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Does anyone know if Washington State's three-year minimum of active legal experience includes clerking? If I was admitted to the bar in X state in January 2020 while clerking, and clerked again in 2020-2021, will I hit my three-year minimum in January 2023?

I applied for a job in Washington State and had this same question. Never got an answer to it, but hopefully you'll have more luck.

I was admitted on motion in WA in 2018. No clerking required.

Ask away.

My question is merely were clerking counts as "active legal experience" for the purpose of the three year minimum, as long as I am admitted to the bar of another state while clerking.

Isn't clerking working for a judge in a superior court or something? I would imagine that would be fine. They didn't really inquire deeply into my legal experience when I waived in. They did require that you provide recommendations from other attorneys. What state are you licensed in?

California

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:40 pm

Does anyone know if Washington State's three-year minimum of active legal experience includes clerking? If I was admitted to the bar in X state in January 2020 while clerking, and clerked again in 2020-2021, will I hit my three-year minimum in January 2023?

Did you ever get an answer to this? I'm going to apply by motion soon and some of my 3 experience is clerking for a federal judge post-licensure. I assume it will count but the WA regulations are not clear.

I'm pretty sure this answers our question. This is from the FAQ on the WA bar website:

"Active legal experience means experience in the active practice of law as a lawyer, a teacher at an approved law school, or a judge of a court of general or appellate jurisdiction in the U.S or a common law jurisdiction. Other positions such as policy analyst, judicial clerkships, and document reviewer may qualify if the position requires a license to practice law to perform the job functions. You must also have an active license to practice law. For example, if you started your clerkship in August, but were not licensed until December you may count only that experience starting in December. The preceding months do not count."

So for me, I was licensed before I started my clerkship, so I think I am all good on the three years requirement.

Interesting. I find the explanation a little confusing though. To the best of my knowledge, no judicial clerkship "requires a license to practice law to perform the job functions." However, the paragraph then goes on to say that the time spent clerking while licensed would count. Which I guess is all that matters.