Anonymous User wrote:I seriously doubt a St. Johns LLM in bankruptcy will help with the SDNY/DDel bankruptcy judges; maybe it would help with other districts, but I doubt it. The St Johns LLM is a joke because of the school that offers it, regardless of the substance. It's a shame that, say, Chicago (they easily have the highest-powered bankruptcy faculty out there these days--at least for corporate BK--especially after having hired the guy from Columbia), doesn't do one.
I'm not sure a bankruptcy clerkship outside of SDNY/DDel would be particularly useful for anyone who isn't planning to do consumer bankruptcy. A magistrate clerkship would probably be more helpful (for skill development) for someone who isn't biglaw-bound.
I thought really hard about doing a bankruptcy clerkship in SDNY/DDel instead of an appellete clerkship. I'm going into bankruptcy at a large firm, blah blah. When I was applying for clerkships, I still wasn't sure if I was going to do litigation or bankruptcy, so I ended up sticking with appellete judges. Had I made up my mind about bankruptcy by the application deadline, I may have switched over to SDNY/DDel (or withdrawn from the clerkship market entirely). The firm noted that no clerkship--including BK clerkships in SDNY/DDel--really helps much with bankruptcy work, because so much of the important stuff is on the transactional side of things. Anything outside of SDNY/DDel would be seen as a complete waste--even, say, Judge Wedoff in Chicago.
Another thing to consider applying for: Judge Ambro in the 3rd Circuit is (I believe, though I could be wrong here) the only former bankruptcy judge on the court of appeals. He's seen as an incredible bankruptcy mind. He hires way, way in advance, though (i.e., he's probably hiring--or has already hired--for 2014-15 right now).
Everything this guy is saying is a load of s**t.
1)St. John's LLM isn't really good at getting you a firm job, but the rate of BK Clerkship is ASTRONOMICAL (the year I'm thinking of it was around 60% clerkship, 20% big firm 20% trustee and consumer stuff).
2)Of that 60%, half was SDNY/DDE. 80% of the classes are taught by judge and the vast majority of those judges are from SDNY/DDE; there is a list of Judges in those districts that keep an interview spot open for St. John's LLMs.
3)The idea that a magistrate clerkship better prepares you for reorg work than a bankruptcy clerkship has to be one of the most retarded things I've ever heard, considering there isn't a single (not one) reason you would open up the bankruptcy code in a magistrates judge's chambers...ever. All you do all day in a bankruptcy clerkship is stare at, and write on, the bankruptcy code...and its the same code you use no matter what you're kind of bankruptcy practice you do, the application just gets more intense. There are consumer chapter 11s in every single district. Granted, they're small business chapter 11 cases, but its the same chapter 11 with a timing difference (and a couple small tweaks), that GM and Enron file under.
4)No firm has ever in the history of its existence actually said that a bankruptcy clerkship doesn't help with bankruptcy work. That just defies logic and practice considering they credit your years in the clerkship toward the pay scale and give you 15-50k bonus (see Skadden, Shearman, W+C etc etc), oh, to say nothing of the fact that you're STARING AT AND MEMORIZING THE BANKRUPCTY CODE AND CASE LAW ALL DAY (see 3.).
5)Wedoff is a god, but the NDIL, in and of its self is highly regarded. Nothing is SDNY/DDE, but every major market has respect for clerks of their market. Offices in LA, SF, Dallas, Houston, Miami don't have any problem hiring clerks from their JX...the problem is the limited work/opportunities.
6)No clerkship is ever a "waste of time." Nobody has ever in the history of western jurisprudence been hurt by doing a clerkship. There is no job that you would have gotten out of law school that you cant get now that you completed a clerkship. Conversely, there are jobs you wouldn't have prayer of getting out of law school, which you are in contention for after completing a clerkship. Another thought, talk to any BK judge in the SDNY/DE/Uzbekistan, it doesn't matter, they will take a clerk who's done a previous clerkship over a guy who hasn't any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Doing a 1-year clerkship in District of Mississippi, out of a T-50 school, isn't going get to get you job in Kirkland's NY reorg group, but 100% of the time, if your stats are the same as a kid from Yale, and you didn't piss in the closet during your interview, a BK judge will take the guy who's been clerking for year; especially in SDNY/DDE where you have to hit the ground running.
7)Finally, what a callus and disgusting way to talk about the judiciary...what the f**k? You're a lawyer???
