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'17 grad, current D.Ct. clerk. I've accepted a public interest litigation job in the mid-Atlantic beginning next year. I expect to leave the city where that job is located after about 2-3 years and relocate to Boston for family reasons. I'd really like to do an appellate clerkship, and the timing lines up pretty well with a mid-career clerkship. What should I be doing now - asking profs to update LoRs? developing a writing sample? racking up publications? Mid-career clerks, what do you wish you'd known at this juncture?

You should really just be applying. Most Circuit hiring is for the 19-20 or 20-21 term already.

FascinatedWanderer wrote:You should really just be applying. Most Circuit hiring is for the 19-20 or 20-21 term already.

Yeah, this. At this point, you're basically already applying for 2-3 years out. I was sort of in the same boat with wanting to do an appellate clerkship after being out a few years in practice, but I started that process too late. At this point even if a judge hired me, I'd be like a fucking 8th or 9th year or something by the time I started that clerkship.... not a great point in my career to take like a 75% hit to compensation and then not necessarily know if I'll even have a job after the clerkship year. So I've given up on it. But YOU still have time if you start now!

Keep applying every year.