When is clerking for a magistrate judge worth it? Why clerk for a magistrate judge? Am I too old to clerk? Forum

[Anonymous User]

have been connected with a magistrate judge for a potential clerkship opportunity next fall (after 1 year of work). (i'm not going into details but was basically told, if I'm interested, it's there). It is in the NDGA. my understanding is that the mag judge has a substantial criminal docket and takes the lead on employment cases.

I graduate law school this year. I'm satisfied with my job. It's a big 4 employment firm (think littler or ogletree rather than fisher phillips) which I like, in a city I wanted and i'll be reunited with my partner after long distance. But I also really enjoy regulatory/admin law work. Also of note, the city of my job and clerkship are in different places.

I have above average grades from a T-30 (really turned it around after 1L fall), so i'm not sure an article III clerkship is in the cards.

But I think I'd love clerking. i did an internship with an article III judge and loved it. I loved the vibes, the research and the writing. very much a nerd in this way.

I'm also an older law student — think later 20s/early 30s.

So I'm asking:

Would you do the mag clerkship?

What should I view as the deciding factor in my decision?

Are mag judges really that looked down upon even though the work is substantively the same?

is there anyway I could pivot to doing the admin/regulatory work I wanted? Or would I have to do another clerkship?

Am I too old to clerk? Or rather, too old to clerk for the magistrate judge?

[soft blue]

Hitting some of these.

• People don't look down on magistrate judge clerkships per se. They just don't carry the same prestige / etc from an Article III because they're less selective and because they do work that's seen as less appealing / interesting (e.g. discovery disputes) - the thinking is that nobody would take a magistrate slot if an AIII slot was available . But experience with a magistrate will likely be useful in actual litigation practice - it's not like it's a waste of time. And many magistrate judges are folks who were well-respected in practitioners for many years; defer to others but I've generally been favorably impressed.
• There's not some automatic age cutoff for clerkships. Lots of people clerk in your age range.
• It depends on how you clock admin / regulatory work. If you mean a DC Biglaw firm where you're doing general APA litigation on key issues for industry groups, that's extremely selective (much more attorney supply than attorney demand) and a magistrate clerkship + your educational resume + a year of employment litigation is not a competitive package (and unfortunately it is difficult to see anything you do in the short-term changing that). It does not strike me far-fetched that you could switch to a state-level admin/reg practice or a a more specialized federal regulatory practice where you focus on one topic and do the APA, etc., work in there as part of your day to day.
• Whether you should clerk or not is really a life question. Do you want to move to a different city and back to a LDR for a year? Are you willing to take the pay cut? Would you be OK doing this if (as is probably likely) it is long term career-neutral but an interesting/enjoyable experience? (A subplot to this is - what do you think the day to day in chambers is like? Is this magistrate seen as a good boss? Do you think you'd work well with them? You're in close quarters for a year, so these things matter.)

[CanadianWolf]

This matter is a personal decision; irrelevant as to which option another would pursue.

Your age is not unusual for this type of position.

From a financial perspective, can you afford to do the clerkship ?

Have you discussed this option with an experienced attorney in the firm which is your other option ? How does this firm view magistrate clerkships for incoming attorneys ?