Moving from a clerkship directly into a large corporate legal department is not a common career arc. Clerkships are typically early career positions favored by litigators headed for a life in a law firm, while in-house positions at large corporations are more often mid to late career positions for some litigators and many transactional and regulatory attorneys. In my career, however, I clerked for a federal district judge about four years out of law school and joined an in-house counsel rotational program directly after completing my clerkship. Thus, I had a unique, back to back pairing of two pivotal career experiences.
The two roles are very different day to day. Law clerks have many jobs. They advise their judge on pending cases and research novel legal issues. They often write detailed summaries or opinions for their judge and advocate for their position on a lawsuit. Corporate lawyers spend their days counseling non lawyer employees and executives on undeveloped fact patterns, issue spotting, and creating action plans to mitigate legal risk and impact to the company.
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