Clerkship laptop? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Probably a dumb question, but do you get a work laptop for clerkships? Or do you have to do all of your work in the courthouse?

[polareagle]

Probably a dumb question, but do you get a work laptop for clerkships? Or do you have to do all of your work in the courthouse?

This is judge-dependent. You will be issued a judiciary computer of some sort, almost certainly a laptop. Whether you're allowed to take the laptop home with you and do work from there is up to your judge. (Your judge also has to approve you receiving remote access to the judiciary network.) For a variety of reasons, at least some judges do not allow clerks to do any judicial work outside courthouses. I imagine more judges than ever before will be comfortable with some remote work after the pandemic, but remember that at least some judges never went remote.

That being said, a lot of the work that clerks do is reading, and if you need to, you can print out and read briefs/motions pretty much anywhere.

[Anonymous User]

We had desktops in the courthouse (COA), but were authorized to log on through remote desktop once we went virtual during the pandemic. (Technically, we could always do it, but the general expectation was to work during work hours at the courthouse and not log back in later.)

[Anonymous User]

The only people who received laptops in my two courthouses were permanent employees. Clerks either worked in chambers on their desktop or on the remote desktop through their personal computer. If your district has enough laptops, then you might get one, otherwise the permanent employees usually get first dibs.

[nixy]

Clerks weren’t issued laptops or given remote access where I clerked, but this was long ago now. I would imagine any clerks working remotely would have to get remote access at this point but I’d be a little surprised if they got laptops.

[Anonymous User]

I recently clerked for a new judge on the Sixth Circuit, and we had laptops (even pre-COVID) and so could work from home. My understanding was that this may not have been the case for everyone on the circuit, so YMMV.

[lavarman84]

In my district, they were phasing in work laptops as I was leaving. With my COA clerkship, I did not have access to one, but I could work remotely on my personal laptop (and did).

[hdivschool]

At my (COA) clerkship, we had work desktops. We were not issued laptops. I don't recall whether we had some way of working remotely on our personal laptops. If we did, I never used it. I did all my work in chambers.

[m052310]

I (district court clerk) use a desktop at work most of the time, but we have laptops for WFH when needed / snow days and in courtroom use.

[crazywafflez]

As others have said- desktops are provided. I'd bet with Covid most places are issuing WFH laptops and setups.

[Anonymous User]

District court clerk here, no laptops but can wfh on my personal computer via remote access.

[Anonymous User]

My pre-pandemic district clerkship was mostly desktop with a very clunky remote access option I could use from my home laptop. By the time my pandemic COA clerkship started, the circuit was using friendlier remote access software and there's been substantial WFH from people's home setups. I recall that some other COAs were, pre-pandemic, issuing laptops to clerks who would have to travel to sittings.

[Anonymous User]

desktop at the courthouse. remote access on personal laptops. we're in person so we rarely use the latter.

[Anonymous User]

SDNY, White Plains Courthouse - Laptops or Desktops?

[Anonymous User]

SDNY, White Plains Courthouse - Laptops or Desktops?

Can't speak to White Plains, but I recently started at SDNY in Manhattan and it's desktops in chambers and personal laptops if working remotely.

[ambrau90]

How about Second Circuit? Still desktops?

[Anonymous User]

I am currently on the Ninth Circuit, was given a desktop obviously. I asked for a laptop for travel and received one.

[Anonymous User]

How about Second Circuit? Still desktops?

Some judges have laptops but not most.

[Anonymous User]

I'm an AUSA, not a law clerk, who obviously works on sensitive matters. While I have a DOJ laptop, it is such a pain in the ass to deal with national security standards that I just don't want to much of the time when remote working. It is super easy to have Lexis or Westlaw set up on your personal devices since they contain literally zero sensitive records. Accessing the public version of a case docket (done through Lexis for us) is all public, and legal research (Westlaw) is all public, which gives you plenty of work to do without caring about your work laptop.