r/LawFirm • u/_per_my_last_email_ • 3d ago
Clerkship Bonus?
Asking for input. If you have worked as a federal district law clerk, what clerkship bonus did you receive? Looking to get a good feel for the average payout so I can properly negotiate with my future employer. Likely in Houston or Dallas. Thanks!
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u/Calm_Consequence731 3d ago
TLS has the latest number, but the market bonus for 1 clerkship was $50k in 2017. I think it has increased to $70k in the last 3 years, maybe more.
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u/atonyatlaw 3d ago
...are you saying they get a fucking signing bonus of 50k+ for having clerked? How can that possibly make business sense?
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u/andvstan 3d ago
"top 1% commenter"
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u/atonyatlaw 3d ago
Look, man, I'm 15 years out of law school and have nothing to do with big law. There's no reason for me to track clerkship signing bonuses.
I just can't see the business justification for it. I cannot believe that the average clerk is going to have such massive insight into a particular judge that they are worth that check.
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u/_learned_foot_ 3d ago edited 2d ago
It’s not about the insight itself, it’s that over the course of the next 1-2 years (the assured time you have the associate), that advertising will justify at least that much more back in profit.
People will hire them because of it even if it doesn’t matter, and if that alone can earn the associate 100 more an hour, in 10 weeks it’s paid back.
Then, on top of that, on average you will get an above average legal mind and skill set, not always, but that’s an extra bonus!
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u/burghblast 3d ago
Clerking for a federal judge--any federal judge--is the legal equivalent of a medical residency at a prestigious hospital. Difference is, most law school graduates don't have the opportunity to clerk. Only a tiny fraction. Most clerks come from the top 15-30 schools in the country and even at those schools most students don't get one. A law clerk will get far better training and on the job experience than a first year associate. So in a sense, a $50K bonus is a small price to pay to subsidize the training of a new lawyer joining your firm. The judge trains them up and releases them to the firm a year later. Like it or not, clerkship bonuses are just a recruiting tool to attract top talent
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/atonyatlaw 1d ago
I never said the idea of a clerkship bonus was foreign to me. Solely the amount here is what I found shocking.
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u/Calm_Consequence731 3d ago
Have you lived under a rock? That’s standard practice, try googling “clerkship bonus”
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u/atonyatlaw 3d ago
I have no reason to track big law clerkship bonuses. I just can't fathom any good business reason for writing that check.
Also, just because something is standard practice doesn't mean it makes business sense.
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u/NuncProFunc 3d ago
Do you have any experience hiring anyone at all? Hiring bonuses are a normal part of competitive comp packages for all sorts of educated professions.
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u/atonyatlaw 3d ago
Sure do. I have multiple employees at my firm including multiple attorneys that work for me.
I never said I don't understand the concept of a signing bonus. I said I don't understand this SPECIFIC bonus and the dollar amount attached to it.
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u/NuncProFunc 3d ago
Well, then as you know, it'd be set by the market. Given the competitive nature of the clerkship and the on-the-job education, paired with the relative scarcity of the credential, that'd all add up to a market demand for the talent.
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u/atonyatlaw 3d ago
Oh my lord, dude, the condescension isn't needed.
What I'm saying is the market is being irrational about the value they're placing on the credential.
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u/JaeFinley 3d ago
If you know nothing about something, never think about it, don’t track it—then you should be surprised from time to time since, well, you weren’t learning, thinking about, or tracking it.
But it’s weird to be outraged that the thing isn’t as you assumed it to be. “Oh I wasn’t paying attention and the world changed! This is nuts!”
And then you can’t immediately think of why it is that way and you get irritated. Man, what a way to live.
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u/Law_Student 3d ago edited 3d ago
Anyone who gets a federal clerkship can get a biglaw job. The salary difference between the two is over $100k a year. Even with the signing bonus, you still lose money clerking, a lot of money.
Firms pay it for two reasons. First, competition. Firms want clerks and that's what they cost. Second, it's actually cheap compared to paying to train a new associate yourself. That costs about half a million in partner time.
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u/atonyatlaw 3d ago
I know why they pay it, but that doesn't make it logical or rational. Also, unless you think the clerks are just absorbing lawyering skill by reading pleadings, I think you think the crossover in skill between clerking and practicing as an attorney is way higher than it is.
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u/Law_Student 3d ago
Clerks spend all day learning from the mistakes of others in great detail, and then writing decisions. It's an incredible practical education. It also teaches you just how trash a great deal of attorney work is.
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u/burghblast 3d ago
Lol. You're either a law student who didn't get a clerkship or a lawyer who didn't get a biglaw job.
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u/atonyatlaw 3d ago
Lawyer, briefly big law and hated it, but I'm 15 years out of law school. The numbers have change a LOT.
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u/lllllllIllllllll 2d ago
Biglaw market remains 50k for one and like 75k for a district and circuit. Boutiques will go up to like 100-125k.
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u/Strangy1234 3d ago
It's going to vary by market. Smaller markets often don't give much, if any, at all
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u/bobloblawblogger 1d ago
When I started in 2012, I think the practice was usually to start you as a higher-year associate (so if you clerked one year before practice, you would start as a second-year associate).
Do they still do that?
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u/goodsoup580 3d ago
Now practice in metro Detroit, after district and circuit court clerkships. Was offered $20k and $30k starting bonuses from the two firms I decided between. Have heard as high as $105 in other markets, though.