<p>Clerkships go to students who graduate high in their law school class. Also, they generally go to students right out of law school except the US Supreme Court often takes them from other clerkships, e.g., a judge from that court may hire a clerk who is finishing a clerkship from a federal appellate court. The route is seldom to go to a law firm first and then to clerkship and you should not expect to get a federal clerkship that way. When law firms hire clerks, the firms usually give them credit for the years of the clerkship.</p>
<p>Choosing a lower level law school over a top law school (if you can get into one) does not mean you are going to have that much less competition to be in the top at the lower school. Also, you should not assume there is a direct relationship between being tops in college and then being tops in law school. The law school rolls of flunk outs and drop outs are full of straight A college students. With a top law school, you have a better chance of being hired by the big law firms. Finally, any assumption you have that Duke may be easier than Harvard is incorrect.</p>