Responsible for more matters, less time to research and to polish writing Write jury instructions, jury questions. Develop appreciation for effective lawyering. Gaining insight into what makes a good brief or persuasive argument. Clerkships make candidates more valuable, but are not a necessity for firm employment. Having a clerkship can help in hiring decisions when employer is on the fence about a candidate.
Clerks have hard time adjusting to junior associate status in firms.
Their experience is only as good as the judge and court in which they clerked. Sometimes their writing is not helped by their clerkship. Candidate may be more focused on academics, not working in firms. Candidate may be putting off working at firms. Candidate may not last long in a firm.