Law Review Ad Board v. LLM Program? Better clerking boost? Forum

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Law Review Ad Board v. LLM Program? Better clerking boost?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Dec 04, 2017 12:32 am

The title just about says it all. I am on my school's (T6) law review and I am trying to decide between doing a yearlong joint degree program (Oxford/Cambridge) or sticking around to pursue an Admin position on my law review. What are people's thoughts on which would be more useful for clerkships (I am applying in the upcoming semester)? What about for my career generally (might be tough to answer without knowing what I want to do)?

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Re: Law Review Ad Board v. LLM Program? Better clerking boost?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Dec 04, 2017 12:48 am

It depends somewhat on the ad board position. For something like Articles Editor or Managing/Senior Editor, that's going to be a bigger boost for most judges (esp. COA judges). If you're like the "Community Engagement Editor" and that happens to be an ad board position, I think an Oxbridge degree is worth more.

To some extent, though, it comes down to what you want to do. For most federal judges, the marginal difference between these options is going to be pretty small.

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Re: Law Review Ad Board v. LLM Program? Better clerking boost?

Post by BlackAndOrange84 » Mon Dec 04, 2017 8:25 am

Frankly, I don't think I'd give much if any boost to an Oxbridge joint degree LLM. Joint degrees or masters programs are a dime a dozen among clerkship applicants. (STEM degrees are an exception for masters programs—one of my judges liked to always have someone in chambers with a STEM background, and there an MS represented a real difference maker.) A serious position on a law review board (basically anything where you continue to develop editing and writing abilities), on the other hand, is a real boost.

ETA: One other negative for an Oxbridge joint degree: it's study abroad. There's nothing wrong with undergrad study abroad, but to my mind (and the minds of my coclerks and former LR colleagues), the choice to study abroad during law school is a real head scratcher. Law school is a professional school, so time spent collecting experiences that aren't particularly relevant to law practice in the U.S. is time wasted compared to experiences that are more relevant (e.g., LR, extern/internships with American legal employers, even just taking bread and butter doctrinal classes). Between two similarly situated candidates, I'd give a boost to the one who didn't study abroad.

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