Law Clerk Salary Forum

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone speak to the pay scale of clerks? (I'm interesting particularly in federal clerk salaries, but this thread should be broad enough to discuss state clerk salaries as well). What cities get cost of living adjustments, and how much do they receive? How much take home pay is after taxes, etc.?

[Citizen Genet]

http://www.uscourts.gov/Careers/Compens ... Rates.aspx

Federal clerk salaries with COL adjustment tables.

EDIT: And for state salaries, check with the Vermont LS State Judicial Clerkship Guide online. http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Resources/Jud ... ources.htm (Check with your OCS for login info. I don't feel comfortable posting it here.)

[Anonymous User]

http://www.uscourts.gov/Careers/Compens ... Rates.aspx

Federal clerk salaries with COL adjustment tables.

EDIT: And for state salaries, check with the Vermont LS State Judicial Clerkship Guide online. http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Resources/Jud ... ources.htm (Check with your OCS for login info. I don't feel comfortable posting it here.)

Is this accurate and up to date?:

JSP Grade Level - Years of Legal Work Experience - Bar Membership Required
11 - 0 - No
12 - 1 - Yes
13 - 2 - Yes
14 - 3 - Yes

So clerks going straight from school start at JSP 11?

[A. Nony Mouse]

http://www.uscourts.gov/Careers/Compens ... Rates.aspx

Federal clerk salaries with COL adjustment tables.

EDIT: And for state salaries, check with the Vermont LS State Judicial Clerkship Guide online. http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Resources/Jud ... ources.htm (Check with your OCS for login info. I don't feel comfortable posting it here.)

Is this accurate and up to date?:

JSP Grade Level - Years of Legal Work Experience - Bar Membership Required
11 - 0 - No
12 - 1 - Yes
13 - 2 - Yes
14 - 3 - Yes

So clerks going straight from school start at JSP 11?

Yes.

State stuff varies a lot. My state (neither coast) paid about $56K for appellate clerks. But I've seen salaries as low as ~$40K (low COL states, but still).

[nevdash]

Just to confirm, nobody makes the Base Pay Table amount, right? The lowest you can make is the Rest of the United States table?

[A. Nony Mouse]

Just to confirm, nobody makes the Base Pay Table amount, right? The lowest you can make is the Rest of the United States table?

Yup. (Howdy from the rest of the United States...)

[nevdash]

Just to confirm, nobody makes the Base Pay Table amount, right? The lowest you can make is the Rest of the United States table?

Yup. (Howdy from the rest of the United States...)

Flyover clerks represent.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Just to confirm, nobody makes the Base Pay Table amount, right? The lowest you can make is the Rest of the United States table?

Yup. (Howdy from the rest of the United States...)

Flyover clerks represent.

[Anonymous User]

Just to confirm, nobody makes the Base Pay Table amount, right? The lowest you can make is the Rest of the United States table?

Yup. (Howdy from the rest of the United States...)

Flyover clerks represent.

More like "best of the United States," amirite?

[bruinfan10]

Agh, too used to using anonymous in this forum ^^ that was me.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Just to confirm, nobody makes the Base Pay Table amount, right? The lowest you can make is the Rest of the United States table?

Yup. (Howdy from the rest of the United States...)

Flyover clerks represent.

More like "best of the United States," amirite?

At least in terms of living on a federal salary!

(My flyover state is pretty awesome, actually.)

[Anonymous User]

Sorry, would someone mind clarifying how exactly to interpret this chart for those of us who are a bit slower on the uptake? I will be Art. III clerk with one year of legal experience, in NYC (in 2014-15).

[lolwat]

Sorry, would someone mind clarifying how exactly to interpret this chart for those of us who are a bit slower on the uptake? I will be Art. III clerk with one year of legal experience, in NYC (in 2014-15).

$77.5k for you i think. Go to the one that includes NY and look for JSP-12 because you have 1 year of experience (plus, I assume, bar membership somewhere).

[Anonymous User]

Sorry, would someone mind clarifying how exactly to interpret this chart for those of us who are a bit slower on the uptake? I will be Art. III clerk with one year of legal experience, in NYC (in 2014-15).

$77.5k for you i think. Go to the one that includes NY and look for JSP-12 because you have 1 year of experience (plus, I assume, bar membership somewhere).

Holy smokes. Okay. Thanks so much.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Quick add on about confusing parts - don't worry about the steps (the numbers across the top of the chart). I think (though am not sure) that they govern your raises within a particular grade (the 11 or 12 part). But I'm pretty sure they don't apply to term clerks, who are all paid at step 1 of their relevant grade. So it's the grade (11, 12, etc.) and the first column of the chart.

[Anonymous User]

If you come in with 51 weeks of experience due to timing of 2 clerkships, will you start the 2d at JSP-11 and get a bump to JS-12 after a week? Can you get an appointment at JSP-11 at a higher step to get you closer? The real question I am trying to ask is whether pay is frozen at the moment, like it was a couple of years ago.

[A. Nony Mouse]

If you come in with 51 weeks of experience due to timing of 2 clerkships, will you start the 2d at JSP-11 and get a bump to JS-12 after a week? Can you get an appointment at JSP-11 at a higher step to get you closer? The real question I am trying to ask is whether pay is frozen at the moment, like it was a couple of years ago.

I came in to my second clerkship with 50 weeks experience, and was paid at JSP-11 for 2 weeks and then switched to JSP-12. You have to get your judge to sign off on this. You can't get hired at a higher step (law clerks, at least; I have no idea how this works for other federal employees). So, no pay wasn't frozen in my district. I don't know, however, if that varies by district; it's also possible it varies by judge (I think I remember, when this subject came up before, someone talking about a judge who hired only at JSP-11 and would not bump for experience, but that judge made it crystal clear in their job posting that this was the case, and it seemed quite unusual).

Really, the most helpful thing to will be to find the HR person for your district/circuit and ask them - they will be happy to help you, they deal with this every year.

[lolwat]

I got a bump to JSP 12 about a month ago (I had some experience prior to clerkship, but not 51 weeks). So pay wasn't frozen here either.

[Anonymous User]

Hoping someone can help me with this.

Currently doing a COA clerkship, and starting a second clerkship (district court) in August. I know I would be eligible for JS-12, but the issue is I am taking the July 2017 bar exam. Results obviously won't come until after I start the second clerkship, so would I be JS-11 until I get the bar results and go to JS-12, or remain at JS-11 the entire year? I'm really hoping I'm eligible for the raise. If I am, would I just contact HR when I get barred?

[A. Nony Mouse]

Yeah, you won't move up until you're barred, but once you get results you should be able to move up; yes, you'd contact HR when you get barred, but ask about it when you start that clerkship to make sure there's nothing unusual in that district. At least in my experience your judge has to sign off on the raise but I don't see why 99% of judges wouldn't.

[mjb447]

ask about it when you start that clerkship to make sure there's nothing unusual in that district

This is my go-to response for HR matters (at least fairly technical ones like this); my experience with court HR has been decidedly mixed, and even if you're pretty sure you've got the answer right based on 'the rules,' it's important to know if your HR person sees things the same way just so you don't anticipate receiving a raise that you ultimately can't make happen (or at least if you'll have to fight for it).

[rpupkin]

Hoping someone can help me with this.

Currently doing a COA clerkship, and starting a second clerkship (district court) in August. I know I would be eligible for JS-12, but the issue is I am taking the July 2017 bar exam. Results obviously won't come until after I start the second clerkship, so would I be JS-11 until I get the bar results and go to JS-12, or remain at JS-11 the entire year? I'm really hoping I'm eligible for the raise. If I am, would I just contact HR when I get barred?

Just to provide some anecdotal support for the posts of Nony and mjb, I had a friend who was in your situation and didn't get a bump to JS-12 for her second clerkship even after she was barred. It just depends on the vagaries of the (possibly unwritten) HR policies in your district.

[newlawgrad]

I worked 3 years big law and am now Dct clerk. Going to Coa next year. It appears I'm the only one who would have the years eligible for JSP-14, but it would require another year of clerking, correct? Now way around this? Could I get it for the final month of my clerkship if that puts me over two years? Kind of insignificant but man is that a huge pay jump.

[mjb447]

I worked 3 years big law and am now Dct clerk. Going to Coa next year. It appears I'm the only one who would have the years eligible for JSP-14, but it would require another year of clerking, correct? Now way around this? Could I get it for the final month of my clerkship if that puts me over two years? Kind of insignificant but man is that a huge pay jump.

I believe that's correct; you need two years as a clerk before you're eligible for JSP-14. Don't know about additional time beyond two years, although it seems like it might be difficult to get everyone on board if it's a fairly brief period of time. It might be another situation where it would be worth asking but be prepared for any answer.

[anon sequitur]

If your HR people are competent, they should be able to do it pretty easily, it just requires the judge to sign off and for HR to do some paperwork. The pay increase is more than $1,000 a month, so I'd definitely ask about it. For what it's worth, on my first day of work, the HR person let me know the date on which they would consider me eligible for an increase, then gave the judge the paperwork a few weeks ahead of time, and it all happened like clockwork.

It's kind of crazy to me to hear that in some other districts it might not be like that, or that you might end up losing out on a pay grade. For people coming to clerkships after 1-2 years at a firm, that makes a huge difference.