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1. Anyone know what the workload is like for staff attorneys, especially the 10th and 5th Circuits? I guess I could deal with doing mindless habeas work if there wasn't too much of it, but if I have a boring job I don't want it to be too onerous.

2. Does the 4 year limitation for temporary staff attorney work also count towards the 4 year limitation on being a judicial law clerk?

Re: Q2, I don't think so, and I know some people who seem to have successfully proceeded under that assumption. At https://oscar.uscourts.gov/qualificatio ... y_benefits, all term and temporary positions are limited to a four-year appointment, but only term law clerks have the additional language "(accounting for all term law clerk service completed on or after September 18, 2007)." Also, by my reading, the relevant judicial conference policy also says that non-career people can't serve more than four years "in a term law clerk capacity." See https://free.law/pdf/judicial-conferenc ... 007-09.pdf at 26.

Is the Tenth Circuit hiring? I seem to recall them being career positions.

mjb447 wrote: Is the Tenth Circuit hiring? I seem to recall them being career positions.

Oh really? I was just basing my choices on location factors. Thanks for the info.

Altair wrote:

mjb447 wrote: Is the Tenth Circuit hiring? I seem to recall them being career positions.

Oh really? I was just basing my choices on location factors. Thanks for the info.

Not certain, just something I think I remember.

mjb447 wrote:

Altair wrote:

mjb447 wrote: Is the Tenth Circuit hiring? I seem to recall them being career positions.

Oh really? I was just basing my choices on location factors. Thanks for the info.

Not certain, just something I think I remember.

I think this is correct.

(1) Service in a term position as a staff attorney does not count toward the four years of eligibility for chamber's law clerks. However, it does count toward service years working within the federal judiciary for purposes of JSP steps so, if you are barred, serving as a staff attorney for two years before clerking will bump up your salary as a law clerk.

(2) Workload, level of interaction with chambers, and types of cases really vary by the circuit as each circuit uses their staff attorney office very differently.

(3) 10th Circuit is almost exclusively career positions. I think I've seen only one non-career position postings there in the last five years

(4) Served as a staff attorney for a few years, message me if you'd like more info and I'll try and share what I know (don't know anything about the 5th Circuit though)