Best of Three Worlds?

Ann Israel

12-11-2012

I am a Columbia grad who is in the middle of the first of two federal clerkships. My first clerkship is with a district court, my second, with a prestigious judge on a U.S. Court of Appeals.

After the completion of my clerkships, I plan to return to NYC, and to go to work for one of three firms. I am interested in developing a career as a firm litigator, and I am also interested in eventually leaving private practice (at least for a few years) to go to a U.S. Attorney's Office.

My options are as follows (and I assume the names of the firms will be omitted):

(1) Return to (a firm that is made up of several merged firms) where I spent my 1L summer.
(2) Return to (a top tier New York firm) where I spent my second summer.
(3) Go to (another top tier New York firm). I know a number of the top litigation partners at this firm through Columbia programs, informational interviewing during my 1L year and the like. I keep in contact with a partner, and I know the firm is eager to have me join them, with interviewing for a post-clerkship position basically just a formality.

I have outstanding offers from (1) and (2), and the offers will remain open until next summer. I enjoyed both of my summer positions, but I'm not sure whether (firm #1) is a good place to begin a career, nor am I sure if I would enjoy being an associate at (firm #2), despite its sterling reputation for litigation and the interest-level of the work there. And I don't know which place would be best for me as I return to NY to begin my career as a third-year associate. I am also uncertain as to which firm would enhance my prospects of becoming a prosecutor in the future.