Being a Clerk for County Courts Forum

[mugrad06]

Last night I was at a cookout and this girl I use to babysit (still can't believe she will be a jr next yr) is a Criminal Justice major and likes law and government, but doesn't really want to be a lawyer. She'd like to work in a court though in some form of administration or as a clerk, something like that. She approached me because she knew I was a "clerk" for the USAO (I was a student clerk and basically sat there and answered the phones all days, but she wouldn't have known that). I had no idea what to tell her or where to tell her to start looking. How does one become a clerk in a county or even a circiut court? That whole area never really crossed my mind so now I am a little curious and thought maybe someone on TLS would have some suggestions that I could pass along to her. Thanks.

[lawschoolgiant]

Last night I was at a cookout and this girl I use to babysit (still can't believe she will be a jr next yr) is a Criminal Justice major and likes law and government, but doesn't really want to be a lawyer. She'd like to work in a court though in some form of administration or as a clerk, something like that. She approached me because she knew I was a "clerk" for the USAO (I was a student clerk and basically sat there and answered the phones all days, but she wouldn't have known that). I had no idea what to tell her or where to tell her to start looking. How does one become a clerk in a county or even a circiut court? That whole area never really crossed my mind so now I am a little curious and thought maybe someone on TLS would have some suggestions that I could pass along to her. Thanks.

why anon?

[mugrad06]

Last night I was at a cookout and this girl I use to babysit (still can't believe she will be a jr next yr) is a Criminal Justice major and likes law and government, but doesn't really want to be a lawyer. She'd like to work in a court though in some form of administration or as a clerk, something like that. She approached me because she knew I was a "clerk" for the USAO (I was a student clerk and basically sat there and answered the phones all days, but she wouldn't have known that). I had no idea what to tell her or where to tell her to start looking. How does one become a clerk in a county or even a circiut court? That whole area never really crossed my mind so now I am a little curious and thought maybe someone on TLS would have some suggestions that I could pass along to her. Thanks.

why anon?

don't know just like to cuz I can I guess, does it really matter?

[yabbadabbado]

If you mean an administrative position in a local court, those are state/county employees. You either go online to the states website and view their job postings or you go the relevant court's website. Failing that, you call or stop by in person and ask for the person in charge of hiring. You get a paper application and fill it out.

[Matthies]

Last night I was at a cookout and this girl I use to babysit (still can't believe she will be a jr next yr) is a Criminal Justice major and likes law and government, but doesn't really want to be a lawyer. She'd like to work in a court though in some form of administration or as a clerk, something like that. She approached me because she knew I was a "clerk" for the USAO (I was a student clerk and basically sat there and answered the phones all days, but she wouldn't have known that). I had no idea what to tell her or where to tell her to start looking. How does one become a clerk in a county or even a circiut court? That whole area never really crossed my mind so now I am a little curious and thought maybe someone on TLS would have some suggestions that I could pass along to her. Thanks.

I don't know if other schools have such a program but Denver law School has a Master of Legal Administration degree, where you can either specialize in Court Administration or Law Firm Admisntration. Court Admisntrators don't do too bad either, there was a job posting a about a month back for Court Administrator II in a smaller town in Colorado pay was based on education/experience and like 77-99k range.

[yabbadabbado]

The position that Matthies pointed out sounds great, but most court employees aren't making anywhere near that much. Many of them are paid by the hour with little to no benefits and many of the salaried employees in bigger cities are making $30-40K. I'm not saying those jobs aren't worthwhile, just don't give your friend the impression that she is going to be making the kind of $ Matthies posted right out of UG with BA in Criminal Justice.

As for the MA degree, I'd be very leery of getting something like that. I'd wager that the high paying jobs in courts would rather hire an experienced candidate over a freshly minted MA grad in their mid-20s.

[Matthies]

The position that Matthies pointed out sounds great, but most court employees aren't making anywhere near that much. Many of them are paid by the hour with little to no benefits and many of the salaried employees in bigger cities are making $30-40K. I'm not saying those jobs aren't worthwhile, just don't give your friend the impression that she is going to be making the kind of $ Matthies posted right out of UG with BA in Criminal Justice.

As for the MA degree, I'd be very leery of getting something like that. I'd wager that the high paying jobs in courts would rather hire an experienced candidate over a freshly minted MA grad in their mid-20s.

Court Adminsitrators are not clerks. Here are some examples of Court Admistrators postions

http://jobview.usajobs.gov/GetJob.aspx?JobID=88197217
http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/ ... G6GH2S8657
http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/ ... 8C548VWL55

These jobs require equalivlant to GS9 experience, which is basically master's or equivalent graduate degree OR 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree

[Anonymous User]

I saw that Masters degree when I did just a basic google search for court administration. I too would be a little leary about telling my friend to get a Masters like that. I have a MA and yeah those goverment jobs that you can qualify for based on education would be awesome but I have applied to over 40 federal jobs over the last yr and nothing, someone is always more qualifed than me even with a MA and 7 yrs clerical/secretarial experience. Even for those jobs you posted, I don't even qualify for those. Hardly think my 20 yr old friend would.

[Matthies]

I saw that Masters degree when I did just a basic google search for court administration. I too would be a little leary about telling my friend to get a Masters like that. I have a MA and yeah those goverment jobs that you can qualify for based on education would be awesome but I have applied to over 40 federal jobs over the last yr and nothing, someone is always more qualifed than me even with a MA and 7 yrs clerical/secretarial experience. Even for those jobs you posted, I don't even qualify for those. Hardly think my 20 yr old friend would.

Well all I can say is I know two people graduating this year from the program and both have jobs in court admistration. but nither applied to them, the whole point of going for a speciliced degree like that is the coatcts you make in the program that lead to jobs. But you asked for advice, so far that's I'll I got about how to land a job with the courts.

[angiej]

In my county, a lot of the clerks have either an associates or bachelors or a paralegal certificate. I would recommend that she contact her local court and see if she can do a work-study position with them, volunteer to work for college-credit or something to that degree. I had the AMAZING opportunity to clerk for a county judge last semester. I had taken to cjus classes with him and he knew of my work experience/credentials and let me do legal research for him. It was so much more than I had expected and I got to know everyone at the courthouse really well. That sort of networking would be a huge help for her.

[articulably suspect]

Tell her to check this out: Judicial Fellowship Program http://www.csus.edu/calst/judicial_fell ... ogram.html

[Anonymous User]

I can tell you that it seems like you might get sick of it quick (your friend I should say) due to mundaneness. But, if she's just looking for a cushy job and not a career, it's pretty awesome..hang out with cool judges, work 30-35 hrs a week, tons of vacation, job flexibility.


I know this because I'm interning in state court judgeship right now

[yabbadabbado]

+1 on this. A position that allows her to rotate through different departments would be good too.

I I would recommend that she contact her local court and see if she can do a work-study position with them, volunteer to work for college-credit or something to that degree.

[schmohawk]

Filing candidacy papers would be step one. Saving money for the campaign, step two.

[YCrevolution]

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