Also, no repo-man for brains.
Sure. It goes by "BigLaw".
Alas, that's not in the cards, long term at least.
On the subject of post-grad employment, my adviser has some interesting advice. For what I want to do, she said the best thing to do would be to get a supreme court clerkship. Of course, I should get a feeder one first. For that, incredible grades and law review would be expected. Thanks adviser. You're great. She said the same thing to a classmate of mine who is interested in an entirely different field.
Hmm. Recent graduates really do make far better advisors.
Who'd have thunk it?
Academia, right?
Yea, academia for me, appellate litigation for a friend. It certainly helps for both (golden ticket?), but is necessary for neither. I think that COA clerkship is a prereq for appellate lit., but not necessarily for academia (many more ways to skin that cat). In any case, I'll probably go for a clerkship if I can.
I don't know about appellate litigation, but my bro has a very interesting argument about why clerkships are overrated generally.
The exceptions, of course, are academia and future federal judiciary.
Share please 
First, they're not cost-effective. Bonuses for COA clerkships at Covington, Skadden, Sullivan, Baker Botts, Williams, and Latham (the only firms for which he has confirmation) barely cover interest -- they don't touch the opportunity cost of foregoing a 125k starting salary for a 50k clerkship. SCOTUS bonuses at Latham might, but he doesn't know any SCOTUS clerks (yet), so he can't tell for certain.
Second, with the exception of a few fields like academia, it doesn't substantially help your career. Making partner has little to do with your past achievements and
everything to do with rainmaking.