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3L here, non traditional older student. Goal is (was more likely) to work in upstate NY. Average student.

Long story short-my summer internships were great, but useless as for getting me any sort of network or return offer (one was with the Army). I had applied for numerous positions all semester, with not so much as an interview. I took a chance on a clerkship CS and a friend recommended in another state (for transparency-NJ). I got an offer, had only a few days to accept, and panicked and took it. The pay is really low, the area is both bad and quite expensive, and I made a huge mistake. Friends and classmates in similar positions to me are getting offers at firms and whatnot (mostly smaller doing practice areas they have experience in from their externships/summers), most in their ideal geographic area, often at 2-3X the pay I will be making. Can't renege obviously as that will be the worst of bad choices. I don't really have any particular focus from law school and I thought a clerkship would help, but from what I understand this clerkship will be mostly administrative and nights/weekends writing opinions.

How can I salvage this? I do NOT want to stay in NJ, but I am assuming I pretty much will have to as my clerkship won't really carry any weight outside the county and I won't have the connections in NY-if I dont have any success now I doubt I will another year older and not a "new grad.

How can I prepare to start the job search again in a year? As I understand I'll basically be starting from zero- with the disadvantage being I'll be a lateral, and not have the summer associate/OCI etc advantages. When should I start looking for post clerkship jobs? How should I start networking now?

I've been a litigator for 20 years and I honestly wish that I had clerked, even in a state trial court. I spent years stumbling through the difference between Motions for Summary Judgment vs. Motions to Dismiss, discovery issues, etc. Whereas a clerk will probably start learning these things on Day 1.

Consider this: whether a case involves a $1B class action or a $1k visa bill, with very few exceptions, the evidentiary, MSJ, deposition, and MTD standards are the same.

A NJ trial clerkship won't get you any prestige or jobs, but it can provide knowledge that you will use for the rest of your career.

This is a little bit of catastrophizing. Yes, a NJ state clerkship (I’m presuming trial court) will likely be the most helpful in NJ for obvious reasons, but it’s not a scarlet letter and it won’t prevent you from getting a job elsewhere after the fact.

You don’t mention your school (which is fine), but if it’s not already in upstate NY and you don’t already have connections to upstate NY, you’re no worse off with this clerkship than you were before - you already didn’t have the summer associate/OCI connections, that ship has sailed, so either way you will still have to work to make those connections. And other people getting jobs in their chosen geographic areas doesn’t necessarily say anything about what you’d get (are their chosen locations upstate NY? do they have pre-existing connections to those areas?).

If you want to be in upstate NY (which, depending where you mean exactly, isn’t a huge market) get barred in NY, join the bar association in your preferred city, try to meet with people in local firms and just pick their brains about what they do and how they got there. Ideally you can find some kind of connection through UG or law school or other work you’ve done or friends or classmates to give you an introduction. If you can’t get there in person, a call works too (prefaced by an email to arrange it, I mean).

People often want to start looking for jobs early in their clerkships but especially if you’re looking at smaller firms, they’re unlikely to know their staffing needs that far out. I clerked for a state court (not NJ) and it was yonks ago, but I don’t think people had any luck applying much before March and many people didn’t get jobs until the summer. Doesn’t mean you can’t start applying sooner but you just don’t want to panic too early.

my state supreme court clerkship helped me get a federal circuit clerkship and then later a spot as an associate at an above market boutique so it certainly wasn't useless for me.

I don't know why you say you can't renege. If you renege now you'll give the judge plenty of time to find someone else. You don't want to practice in NJ, you don't want to be in NJ, there will be little to no consequences to reneging.