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Say I have a connection to a state appellate judge. Do I gun for that if it's in the state I want to practice?

Are federal externships always considered better?


Any links to previous threads I cannot find are helpful too.


Please don't answer "retake"

Are you asking which will help you get a job? Almost certainly no judicial externship will help you get a job.

The best available externship is an externship in the area of law you want to practice. I agree that an externship won't get you a job (unless externing for the Supreme Court was a thing) but I do think it can paint part of the picture you try and sell a firm. This is especially true for specialized areas of law (tax, bk, probate, IP). For general litigation I would see it being less helpful, other than as a data point that you can point to as validation of your interest in litigation.

And as a general rule, federal internship/externship/clerkship are always better than state.

Eh, the best externship is one where you get substantive experience and have enough interaction with the judge to gain a mentor or reference - someone who will speak well of you. That can happen in either state or federal externships.