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I'm very grateful that Plan week shook out well for me, and I ended up with two COA's. I would definitely end my clerkship search here if the clerkships were back-to-back, but there is a year in between. The firm I'm at this summer has said I'm welcome to come back for that year, but they've also said they prefer associate continuity all things equal.

I had initially hoped to do a district court clerkship for the different (and some have said more valuable?) skills you build, but it just didn't work out this week. Does it make sense to continue to look for a district court clerkship for the year in between, or could three clerkships be a red flag? Obviously there are financial considerations, but I'm mostly interested in thinking about it from a career perspective.

By associate continuity they mean two in a row. Three in a row is really pushing it. My firm told me if I did that I would have to reapply.

From a firm's perspective: Yes, red(dish) flag to do COA-district-COA, especially right out of law school. You're already pushing it with two non-consecutive COA clerkships, which would only make sense to begin with if (1) everybody understands you'll be doing 100% appellate work, or at least housed in the appellate group, which your firm has and is very fancy; (2) at least one COA judge is feeder-level and it's apparent you're hunting for a SCOTUS clerkship; or (3) you're doing super niche/sophisticated reg work and one of your clerkships is at the D.C. Circuit.

Adding a third, district court clerkship on top of this will annoy people and I'll be surprised if your firm is willing to keep your spot open for four years down the road. It risks coming across as someone who's still too naive about law school prestige/not that invested in the business of law.

Would be surprised if your firm kept the spot open but do you really care? Is this firm particularly important to you? If you're the type of applicant that can get this many bites from judges, I assume you'll have an easy time getting hired after your clerkships.