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Do people do fed clerkships and then go to biglaw? Does this result in greater earnings than just going straight to big law?

Or do only people who want to do government stuff do this, idk

R. Jeeves wrote:Do people do fed clerkships and then go to biglaw?

Usually, but not always (i.e. sometimes people work in biglaw for a year or two before clerking).

R. Jeeves wrote:Does this result in greater earnings than just going straight to big law?

No, it's less money because your biglaw clerkship bonus + salary for those clerkship year(s) will be less than what you make by going straight to biglaw. I suppose the exception would be if the clerkship(s) helps with making partner eventually (e.g. SCOTUS clerkship) in which case you'll make more in the long-run. There's obviously a lot of good reasons to clerk, but generally clerking doesn't lead to making more money in the short-term.

R. Jeeves wrote:Or do only people who want to do government stuff do this, idk

No. Some people do try to use a clerkship as a springboard to get out of biglaw and transition into government though.