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Hi all,

I know my question is ultimately a personal one, and that there won't be an open or shut answer. But this has been bothering me and I'd like some more input, even if it is purely anecdotal.

I have a district court clerkship in the future. It's far away from the city in which my SO and I now live and plan to stay. I think one year of LDR is obviously worth it for the district clerkship, because I want to litigate and I'm still young.

My recommender mentioned that, in his opinion, this district clerkship makes me competitive for circuit courts the year after. I get that there's a prestige boost from CoA that's way bigger than D.Ct. I'll be in biglaw post clerkship, but I'd like to work in BigFed eventually, and CoA would be a big help for that. Generally I'm not a prestige person, and I have no interest in appellate work longterm.

I'd probably have to be away from my SO for the CoA clerkship, assuming I get one. 1 year LDR seems hard. 2 years seems harder.

Has anyone had to make this decision? I know at the end of the day it's personal, and my SO and I will just have to figure it out. But I'm embarrassed to say I don't have many people to talk to who understand the stakes of a CoA clerkship. I'd really like to hear your thoughts.

Did exactly the scenario that you're referencing; one year of a district court clerkship and one year of a COA, both significant distances from my significant other. And happened to get engaged during that two-year period. A lot of it comes down to how understanding your judge is (one of my judges let me leave at noon almost every friday so that I could make the long drive to visit my significant other and also let me work remotely quite often), but it ultimately comes down to whether its worth it for you--both personally and professionally. It was a no brainer for me, and I would make the same decision in a heartbeat.

I’m 1.5 years into a two year stint. It fucking sucks. We spend every spare penny on seeing each other (thank goodness he works at a firm) and trying to pay for our wedding. I’ve had fairly understanding judges so we see each other every two to three weeks. Would still do it again probably.

Did one year of LDR while clerking and decided not to go for COA to avoid two years. Don't feel like it has hurt me at all since. How difficult it is and whether it is worth it all depends on the distance, how understanding the judge is, your relationship, your aspirations, your finances, how much you like clerking etc.

A COA appeals clerkship is no doubt prestigious but for a law firm career or even govt. it is far from necessary (unless you want to do appellate work) especially if you have a great DJ clerkship on your resume. Also, it really does depend on the Judge and jurisdiction, not all COA appeals clerkships are created equal.

There are people on here who would tell you to go to a place you have no desire to live and give up 100k+ of income (for a second year in a row) to be a thousand miles away from your friends and SO in order to clerk for a senior not particularly well known COA judge in the middle of the country even if you just did an SDNY or DDC clerkship and already have a V10 offer waiting for you...to me that makes zero sense.

Do what feels right for you but do not make yourself miserable chasing what some anonymous people on a message board consider prestigious.