Navigating Recruitment with Gap Year Forum
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Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are sharing sensitive information about clerkship applications and clerkship hiring. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned."
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Anonymous User
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Navigating Recruitment with Gap Year
I'm graduating from Y/S/H in the spring and am clerking on the Second Circuit in New Haven in '25. I have good (not perfect) grades. I split between MTO and KH this summer. Though I'm still waiting to figure out whether I'll be able to go to one of the firms with which I summered, I'm wondering two things. First, does this forum have any advice on recruiting for next year if that becomes necessary. Second, how can I put myself in a good position for a boutique after my clerkship? I'm still considering another clerkship in '26. Thanks in advance for any advice!
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Anonymous User
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Re: Navigating Recruitment with Gap Year
There's not much you can do about the gap year. Firms (particularly those with lots of clerks) understand that this has become much more common as a result of the Plan, and won't hold it against you. I applied to a few firms during 3L fall with a two-year gap before clerking, and nobody seemed to raise an eyebrow. And now that I'm on the other side end of the process, my firm seems to view it as a cost of trying to recruit clerks from districts in major metro areas. Just be transparent that you have the clerkship coming up in '25, and express an interest in working for a firm after clerking (so that it's plausible that you'll go back).Anonymous User wrote: ↑Sat Jan 06, 2024 10:19 amI'm graduating from Y/S/H in the spring and am clerking on the Second Circuit in New Haven in '25. I have good (not perfect) grades. I split between MTO and KH this summer. Though I'm still waiting to figure out whether I'll be able to go to one of the firms with which I summered, I'm wondering two things. First, does this forum have any advice on recruiting for next year if that becomes necessary. Second, how can I put myself in a good position for a boutique after my clerkship? I'm still considering another clerkship in '26. Thanks in advance for any advice!
Many lit boutiques pitch themselves as trial boutiques, and district court experience is a plus. (I also think that unless you're trying to be an appellate specialist, a district court clerkship is far more useful for actual practice). So consider trying to line up a district court clerkship in DDC/SDNY/EDNY/NDCA/NDIL/CDCA and the like, and try to keep your grades up next semester.
