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I always see OSCAR postings regarding "Temporary" Law Clerks. Has anyone here been a temporary law clerk? Do they carry any of the prestige as a term law clerk? If obtained, would you have to specify that it was only temporary on resumes and such?

Anonymous User wrote:I always see OSCAR postings regarding "Temporary" Law Clerks. Has anyone here been a temporary law clerk? Do they carry any of the prestige as a term law clerk? If obtained, would you have to specify that it was only temporary on resumes and such?

To answer your questions in order:

1. No, but I have heard of these temporary/volunteer clerk positions.

2. No, the positions generally do not carry the prestige of a term law clerk, though it depends on the specific circumstances.

3. It's up to the judge. I've heard that some judges insist that you specify your temporary or unpaid status on your resume, while other judges may permit you to list the position as "law clerk" without qualification.

It depends. I've noticed that some judges list "temporary" when it pretty clearly seems to be a regular term clerkship.

But the more likely answer is the judge had an unexpected vacancy with a clerk for whatever reason and needs it filed for less than the usual term. I know of someone who replaced a clerk who had a major health issue out of nowhere and had to quit with very short notice with 6 or so months left of the clerkship to go, so that someone I know clerked for 6 months (and would have continued on but the judge had already hired someone for the following year, btw).

I know of a recently filled clerkship in my court that was temporary (approx. 8 months) because of a staffing shortage that is due to a judge's somewhat unexpected retirement that required a lot of clerk juggling among the judges of our court.

a lot of it depends on circumstances. i've seen people step in during deployments of reserved military people and post-birth leave and the judge treats them just like clerks and they can put that shit on their resume just like any term clerk. in fact, one of the originally temporary clerks got a term position with another judge in the courthouse. i say all this just so you don't think these are universally reviled or second-rate positions.

Under what circumstances is it a good idea to take one of these? Bad idea if it's any less than 6 months? Is it going to look weird on a resume?