Judicial Clerkship

A judicial clerkship is a temporary position — typically one or two years — in which a recent law school graduate works as a judge's primary legal advisor and writing assistant. Clerks research the legal issues presented in cases before the court, draft bench memoranda analyzing the arguments, discuss cases with the judge, and draft judicial opinions. It is an apprenticeship in the most literal sense: you work at the elbow of an experienced jurist, observing and participating in the decision-making process at the highest level.

Clerkships exist at every level of the judiciary, and the prestige and competitiveness vary accordingly. Federal appellate clerkships (Courts of Appeals) and Supreme Court clerkships are the most coveted positions in the legal profession. Federal district court clerkships are highly competitive and provide excellent litigation training. State supreme court and appellate clerkships are also valuable, particularly for those who intend to practice in that state. Even state trial court clerkships provide meaningful experience and a credential that distinguishes candidates in the job market.

The educational value of a clerkship is difficult to overstate. You see cases from the judge's perspective, understanding how arguments land, what makes a brief persuasive, and how judicial decision-making actually works behind closed doors. You become a dramatically better legal writer and thinker. You build a relationship with your judge that typically lasts a lifetime — judges take deep pride in their clerks' subsequent careers and serve as mentors, references, and advocates for decades.

Clerkships are also a gateway credential. Federal appellate clerks can essentially choose their subsequent career: BigLaw firms pay substantial clerkship bonuses (often $75,000 to $100,000+), government agencies and public interest organizations actively recruit former clerks, and academia strongly prefers candidates with clerkship experience. The one-to-two year investment pays dividends throughout an entire career.

A federal appellate clerk's day typically begins around 8:30 or 9:00 AM in chambers. The judge has a panel sitting next week, and the clerk is responsible for three of the cases on the calendar. She spends the morning finishing a bench memorandum on a complex habeas corpus petition, analyzing the petitioner's claims of ineffective assistance of counsel against the Strickland standard and the AEDPA's deferential standard of review. The memo runs fifteen to twenty pages, summarizing the facts, the lower court's reasoning, each party's arguments, and her recommended disposition.

After a brief meeting with the judge to discuss the memo — the judge pushes back on one of her conclusions, and they debate the issue for twenty minutes before the judge asks her to research an additional precedent — she turns to a second case involving a statutory interpretation question under the Clean Air Act. She pulls the relevant legislative history and reads three circuit court opinions that have addressed the issue.

In the afternoon, she begins drafting an opinion in a case that was argued two weeks ago. The judge has decided the outcome and given her broad direction on the reasoning. She drafts the factual background and the standard of review sections, knowing the analysis section will require several rounds of revision with the judge. She leaves around 6:30 PM. The work is intellectually intense but the hours are reasonable — typically fifty to fifty-five hours per week, with occasional longer stretches around argument sessions.