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Academic

: The Faculty Lounge

Cravath Defers Start Dates. Stigma Ends. Judicial Clerkship Crush Begins.

By Dan Filler

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It took a while, but the Cravath ceiling has finally shattered.. On Friday, the firm announced that the incoming class (2009) would be offered a voluntary one year deferral of start date. That's the good news. The bad news is that current summer associates - set to graduate in 2010 - are being told that they won't begin work until Fall, 2011.

This means that any stigma around deferred start dates is now officially gone. Not that much remained. But for better or worse, Cravath is still the gold standard for "how a super-elite firm behaves." This move will give cover to other superelites that would like to defer hiring as well.

Of course, it's also an opportunity for competitors to fight Cravath for the mantle. But that's a tough nut. Cravath is Cravath because it gets elite clients, charges a lot, does great work (while working attorneys to the bone), and is virtually the market leader in compensation. This deferral doesn't put quality at risk. Cravath can easily afford to lose a few of its associates from this summer's class. And it's not like Cravath gets the singularly best associates anyway. Ten or fifteen firms in the U.S. hire comparable quality associates. It will take more than deferred start dates - or even layoffs - to undermine the firm's core quality. Pay cuts are a dicier matter because, if other firms hold out, this could create long term quality challenges for the firm. And it might undermine the high-salary reputation that Cravath has carefully cultured over decades.

The biggest short term impact will be in the area of judicial clerkships. Other firms will surely follow Cravath (and Skadden.) This will create a pool of talented law grads who want a high-status job that perfectly fits a one year deferral. For several weeks, now, I've been predicting a judicial clerkship application crush. Based on the following quote from the Harvard career office, responding to news of these deferrals, the crush has now arrived. From ATL:

One option we would like to highlight is a judicial clerkship, which conveniently tends to be for one year, is valued by the full spectrum of legal employers, and is a fantastic job in itself. You can find lots of background information in the clerkships part of the OCS website. Be sure to consider all types of clerkship opportunities, including those at state and specialty courts, because the competition is likely to be fierce this season. It is not too late to jump into the clerkship application process. The first thing you would need to do is arrange any faculty recommendation letters as soon as possible. Even though we had an internal deadline in April for this step, many faculty members will be receptive to later requests.

In this tough environment, clerkship applicants will want any information they can find. And it looks like most that information can now be found at LawClerkAddict.

Image: Pickens County Courthouse, Alabama. Not where most Cravath summer associates will be clerking in 2010-11. But this one is haunted!

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on June 15, 2009 (boomark / email).