Clerkship Chances (Targeting) Forum

[ggocat]

Some "clerks" (grad full time) volunteer... for an entire year. Shit u not.

havent heard this, but in this economy wouldnt be surprised. damn. at least i give them credit for trying. i do know recent grads who have to become "staff" clerks (not assigned to any judge). also TTT, but shit, id take that over no job at all.

I knew somebody doing this for the 2006-2007 term. Yikes, right? Even in the good times they were doing this.

[ggocat]

Some "clerks" (grad full time) volunteer... for an entire year. Shit u not.

havent heard this, but in this economy wouldnt be surprised. damn. at least i give them credit for trying. i do know recent grads who have to become "staff" clerks (not assigned to any judge). also TTT, but shit, id take that over no job at all.

Staff clerks aren't TTT. It's a much more public service oriented job, they tend to handle a lot of the pro se cases.

Credited.

I find myself completely agreeing with you 50% of the time and completely disagreeing with you the other 50%.

[270910]

Some "clerks" (grad full time) volunteer... for an entire year. Shit u not.

havent heard this, but in this economy wouldnt be surprised. damn. at least i give them credit for trying. i do know recent grads who have to become "staff" clerks (not assigned to any judge). also TTT, but shit, id take that over no job at all.

Staff clerks aren't TTT. It's a much more public service oriented job, they tend to handle a lot of the pro se cases.

Credited.

I find myself completely agreeing with you 50% of the time and completely disagreeing with you the other 50%.

I'll take those odds

[MrKappus]

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[TTT-LS]

Term law clerks earn about 62k this year, give or take depending on locality adjustments. The full salary table is available here: http://www.uscourts.gov/Careers/Compens ... ables.aspx

Clerks who start out right after graduating start at JS-11, step 1. With one year's worth of post-law school experience + bar passage I believe you get bumped up to JS-12 step 1--a bump of about $13k in a city like Chicago.

Also, staff law clerks for federal courts are emphatically not TTT. Not as high-profile as term clerks for individual judges, but still great gigs substantively and as a credential.

[lawgirl333]

i did not want to start a new thread just for one question, so I decided to post here!

Do you guys know whether law students who clerk for federal judges get paid?

Students do not get paid

[NDFI]

All right, so which has the better post-clerk employment prospects:

Federal Magistrate
State Supreme Court
State Appellate Court

And which of these presents interesting/challenging work?

[rando]

Decent shot at state clerkships.

Maybe US magistrates. Maybe also bankruptcy if you took / will take bankruptcy course(s).

Almost no shot at USDC.

i dont think so brah. fed judges hiring is not that straightforward. OPs credentials definitely wont get him d. ct. in major markets, but in the smaller secondary market im in, this fed court house is jammed full of T25 clerks. mostly from the specific geographic area and top grads from regional schools.

yo OP, y not ask ur district judge for a letter of recommend? im finishing up my judicial internship next week so today i talked to my judge about clerkships, and he happily volunteered to put in a good word for me with the d. ct. judges in the building.

whatevs, brah. particularly referring to OSCAR resume bomb. im not sayin T25 grads cant get clerks. i know several. also know plenty of second tier clerks. but grads tend to be top o the charts gradeswise. many judges just hire top 1-3 students at local skools rather than top quata at a T25 w/o LR.

TBF, i think OP's prior judicial experience will be plus for interviews. ive seen a stack o resumes with district judge's notes on them (post-interview). prior judicial experience was a factor. if OP can network into a fed clerkship as you say (i've seen it happen, many judges are NOT on OSCAR), that's sweet. but "almost no chance" means exactly that. almost. i stick by my post.

FWIW, clerking in the fall, also interned 4 judges during ls and worked with many prior clerks.

Credited. I don't think ggocat saw that OP was top25%.

[atkinsa]

Federal Magistrate
State Supreme Court
State Appellate Court

And which of these presents interesting/challenging work?

Probably depends on the court. Federal Magistrates deals with a lot of motions and preliminary matters, so it likely won't be very interesting unless it is in a district where Magistrates are assigned more substantive matters. Job prospects are probably equal (maybe slightly higher) than State S.Ct., depending on the state. Lower Appellate Courts obviously aren't as good for job prosepects, but it can have more interesting work, depending on how the state appellate system functions. It also might be relevant whether you want to do the appellate type work that you would do on an appellate court.