Personal Factors to Consider While Obtaining a Clerkship

Will you enjoy the research and memoranda- and opinion-writing tasks of a law clerk? If you have never liked writing and researching, a clerkship is not for you. If you do, however, and if you have the grades and desire, clerkships offer an exciting academic experience for you to enjoy before leaving (perhaps forever) the world of academia for the world of private practice. A one- or two-year clerkship could be the ideal transitional job. However, as a government job, it probably will not pay nearly as much as you could command in the private-practice job market, so be certain that your financial status permits you this luxury before committing.

Also, be flexible with your relocation plans if you really want a clerkship because you will probably have to be willing to travel. Clerkships are scarce, and in applying to different judges you should take into consideration the court s geographical location. Would you move to Florida for a federal court of appeals clerkship? Anywhere out of state? How about for a federal district court clerkship? Judges in more popular areas, such as San Francisco or New York, have their choice of applicants from the best law schools in the country. Consequently, it is easier to obtain a clerkship in a less popular area.


If, after taking into serious consideration your qualifications, aptitudes, desires, career plans, finances, and short-term residency plans, you decide you want a clerkship, you have some homework to do. Once you have narrowed the field of courts for which you would be willing to work, review the profiles of judges from those particular courts. Decide whether any exhibit exceptional backgrounds that either attract you to or repel you from the thought of working for them. Although political affiliation should not really enter into the picture, compatibility and a comfort level with the judge you will work for is important.

Work through your school's clerkship committee (if it has one) and solicit advice from the professors comprising it. Find out their views of particular courts, locations, and judges. A clerkship committee will help in many ways to guide you through the clerkship application process. It will facilitate the forwarding of your transcripts, recommendations, and writing samples, and may even compose a letter to the judges highlighting your outstanding qualifications and abilities.

If you take advantage of a clerkship committee s services during your clerkship quest (which we highly recommend), scrupulously observe its rules. One common rule is that applicants accept the first clerkship offer they receive so that judges will not be left hanging (unavoidable pun) while accepted applicants wait for a better offer. This is only fair, and it has the salutary effect of forcing a clerkship applicant to think through his choices of court, judge, and location rather than proceeding in a shotgun approach that unnecessarily defers these crucial decisions until later.

If you decide to pursue a judicial clerkship, you should be aware that the application process begins earlier than you would probably expect. For federal clerkships, students usually send out their resumes in January or February of their second year. Federal judges generally hire their clerks during the spring, although some prolong the decision-making process into the summer. State court judges vary in the timing of their decisions, and your schools clerkship committee should be able to provide you with the relevant deadlines. Alternately, you may call the judge's chambers and ask one of the present clerks.

Finally, a little luck is necessary to get a desired clerkship. Interviews are often the applicants proving ground-the process by which the judge decides from among candidates with comparable credentials.

Some judges delay their decisions on which applicants to interview. Accordingly, if you get an interview with a judge in a particular city, you may want to call the chambers of the other judges in that city to whom you have submitted applications to request interviews while you are in the area.

Success in interviews depends on articulateness, maturity, and a great many other intangibles. Be honest, enthusiastic, and relaxed, but above all, be yourself. The interview is also your opportunity to learn as much as possible about the judge and the clerkship, such as the work load placed upon clerks, the level and type of responsibility given to clerks, and what type of travel (if any) is involved in the job. The judge's present law clerks are additional sources of information on these issues.
 

• See Law Schools That Send the Most Attorneys to United States Supreme Court Clerkships for more information about getting a clerkship in the US Supreme Court.

Clerkships are obviously not for everyone, but they do offer an extremely worthwhile learning experience that is increasingly sought after by the most outstanding law students. A vast number of prominent law professors and attorneys began their careers at the elbow of a judge. At its best, a clerkship will embody the traditional ideal of active interchange between a seasoned, experienced judge and a bright, talented young lawyer short on experience but long on enthusiasm, ambition, legal theories, and ideas. Therefore, if a clerkship of some kind is a realistic possibility for you, by all means give it some serious consideration. Think through your short- and long-term career goals, study the judges and their courts, and solicit advice from lawyers and professors whose judgment you trust. Then follow your instincts and desires.