tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521318064826848712.post8561800427084997965..comments2023-10-19T04:51:53.516-05:00Comments on The Legal Dollar: Do Clerkships Make Financial Sense? Part 3Managing Partnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130017520583425490noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521318064826848712.post-51025679562433826302010-08-31T10:19:14.209-05:002010-08-31T10:19:14.209-05:00Hi Anonymous,
Sure - taking an internship after y...Hi Anonymous, <br />Sure - taking an internship after your first year if you have nothing else is fine. That's a measure to try to at least get something close to relevant experience if you have been blocked from law firms. Note that on the legal scholar side, they probably will not give you any credit for it when attempting to teach law school. However, as a small-town practitioner, that could be useful.<br /><br />I'm not sure about US attorneys, but with regard to making partner it is your business that really counts, not whether you went on a clerkship. A law firm is a business, so brinnging in clients with $1M in business is what counts - not a clerkship.<br /><br />With regard to your competitiveness comment, the fact that the positions are competitive should not discourge people from pursuing them - the fact that they don't do you any real good (outside of a couple of exeptions) is what should discourage people from pursuing them! I have to disagree you you a little and say that it's not like training for an NBA tryout because there is no big payoff from doing a clerkship.Managing Partnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05130017520583425490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521318064826848712.post-26115633814705829722010-08-31T05:13:59.094-05:002010-08-31T05:13:59.094-05:00One alternative to doing a clerkship is to do an u...One alternative to doing a clerkship is to do an unpaid internship with a judge in your first summer of law school. That way, you are investing only 10 weeks instead of a whole year. Probably you would not have gotten a paid legal position during your first summer anyway so the opportunity cost is pretty minimal.<br /><br />But anyway, I basically agree that a clerkship may be worth it if you are gunning for a job like law professor. I would guess it's also pretty helpful if you want to become an assistant US attorney or a partner at a firm like Cravath.<br /><br />The trouble is that these sorts of positions -- AUSA; Cravath partner; law professor -- are so competitive that for most people it's probably not worth the trouble to gun for them. It's like taking a year off from law school to train for an NBA tryout.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com