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A bit early, especially since most people have just started or starting this month. But figured I'd start off this topic in case there's anyone out there who is off-cycle or those who are having preliminary thoughts about whether they are going to return to their summer/prior firm. Otherwise, when does everyone plan to get applications rolling?

oh boy, here we go. Probably ASAP. Did you see last year's thread? Depressing.

Any consensus on the best strategy?

Started my clerkship a few weeks ago and have been trying to figure out where to start with applications. I applied to some federal honors programs that looked interesting. As far as firms go, is it just a mass-mail approach where you send your info directly to recruiters without any kind of job posting or whatever?

Anonymous User wrote:oh boy, here we go. Probably ASAP. Did you see last year's thread? Depressing.

Any consensus on the best strategy?

What's the TL;DR on last year's thread? I saw a few people still looking pretty late in the game. Is post law clekr hiring pretty stagnant?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:oh boy, here we go. Probably ASAP. Did you see last year's thread? Depressing.

Any consensus on the best strategy?

What's the TL;DR on last year's thread? I saw a few people still looking pretty late in the game. Is post law clekr hiring pretty stagnant?

Basically unless you’re clerking in a major district or COA, you won’t receive much in the way of solicitation and your options will be about what they were before you clerked. (Which has been the case for a while, but actual clerks are still surprised to experience it.)

What's the consensus on waiting for bar results vs. applying now? Any reason to wait?

Also, any thoughts about applying to firms that you had an offer from after 2L OCI but turned down? Address it in the cover letter, or just make the case for why you'd want to be there without mentioning it?

Anonymous User wrote:Started my clerkship a few weeks ago and have been trying to figure out where to start with applications. I applied to some federal honors programs that looked interesting. As far as firms go, is it just a mass-mail approach where you send your info directly to recruiters without any kind of job posting or whatever?

There aren't many job postings out there so I will probably do both.

Anonymous User wrote:What's the consensus on waiting for bar results vs. applying now? Any reason to wait?

Also, any thoughts about applying to firms that you had an offer from after 2L OCI but turned down? Address it in the cover letter, or just make the case for why you'd want to be there without mentioning it?

I don't see a reason to wait. Worst case scenario they will tell you to come back after taking the bar.

They likely have all your info in the system already including that you rejected an offer so it's always better to be transparent. Don't know why you rejected but there are legitimate ethical reasons for not accepting a big law offer while you are clerking. Some judges simply won't let you!

Anonymous User wrote: Basically unless you’re clerking in a major district or COA, you won’t receive much in the way of solicitation and your options will be about what they were before you clerked. (Which has been the case for a while, but actual clerks are still surprised to experience it.)

This is helpful to know--thanks! Currently clerking for an MJ in the district I want to remain in. Hopefully I can swing something in the district!

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:What's the consensus on waiting for bar results vs. applying now? Any reason to wait?

Also, any thoughts about applying to firms that you had an offer from after 2L OCI but turned down? Address it in the cover letter, or just make the case for why you'd want to be there without mentioning it?

I don't see a reason to wait. Worst case scenario they will tell you to come back after taking the bar.

They likely have all your info in the system already including that you rejected an offer so it's always better to be transparent. Don't know why you rejected but there are legitimate ethical reasons for not accepting a big law offer while you are clerking. Some judges simply won't let you!

That's what I was leaning towards. I turned down the 2L SA offer because I heard that office had a pattern of taking on more summers interested in lit than they have spots and shuttling the rest to transactional groups, so I didn't think the risk was worth it (and it wasn't, because I heard from one of their SAs that that's exactly what happened). I liked the firm and the lit group, so I'm interested in re-applying coming out of a clerkship.

Anonymous User wrote:oh boy, here we go. Probably ASAP. Did you see last year's thread? Depressing.

Any consensus on the best strategy?

One thing I'd suggest is networking with any former clerks of your judge working at places you might be interested in (assuming you're working for a judge who's been around for at least a few years). Do an informational call/coffee and if things go well you'll have your resume in front of hiring people rather than just going into the general HR pile of clerk applicants. Also, if you're clerking in the market you want to be in, and your judge is ok with it, consider something like joining an inn of court.

BlackAndOrange84 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:oh boy, here we go. Probably ASAP. Did you see last year's thread? Depressing.

Any consensus on the best strategy?

One thing I'd suggest is networking with any former clerks of your judge working at places you might be interested in (assuming you're working for a judge who's been around for at least a few years). Do an informational call/coffee and if things go well you'll have your resume in front of hiring people rather than just going into the general HR pile of clerk applicants. Also, if you're clerking in the market you want to be in, and your judge is ok with it, consider something like joining an inn of court.

What if you are changing markets? I'm on the east coast and my husband was recently transferred to California.

Anonymous User wrote:

BlackAndOrange84 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:oh boy, here we go. Probably ASAP. Did you see last year's thread? Depressing.

Any consensus on the best strategy?

One thing I'd suggest is networking with any former clerks of your judge working at places you might be interested in (assuming you're working for a judge who's been around for at least a few years). Do an informational call/coffee and if things go well you'll have your resume in front of hiring people rather than just going into the general HR pile of clerk applicants. Also, if you're clerking in the market you want to be in, and your judge is ok with it, consider something like joining an inn of court.

What if you are changing markets? I'm on the east coast and my husband was recently transferred to California.

Yeah, the inn of court thing wouldn't apply in that situation. Networking with former clerks of your judge still would. Just do phone calls instead of coffee. It's tougher if your judge doesn't have former clerks in the market you're targeting. A thought would be to reach out to former clerks at firms with offices in California. May not be helpful if hiring isn't at least partly centralized, but a former clerk may have worked with someone in the office you're targeting.

Also, normal networking advice applies here, and I think too many clerks don't do this kind of thing, counting on the boost everyone thinks they'll get. Find alums of your law and UG schools at the firms you're targeting, maybe people with similar backgrounds, practice area interests, etc.

So I'm not missing the point, are you just asking about the feasability of interviewing? Most judges are pretty good about letting clerks take the necessary time to travel for interviews, so long as your work is in order.

When do I need to take the bar? I am licensed in NY, but I plan to go to CA after my clerkship. Should I take the February bar? June bar? If I wait till it gets closer, will the firm pay for my bar fees? Does being licensed earlier help get interviews? I am pretty new to the lateral process so I am not sure how to go about it.

Apologies if this should go in another thread.

Anonymous User wrote:When do I need to take the bar? I am licensed in NY, but I plan to go to CA after my clerkship. Should I take the February bar? June bar? If I wait till it gets closer, will the firm pay for my bar fees? Does being licensed earlier help get interviews? I am pretty new to the lateral process so I am not sure how to go about it.

Apologies if this should go in another thread.

Can't answer all your questions, but I can tell you the firm I'm headed to hardly even brought it up, though my resume clearly stated I was licensed in a different jurisdiction. I think I had a discussion with the HR contact shortly after accepting the offer that I'd be expected to take the bar in that office's jurisdiction. Firm couldn't pay for bar application and exam prep fees up front (I think this goes for all fed clerks, but I'm not certain of it), but reimbursement was included in the terms of the offer letter and was promptly paid once I left the clerkship. My sense is that in bigger jurisdictions, nobody will really care in terms of inviting you for interviews.

ETA: To clarify, it wasn't that the firm wouldn't pay up front, but I couldn't accept the payment during the clerkship. As I understand, the only payments you can accept from law firms during a clerkship are customary reimbursements for interviewing (travel, hotel, meals).

Are firms generally OK with people that have accepted offers, but are clerking before starting, looking around at other firms? I want to start sending out some apps/putting out feelers for other opportunities, but don't want to fuck up the offer I've already accepted.

Anonymous User wrote:Are firms generally OK with people that have accepted offers, but are clerking before starting, looking around at other firms? I want to start sending out some apps/putting out feelers for other opportunities, but don't want to fuck up the offer I've already accepted.

Are you keeping that offer as formally accepted during the term of your clerkship? Some judges have rules against that, as you'd have to recuse yourself from any case that firm is involved in, and it still theoretically presents the possibility of an appearance of a conflict of interest if there's a case before your judge with that firm even if you specifically aren't working on it.

Anyway, even if your judge has a rule against it, you can say your judge does, or that he/she would prefer if you waited until later in the clerkship to make any formal employment arrangements.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Are firms generally OK with people that have accepted offers, but are clerking before starting, looking around at other firms? I want to start sending out some apps/putting out feelers for other opportunities, but don't want to fuck up the offer I've already accepted.

Are you keeping that offer as formally accepted during the term of your clerkship? Some judges have rules against that, as you'd have to recuse yourself from any case that firm is involved in, and it still theoretically presents the possibility of an appearance of a conflict of interest if there's a case before your judge with that firm even if you specifically aren't working on it.

Anyway, even if your judge has a rule against it, you can say your judge does, or that he/she would prefer if you waited until later in the clerkship to make any formal employment arrangements.

Yes, I've kept it as formally accepted for a few months now. Judge has no rules against it and I wanted to have the firm pay for bar prep/living stipend over the summer. I also wouldn't be upset with returning there, it's just there's a few places in the market I'm going to that I'd like to try my hand at and coming off a clerkship seems like the time to do it. I'd think reneging at this point, and using judicial policy as a reason, may raise a red flag given the timeline? Did I miss a critical step here?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Are firms generally OK with people that have accepted offers, but are clerking before starting, looking around at other firms? I want to start sending out some apps/putting out feelers for other opportunities, but don't want to fuck up the offer I've already accepted.

Are you keeping that offer as formally accepted during the term of your clerkship? Some judges have rules against that, as you'd have to recuse yourself from any case that firm is involved in, and it still theoretically presents the possibility of an appearance of a conflict of interest if there's a case before your judge with that firm even if you specifically aren't working on it.

Anyway, even if your judge has a rule against it, you can say your judge does, or that he/she would prefer if you waited until later in the clerkship to make any formal employment arrangements.

Yes, I've kept it as formally accepted for a few months now. Judge has no rules against it and I wanted to have the firm pay for bar prep/living stipend over the summer. I also wouldn't be upset with returning there, it's just there's a few places in the market I'm going to that I'd like to try my hand at and coming off a clerkship seems like the time to do it. I'd think reneging at this point, and using judicial policy as a reason, may raise a red flag given the timeline? Did I miss a critical step here?

If you formally accepted and the firm has agreed to pay your bar prep/living stipend, definitely don't renege. First, it just looks awkward/weird that you got your wires crossed that much with your judge. Second, the firm will likely suspect that you're looking around, which would be fine if you kept the offer open, but now that you've accepted it they expect you to not do that.

On a more practical note, the firm won't directly pay your bar stipend/bar prep if you haven't formally accepted. Instead, they will reimburse it upon joining them after your clerkship. So unless you've got enough cash on hand to get through bar fees, prep, and living expenses, you're going to want to stick to accepted offer status so that the firm will pay.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Are firms generally OK with people that have accepted offers, but are clerking before starting, looking around at other firms? I want to start sending out some apps/putting out feelers for other opportunities, but don't want to fuck up the offer I've already accepted.

Are you keeping that offer as formally accepted during the term of your clerkship? Some judges have rules against that, as you'd have to recuse yourself from any case that firm is involved in, and it still theoretically presents the possibility of an appearance of a conflict of interest if there's a case before your judge with that firm even if you specifically aren't working on it.

Anyway, even if your judge has a rule against it, you can say your judge does, or that he/she would prefer if you waited until later in the clerkship to make any formal employment arrangements.

Yes, I've kept it as formally accepted for a few months now. Judge has no rules against it and I wanted to have the firm pay for bar prep/living stipend over the summer. I also wouldn't be upset with returning there, it's just there's a few places in the market I'm going to that I'd like to try my hand at and coming off a clerkship seems like the time to do it. I'd think reneging at this point, and using judicial policy as a reason, may raise a red flag given the timeline? Did I miss a critical step here?

If you formally accepted and the firm has agreed to pay your bar prep/living stipend, definitely don't renege. First, it just looks awkward/weird that you got your wires crossed that much with your judge. Second, the firm will likely suspect that you're looking around, which would be fine if you kept the offer open, but now that you've accepted it they expect you to not do that.

On a more practical note, the firm won't directly pay your bar stipend/bar prep if you haven't formally accepted. Instead, they will reimburse it upon joining them after your clerkship. So unless you've got enough cash on hand to get through bar fees, prep, and living expenses, you're going to want to stick to accepted offer status so that the firm will pay.

I understand that---I am currently clerking w/ judge who doesn't care about offers, accepted biglaw offer over a year ago, firm already paid for bar prep and stipends, i took the bar, and am now clerking.

What I'm wondering is if looking around, as a clerk who has already accepted another offer, is likely to result in losing the offer i've already accepted. Is it common enough that my firm wouldn't really care? Any anecdotes similar to the situation i'm in? Friends/coworkers who either had no issues with that, or who lost an offer because they looked around while they were clerking?

Good luck all, I clerked 2017-18 and went through the post-clerkship hiring process. I started networking early during my clerkship, and I think it paid dividends later on. My sense was that it is much easier to get interviews when you had an in with a partner or associate as opposed to when you reach out to HR right off the bat. Mass mailing definitely isn't a bad option, but I think it's best to start reaching out to people at the firms that you are most interested in to get your foot in the door.

Re applying before getting bar results: I applied to a number of firms before I had my bar results. My sense was that it had no impact of the firms willingness to interview me, but the firm I eventually got an offer from did ask me to let them know whether I passed the bar when the results were released.

What are people's take on the law clerk resume portals lots of big firms have? I feel like it's prob just a waste of time but I hate closing a possible avenue. Was just thinking of submitting to every one I could and then just to specific postings after when they arise.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Are firms generally OK with people that have accepted offers, but are clerking before starting, looking around at other firms? I want to start sending out some apps/putting out feelers for other opportunities, but don't want to fuck up the offer I've already accepted.

Are you keeping that offer as formally accepted during the term of your clerkship? Some judges have rules against that, as you'd have to recuse yourself from any case that firm is involved in, and it still theoretically presents the possibility of an appearance of a conflict of interest if there's a case before your judge with that firm even if you specifically aren't working on it.

Anyway, even if your judge has a rule against it, you can say your judge does, or that he/she would prefer if you waited until later in the clerkship to make any formal employment arrangements.

Yes, I've kept it as formally accepted for a few months now. Judge has no rules against it and I wanted to have the firm pay for bar prep/living stipend over the summer. I also wouldn't be upset with returning there, it's just there's a few places in the market I'm going to that I'd like to try my hand at and coming off a clerkship seems like the time to do it. I'd think reneging at this point, and using judicial policy as a reason, may raise a red flag given the timeline? Did I miss a critical step here?

Yeah, you probably shouldn't cite judicial policy at this point. I don't think there's much harm in (quietly!) applying to a few places. Obviously, try to be careful to not let your old firm find out -- e.g., don't list any references from there. If you end up accepting a different offer, the old firm will probably ask you to pay back the bar prep/living expenses; you can ask the new firm to reimburse you for those.

Is there a strategy to applying to multiple cities for big law? I worked in biglaw in two cities before my current clerkship, and I'm open to returning to either. I have a slight preference, but I'm much more concerned with getting an offer. I'm also open to going to a third because it's home/where I want to settle and I wouldn't mind returning sooner if it were the only place I got an offer. The threads in previous years on this topic make me nervous so maybe I'm being overly cautious and pessimistic.

It's still very early, but interviews and offers have already been going out at some litigation boutiques in LA.