I may have to end my clerkship a little earlier (e.g., a month). How bad is it to broach this subject? How should I approach it? Anybody have experience in this?
If anything, I would definitely broach it sooner rather than later to make sure your replacement is able to step in.
Not sure what the issue is – if it’s like an employment thing – but either way it’s up to your judge. I’d go talk to him/her now. How reasonable he/she is depends on the judge, so.
Both my judges really didn’t care about my end date and left it up to me and my successor to negotiate. So if you can get your successor on board with your chosen date, there may well be no problem. Depending on when the expected end date was, and if your successor’s taking the bar this summer, a month might be cutting it a little close, though. Yes, raise it with judge, and sooner rather than later. I had one judge who would have been willing to go a week without a second clerk (the other was a career clerk), but not longer. Probably depends on how many are in chambers and what the docket looks like during that time (and if you’re at a trial court, whether there are trials set/when).