When To Tell Firm About Second Clerkship/Clerkship Gap Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey, everyone. First, by way of background, I am a recent graduate of a T-14 and a current CoA clerk. I was a 2L SA at a big firm and received an offer to return. Two weeks before my scheduled return, however, I was offered my present clerkship on the CoA in my home state. I started in March of this year. I accepted on the spot, told my firm, and they were fine with it. Since then, I accepted an offer for a district court clerkship in my home district, always part of my plan.

Given the fixed aspects of my schedule, this is what my timeline looks like

March 2019 (Begin CoA Clerkship)
January 2020 (End CoA Clerkship)

August 2020 (Begin D. Ct. Clerkship)
August 2021 (End D. Ct. Clerkship)

A few questions:

First, although the original clerkship was to run for 10 months from March 2019 to January 2020, my judge has suggested that he would allow me to extend the clerkship up to August 2020, the date that I start my D. Ct. clerkship, but he said he is perfectly fine finding someone to replace me in January as originally planned, and his instinct is to have more clerks rather than fewer.

I have a good relationship with my judge, and I would not mind working in this job until August 2020, but, I feel like by 10 months I will start to experience significant diminishing returns in what I am learning from the experience from a practical standpoint. Will future employers look at a 10-month clerkship as strange? Should I ask to stay on until August? Alternatively, should I ask to end in Spring 2020, so I have a round year? Would August leave my judge in the best position?

At this point, my firm only knows about the first clerkship and that it will end as early as January 2020 and as late as August 2020. They do not know about the second clerkship yet. When should I tell them? Do you think they would bring me back from January to August before I start my second clerkship? And if they do, will I make people there mad?

Should I nail down the clerkship duration with my judge first or see if my firm is willing to take me back for eight months first?

So there a few alternative options for me. I could: (1) Finish in January and ask to go back to my firm until August, (2) End in Spring 2020, and spend the summer taking the bar in my home state (which I have always intended to do), or (3) stay in this clerkship until August 2020 and then immediately start my second clerkship.

Fortunately, I have little/no debt from law school, and I started this clerkship right after taking and passing the bar in my firm's state, so a break between clerkship 1 and 2 as a replacement for my scooped bar trip sounds nice, but it is by no means a deal-breaker if that can't happen yet/ever. On the other hand, I loved my firm, and it would be nice to save some extra money so that I can live a little better during my second clerkship. Which option do you think would give me the better outcome overall?

Thanks!

[Elston Gunn]

Staying on in your current clerkship through whatever time you want — I’d probably take the summer to study for the bar — and then going right into the next clerkship will be the easiest option, and I don’t see any issue in doing slightly over 2 years of clerkships. People will just look at it as two ~1 year clerkships. The firm will likely be fine with the second clerkship, and if not you’ll be a very strong candidate with COA/Dist and a 2L SA + offer to return after the summer.

If it’s what you prefer, I do think it would be fine to reach out to your firm, be very transparent about your second clerkship and situation, and ask them what their preference is (ie, if they’d like you to work there for 6-7 months). But you need to take the bar at some point, and it seems like a lot to presumably have to pick up and move across the country for 6 months knowing you’re headed right back.