Judicial law clerks are essentially lawyers who assist judges in legal research and writing of legal memoranda, opinions, and related documents. Thousands of judicial clerkships (jobs) are available at state and federal levels. Although the salary of a judicial law clerk is lower than that of jobs in private law firms and even other government legal jobs, it is excellent training and experience for moving on to other legal occupations with a competitive salary.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were about 25,000 judicial law clerks in May of 2010. These clerkship jobs provided a median yearly salary of $39,780 at that time. Although that is on the lower end of income figures for a lawyer, many recent law-school graduates get their first job clerking for a judge. This means that a law degree is the only major requirement for work as a judicial law clerk.
However, it is nice to be able to promote yourself a little better than that, as competition even these jobs is stiff among law-school graduates. Law students should take as many courses in legal research and writing as possible. These skills translate to most areas of law practice, so they are also good for just about any job as a lawyer. Some law schools also have additional writing courses, such as scholarly writing. This would also be good practice for jobs as a judicial law clerk.
Federal judicial clerkships are going to be difficult to get, especially those with the federal circuit courts and the United States Supreme Court. But there are many local and state judges that hire for clerk positions. The BLS study found that 9,050 of these clerking jobs were with the federal government, and 4,360 were with state governments.
Get with your law school’s Career Services office to find out about openings for judicial law clerks. Be aware that many graduates apply to literally hundreds of jobs before getting accepted for their first position out of law school. There is a good chance that a judicial law clerkship may be that first job if you apply to all open positions.
Resources:
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Jobs and Salary for Judicial Law Clerks