ALJ Summer Clerkship Forum

[Anonymous User]

What do TLS think of summer clerkships under federal Administrative Law Judges? Where do these clerkships fall from an employer's perspective compared to other state and federal court summer clerkships? Does it depend on the agency? Thanks!

[rad lulz]

Which summer, 1L or 2L

And what do you want to do, careerwise

[Anonymous User]

Which summer, 1L or 2L

And what do you want to do, careerwise

Well its my 2L summer, but I am doing a JD/MBA. So, I will have another 2L summer before I graduate.

Careerwise, I want to work in private law practice. Preferably some corporate or securities law, but I'm open to most practice areas.

Does the ALJ clerkship seem like a good idea?

[rad lulz]

Which summer, 1L or 2L

And what do you want to do, careerwise

Well its my 2L summer, but I am doing a JD/MBA. So, I will have another 2L summer before I graduate.

Careerwise, I want to work in private law practice. Preferably some corporate or securities law, but I'm open to most practice areas.

Does the ALJ clerkship seem like a good idea?

Well school is ending so if that's your only option you should take it

I highly doubt anyone is go nuts over it but what other options do you have

[Anonymous User]

Which summer, 1L or 2L

And what do you want to do, careerwise

Well its my 2L summer, but I am doing a JD/MBA. So, I will have another 2L summer before I graduate.

Careerwise, I want to work in private law practice. Preferably some corporate or securities law, but I'm open to most practice areas.

Does the ALJ clerkship seem like a good idea?

Well school is ending so if that's your only option you should take it

I highly doubt anyone is go nuts over it but what other options do you have

Well, I agree with that. My real curiosity was about the general perception of the job in the legal community.

[hiima3L]

You might have to explain why you were interested in that subject matter area. Otherwise, working for a judge is always decent to great experience and you can spin it favorably most of the time.

[kalvano]

And be sure to call it a clerkship on your résumé.

[Total Litigator]

ALJ workloads tend to be pretty specialized when compared to a traditional judges' workloads, which deal with a much larger variety of cases.

Therefore, I would think that an employer who worked primarily in that ALJ's administrative law area would view the experience as relevant and demonstrative of an interest in that particular area of law. On the other hand, an employer who does not perform any or much work in the ALJ's area of law or with administrative law in general would probably not be particularly impressed by the experience.

If you want to get into 'traditional' litigation before courts of law, I would probably avoid taking on an ALJ summer clerkship as your first legal internship. On the other hand, if you are interested in that ALJ's particular area of administrative law, or, to a lesser degree, administrative law in general, it would probably be a beneficial experience.

(I currently work for administrative law judges)