Wash. State Trial Court Clerkships Forum

[Anonymous User]

My understanding is that superior court judges in Washington State sometimes hire clerks. I haven't been able to find much information online about hiring, though. And my law school isn't in the Pacific Northwest, so career services has limited information. Does anybody have any experience applying to these clerkships with these courts and can shed light on the process? My rough impression is that the best thing to do is to call chambers of each judge and inquire.

I'm interested in King, Pierce, Kitsap, Thurston, and Clark counties if that helps.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Vermont Law School maintains a guide to state clerkship hiring. It's online, but you need a password to access it, but your CSO should be able to give you the password (I don't know the current password or I'd look).

[Anonymous User]

The VLS guide is where I started. It primarily says apply directly to individual judges. That's helpful to know, but I'm trying to see if there's any firsthand knowledge out there too.

[BearState]

Checking with chambers is the best bet.

Incidentally, a few appeals court judges in Division One have openings:

https://www.courts.wa.gov/appellate_tri ... div1clerks

[Anonymous User]

I used to work for King County Superior Court (pre-LS) and all of the clerks there were regular folks off the street. May have met one JD, but knew a few clerks during my time there. Their jobs were basically to make sure the court was ready for hearings (e.g. sound check mics for recordings), coordinate with counsel for exhibit prep, take notes during hearings for the record (minute sheets filed with court) and file orders for the judge. zero substantial work in terms of research, writing of any opinions, etc.

Just my two cents, but not the type of "clerk" seen in an appeals ct or USDCs.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks for the input, all.

I'll likely send applications to the court of appeals, though my preference would be to get trial-court experience.

As to the person's experience working for King County Superior Court and interacting with clerks, that's definitely a bummer that there aren't clerks in the sense that this thread contemplates. That said, I did see a document on Lewis & Clark's website that indicated that a few of their alums had clerked in Washington State superior courts. So I'll still plan to reach out to chambers and see what I can find out. I'll post whatever I learn.