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(i know it doesn't matter, but I just want to know)

[1] How does the location based pay work for term clerks? I'm clerking at a DC not specified in the judicial salary page –(http://www.uscourts.gov/careers/compens ... -pay-rates). Does this mean I get paid the base? Or does this mean I get paid the RUS (rest of united states) scale? Base for JS12 is 62k, but RUS for JS12 is 72k.

[2] What JSP level will I start/end at? I understand that I'll start as a JS11, but do I get bumped up to a JS12 once I pass the bar? According to OSCAR – (https://oscar.uscourts.gov/qualificatio ... y_benefits) – JS12 requires bar passage + one year of legal work. Does this mean only 2 year term clerks can become JS12 if clerking straight from law school?

1) rest of United States.

2) you'll be JS-11. Bar passage alone doesn't do anything, it's both bar passage and 1 year of legal experience (legal experience = after graduation). If you stay longer than a year for whatever reason you can get bumped up. Or in theory if you work the summer when you're taking the bar, that starts your "1 year of experience" clock earlier.

Yeah, the situation Nony described in her answer to (2) can happen when a one-year clerk stays on longer so that the end of the outgoing clerk's term dovetails better with the outgoing clerk's next position or with the incoming clerk's start date. Theoretically (HR has to complete some paperwork and judge has to sign off), the outgoing clerk should be able to spend that extra time at the higher salary: you don't have to be a two-year clerk from the start.

It's confusing, but nobody actually gets the base salary, you either get the locality pay or the rest of the US pay. As noted above, bar passage is necessary for the pay bump, not sufficient.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:1) rest of United States.

2) you'll be JS-11. Bar passage alone doesn't do anything, it's both bar passage and 1 year of legal experience (legal experience = after graduation). If you stay longer than a year for whatever reason you can get bumped up. Or in theory if you work the summer when you're taking the bar, that starts your "1 year of experience" clock earlier.

+1. This is all correct.

mjb447 wrote:Yeah, the situation Nony described in her answer to (2) can happen when a one-year clerk stays on longer so that the end of the outgoing clerk's term dovetails better with the outgoing clerk's next position or with the incoming clerk's start date. Theoretically (HR has to complete some paperwork and judge has to sign off), the outgoing clerk should be able to spend that extra time at the higher salary: you don't have to be a two-year clerk from the start.

Just to add a little more clarity to this, the one year is calculated as 52 weeks from when you start your first full time legal job post graduation. So, assuming you are coming right out of school and starting a clerkship, if you stayed longer than 52 weeks, you would get bumped up to JSP-12 beginning week 53.

so passing the bar has no financial benefits for 1 year term clerks?

proleteriate wrote:so passing the bar has no financial benefits for 1 year term clerks?

Correct. (I suppose it's material if you worked for one year before beginning a 1-year term clerkship, but I can't imagine there are a lot of people who get an Article III clerkship and have not yet passed the bar one year out of law school.)

And really, why should it? Bar passage is a baseline expectation of being a lawyer - it's not something that should get you a pay bump.

hlsperson1111 wrote:

proleteriate wrote:so passing the bar has no financial benefits for 1 year term clerks?

Correct. (I suppose it's material if you worked for one year before beginning a 1-year term clerkship, but I can't imagine there are a lot of people who get an Article III clerkship and have not yet passed the bar one year out of law school.)

And really, why should it? Bar passage is a baseline expectation of being a lawyer - it's not something that should get you a pay bump.

that makes sense. I just thought it was different because I knew someone doing a BK clerkship that skipped the bar exam for timing issues. She said that she will only face a small pay decrease for skipping it.

This might be a dumb question, but what if you clerk one year out of law school, after being employed elsewhere and barred for one year? Are you still JS-11?

Anonymous User wrote:This might be a dumb question, but what if you clerk one year out of law school, after being employed elsewhere and barred for one year? Are you still JS-11?

You should be JSP-12.

"JSP-12, step 1 – One or more years of post-graduate legal work experience and bar membership of a state, territory, or federal court of general jurisdiction. Annual base salary is $62,722 (plus applicable locality rate)."
Source: https://oscar.uscourts.gov/qualificatio ... y_benefits

MrT wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:This might be a dumb question, but what if you clerk one year out of law school, after being employed elsewhere and barred for one year? Are you still JS-11?

You should be JSP-12.

"JSP-12, step 1 – One or more years of post-graduate legal work experience and bar membership of a state, territory, or federal court of general jurisdiction. Annual base salary is $62,722 (plus applicable locality rate)."
Source: https://oscar.uscourts.gov/qualificatio ... y_benefits

Just know that one year, counts as 52 weeks from the date you start working post graduation. So, let's say your firm had you start in November 2016, and you are accepting a clerkship that begins in August 2017, you will still be considered a JSP 11 Until November 2017, at which point you can bump up to a JSP 12.

clerk1251 wrote:

MrT wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:This might be a dumb question, but what if you clerk one year out of law school, after being employed elsewhere and barred for one year? Are you still JS-11?

You should be JSP-12.

"JSP-12, step 1 – One or more years of post-graduate legal work experience and bar membership of a state, territory, or federal court of general jurisdiction. Annual base salary is $62,722 (plus applicable locality rate)."
Source: https://oscar.uscourts.gov/qualificatio ... y_benefits

Just know that one year, counts as 52 weeks from the date you start working post graduation. So, let's say your firm had you start in November 2016, and you are accepting a clerkship that begins in August 2017, you will still be considered a JSP 11 Until November 2017, at which point you can bump up to a JSP 12.

Does one have to take an affirmative step to bump to 12 or is it automatic?

MrT wrote:

clerk1251 wrote:

MrT wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:This might be a dumb question, but what if you clerk one year out of law school, after being employed elsewhere and barred for one year? Are you still JS-11?

You should be JSP-12.

"JSP-12, step 1 – One or more years of post-graduate legal work experience and bar membership of a state, territory, or federal court of general jurisdiction. Annual base salary is $62,722 (plus applicable locality rate)."
Source: https://oscar.uscourts.gov/qualificatio ... y_benefits

Just know that one year, counts as 52 weeks from the date you start working post graduation. So, let's say your firm had you start in November 2016, and you are accepting a clerkship that begins in August 2017, you will still be considered a JSP 11 Until November 2017, at which point you can bump up to a JSP 12.

Does one have to take an affirmative step to bump to 12 or is it automatic?

HR needs to prepare paperwork for it and your Judge will need to sign off. Usually it's a non-issue, although I have heard of some judges withholding it for various reasons. Also, there are occasionally positions that are specially funded through emergency funds from that districts circuit, and that funding is almost always fixed at JSP 11 for the duration of the clerkship. Most likely, you'll be fine and it will be a non-issue.