What do judicial clerks say they do for a living?

[Renzo]

This reminds me of when I told my girlfriend I had landed a clerkship and she asked me if that meant I had found a job as a secretary. I tried to explain how big of a deal it was to her and she asked me why I would quit a much higher paying job, study a ton, and then take such a low paying "temporary" job. After that I started telling people that I worked for a judge, and one night her boss asked me if I ironed the judge's robes.

Do you iron his robes?

[A'nold]

LOL I'd iron my judge's robes every week if I was guaranteed a federal clerkship.

[OGR3]

LOL I'd iron my judge's robes every week if I was guaranteed a federal clerkship.

I'd do a lot more than iron robes...

[A'nold]

LOL I'd iron my judge's robes every week if I was guaranteed a federal clerkship.

I'd do a lot more than iron robes...

Oh, I hear you man, let's take this to the lounge....


Question: What would you be willing to do if the judge was Janet Reno........

[SteelReserve]

Dude, if you 1) Clerk AND 2) Pass the bar, then you're a lawyer. I'm clerking, and if I pass the bar, I plan on telling people I'm a lawyer if they ask what I do, because, well, that's what I'll be.

Then when they ask "what law do you practice" I say, I work for a judge in the X Division/Level.


Also, like XSpykex said, long before I started the law school app process and such, I had no idea what the hell a law clerk, nor did anyone else.

And aside from wanting to sound more "prestigious" than "law clerk", I can legitimately understand why someone would not want to describe themselves that way to people because to someone not familiar with law, I think they would assume you are a secretary or file clerk. That's what clerking means in just about every other field. So I can understand OP's curiosity.

[YourCaptain]

This reminds me of when I told my girlfriend I had landed a clerkship and she asked me if that meant I had found a job as a secretary. I tried to explain how big of a deal it was to her and she asked me why I would quit a much higher paying job, study a ton, and then take such a low paying "temporary" job. After that I started telling people that I worked for a judge, and one night her boss asked me if I ironed the judge's robes.

I remember trying to explain how great your opportunities are after you clerk for SCOTUS.

Her response,"Why? I mean, aren't you just his assistant or something?"

[vamedic03]

I still think people here are way to hung up on what laypersons think of them. If you get a clerkship and you have to explain it to a layperson, you should be able to do it succinctly in 2 sentences. If they still don't get it, then you probably shouldn't put much weight into what they think of you.