Legal Commentary

According to a recent post on Concurring Opinions by Dave Hoffman (http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2010/09/the-quickly-unraveling-clerkship-market.html), the "law clerk hiring plan" is unraveling--fewer and fewer clerkships are being filled via this system.  Dave highlights several reasons why this is occurring, but one observation that particularly caught my attention is that judges are increasingly hiring practicing lawyers (to whom the hiring plan explicitly does not apply) rather than 3Ls.  

This absolutely seems to be the case.  I saw it developing when I was clerking on the Second Circuit from 2005-06, and now that I direct a program at Pace that places students in judicial externships, I frequently hear from students that the law clerks with whom they are working have some previous practice experience (at least a year, if not more). 

I can definitely understand why judges are interested in hiring clerks with practice experience.  I myself clerked twice -- for a district judge right after law school; and then for a circuit judge after having practiced at a law firm for two years in between -- and I know that all of my previous experience  helped make me a better clerk the second time around.  What's more, with the way things are in the legal market currently, it seems inevitable that increasing numbers of practicing attorneys will be applying for clerkships, making it easy for judges to fill their openings from these ranks.   (That judges can feel completely free to make these hires on their own schedules, as opposed to through the "law clerk hiring plan," probably -- and understandably --  makes it even more appealing.) 

Is there any downside to this?   It makes sense from several perspectives, but I still feel a  little sad about the idea that clerkships right after law school are becoming an increasing rarity.   It sounds corny, but clerking is a genuinely inspiring way to begin your career in the law (not to mention a great learning experience)--at least it was for me and many of my fellow law school graduates.  So I can't help feeling that something is being lost here, but I'm not sure what the answer is.