread out but it might be a good cultural fit as I am a URM. DC seems like a great place to go on walks but I don't really love some of the culture there (when I was there one summer it seemed to me as if people were always interested in doing what you do for a living and that sort of thing; but maybe that's because of the social circles I was exposed to.

Lastly, I am worried about my biological clock. I am a woman (~34). I broke up with my long-time partner during law school and I have not started dating yet (mostly because I have been so busy). I don't even know if I want children but I have planned to go through the egg freezing process soon.

Any thoughts/information is welcome. This is a tough decision and I dislike having to plan my life several years out

Personally, I would line it up to avoid moving twice, especially since you’re in the market for a marriage-track relationship in the very near future. DDC also seems extremely (maybe too?) relaxed from what I’ve heard. Though the docket difference is not a crazy thing to consider by any means.

If you had a particular desire to practice in a specific city, whether one of these or some other city, this would be a lot easier. For example, if you planned to keep practicing in NM, I would consider declining both and targeting D NM.

As someone in a not-dissimilar situation, New Mexico->DC->LA sounds like a ton of moving. I might do the double-DC just so you have your feet on the ground in one place for a while, especially since you’ll have more of an opportunity to meet people and be less isolated if you stick around in DC for a couple years.

Mine are in the same circuit and I cannot recommend it enough. Not having to move is so nice.

Honestly it seems like someone in your situation would benefit from sticking with DDC

Frankly comes down to where you want to start your career. Going to go against the above posts to say that if you have any inclination of starting a career on the west coast, or California more specifically, then you absolutely should take CDCal. Usually DDC is a no-brainer but the fact that you’re torn about this suggests to me that you might have doubts about tying yourself to the city.

If you intend for your second clerkship to be your “last stop” before setting down roots somewhere, then I wouldn’t let the coastal switching bother you. If you weren’t already sold on DC with the DC Circuit offer then I would reflect more deeply on where it is that you want to base your career longterm, separate from whatever different in dockets there might be.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 13, 2024 7:54 pm

Personally, I would line it up to avoid moving twice, especially since you’re in the market for a marriage-track relationship in the very near future.

Agreed. You may already know this, but egg freezing is not the guarantee that many people assume it is.

Since you brought it up, I'm under the impression that egg freezing is extremely expensive and also has an extremely low probability of success. In other words, it's just another scam, and a cruel one at that. Since you're so honest with yourself, you'll want to do your own research.

I've been living in DC for the past year, and it's totally dead for me. I wish I were back home in NYC, which there are just so many more single women from so many more backgrounds.

If you're looking for a spouse, Los Angeles sounds like a much safer bet than DC.

But maybe the real question is where you want to live and work in the long term.

If you want to live and work in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia), or even anywhere on the East Coast, DDC is absolutely the way to go.