There’s been so much excellent discussion of clerking over the past few days. As a 2x clerk (once, a first gen-er who didn’t know clerking was a thing), who takes great reward paying @ianrkerr mentorship forward (DMs always open), I’d love to contribute to this convo: /n

1. All that a clerkship says about anyone on its own is that they clerked. Folks will think and say differently but that’s honestly all it says.

2. Getting a clerkship hinges on a lot including sheer luck & privilege. Also (& this fits in both of the first two categories) mentorship. I have the mentorship & support of @ianrkerr and others to thank for the fact I clerked.

There’s a lot of inside knowledge at play

3. Clerking can be an amazing, or not so amazing, experience. It’s definitely not where you go to effect change in the law during that year. It is a legal education, for better or sometimes worse.

4. That said, thinking full career, if you want to effect change in the law it is very useful to understand how judges approach legal issues, which you learn in spades in a clerkship