Clerkships and Bar Passage Forum

[???]

Anyone have any idea about the rules for clerkships and bar passage? For instance, if you clerk at a state court, do you normally have to have passed that state's bar?

[A. Nony Mouse]

It's up to the judge. As a clerk, you don't practice (you generally can't), so you don't need to be admitted - in fact, I knew state clerks who were admitted but went on inactive status so they didn't have to pay for CLEs. However, some judges want their clerks to have taken the bar before starting, although I don't know of any who care about where you're admitted.

[Anonymous User]

I did a two year USDC clerkship as an alum. I went inactive during the full calendar year that I was at the clerkship because it was $100 cheaper.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I was going to go inactive during my state clerkship, but I did find one government honors program that wanted x amount of "active" bar membership experience. So that's just one thing to keep in mind, depending on your job goals.

[Anonymous User]

Does bar membership during your clerkship affect your eligibility for JSP or other government pay scale increases?

[tycoga8118]

So I'm thinking I will take the bar the summer before my clerkship. Assuming that I do not get a pre-clerkship summer at a firm (probably a safe assumption I think?), I would just front the costs of everything, but would a firm that I go to post-clerkship reimburse me for those expenses/summer stipend/whatever?

[A. Nony Mouse]

Does bar membership during your clerkship affect your eligibility for JSP or other government pay scale increases?

Yes - sorry, I always forget about this since I came into the clerkship with bar passage (and the OP mentioned state specifically). You don't need to be admitted to start as as a federal clerk (JSP-11), but you do need to be admitted to get JSP-12.

(not ignoring tycoga, I just don't know the answer because I'm going to a government gig so I just ate the costs for Barbri.)

[Anonymous User]

Does bar membership during your clerkship affect your eligibility for JSP or other government pay scale increases?

Yes - sorry, I always forget about this since I came into the clerkship with bar passage (and the OP mentioned state specifically). You don't need to be admitted to start as as a federal clerk (JSP-11), but you do need to be admitted to get JSP-12.

(not ignoring tycoga, I just don't know the answer because I'm going to a government gig so I just ate the costs for Barbri.)

So does that mean if you're clerking for 2+ years you won't get a pay increase unless you've passed the bar prior to your first year? Or unless you've passed the bar prior to your second year? Or otherwise?

[A. Nony Mouse]

Does bar membership during your clerkship affect your eligibility for JSP or other government pay scale increases?

Yes - sorry, I always forget about this since I came into the clerkship with bar passage (and the OP mentioned state specifically). You don't need to be admitted to start as as a federal clerk (JSP-11), but you do need to be admitted to get JSP-12.

(not ignoring tycoga, I just don't know the answer because I'm going to a government gig so I just ate the costs for Barbri.)

So does that mean if you're clerking for 2+ years you won't get a pay increase unless you've passed the bar prior to your first year? Or unless you've passed the bar prior to your second year? Or otherwise?

You have to have passed the bar prior the second year - basically, you can't go up to JSP-12 until you have bar passage (and 1 year of experience): --LinkRemoved--. However, I believe whether you can get a salary increase for the second year of a clerkship can be at your judge's discretion.

[Anonymous User]

Does bar membership during your clerkship affect your eligibility for JSP or other government pay scale increases?

Yes - sorry, I always forget about this since I came into the clerkship with bar passage (and the OP mentioned state specifically). You don't need to be admitted to start as as a federal clerk (JSP-11), but you do need to be admitted to get JSP-12.

(not ignoring tycoga, I just don't know the answer because I'm going to a government gig so I just ate the costs for Barbri.)

So does that mean if you're clerking for 2+ years you won't get a pay increase unless you've passed the bar prior to your first year? Or unless you've passed the bar prior to your second year? Or otherwise?

You have to have passed the bar prior the second year - basically, you can't go up to JSP-12 until you have bar passage (and 1 year of experience): --LinkRemoved--. However, I believe whether you can get a salary increase for the second year of a clerkship can be at your judge's discretion.

Thanks. I wasn't sure if the 1 year experience + bar passage meant that you needed 1 year of barred experience to qualify for JSP12. That link is helpful.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Thanks. I wasn't sure if the 1 year experience + bar passage meant that you needed 1 year of barred experience to qualify for JSP12. That link is helpful.

I'm pretty sure not - all of my state clerkship the year before my federal clerkship counted as legal experience, even though I wasn't officially admitted until a couple of months into the state clerkship (started end of August/beginning of September, admitted end of October). In fact, they would have counted any legal experience I had pre-taking the bar - it just had to be after graduation from law school.

[tycoga8118]

A. Nony Mouse: out of curiousity: what were your clerkships/stats and where are you going post-clerkship? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to make it public. Or just tell me to piss off if you don't want to share at all.