This post will explain the benefits of a Clerkship and Step 1: Researching and Choosing a Judge.

Step 1: Researching and Choosing a Judge

• Types of courts and resources

Step 2: Spotlight on Previous Clerks (Recent Alumni: Page 1, SCU Law Faculty: Page 2 and Page 3)

• Advice and Evaluations from Former Clerks

Step 3: Application Process

• Checklist of Materials and Deadlines
• OSCAR (Online System for Clerkship Application and Review) registration
• Prepare and upload written application materials;
• Résumé, cover letter, writing sample, letters of rec, OSCAR grade sheet (substitutes official transcript)
• What judges look for (law journal, mock trial, faculty recommendations)

What Is a Judicial Clerkship?

Judicial clerkships are one of the most desirable positions for graduating law students.  Law clerks work closely with a judge and help write court orders and opinions, provide background research, and otherwise assist the judge in managing the court's docket.

           3 Types of Clerks:   

1. Term clerks, who are hired for a one or two-year term, beginning after graduation from law school.
2. Career clerks, who are sometimes called research attorneys and work for a judge on an ongoing basis.
3. Temporary clerks, who are hired to fill in for an absent term or career clerk.

As a law student, focus on applying for term and temporary clerkships.  While all judges at the state and federal level employ law clerks to assist them in chambers, state judges rarely hire term clerks. Therefore, the majority post-graduate judicial clerkship opportuntities are with federal judges.

When to Apply:

Due to hiring limitations, the clerkship hiring season takes place during Summer of the third year of law school. Students are encouraged to begin compiling their materials during the Spring Semester of their second year.

Step 1:  Researching and Choosing a Judge

You should begin this selection process during the spring semester of your 2L year. You need to decide the type of clerkship (federal or state, district or appellate) geographic location and the particular judges to whom you will send applications.  You also need to decide on how many judges to apply to (the average is forty-five, with some students applying to as little as thirty).

Here are some things to consider when deciding which court and judge to apply to:

• A clerkship with an Appellate judge is slower paced, with clerks working on long-term, comprehensive assignments.
• A clerkship with a District judge tends to be more fast-paced, with the clerks balancing a busy docket and writing orders on a wide-range of topics.

Many clerks feel that the value of their clerkship depends on the quality of their relationship with the judge. Therefore, you should carefully select judges with whom you feel you will enjoy working. You should also consider the judge’s reputation as a person, mentor, teacher, scholar, judge, boss, style (combative vs. relaxed), personality, relationship with his or her current and former clerks, approach to cases (practical vs. scholarly), politics (liberal vs. conservative), and prestige.

          Resource:  Directories listing state and federal judges are available in the Law Career Services resource library as well as on Lexis, Westlaw and OSCAR. Present and former clerks, practicing attorneys and faculty members are often the most valuable resource for information on a judge’s reputation, temperament and judicial philosophy.

• Federal Judicial Center: http://www.fjc.gov/public/home.nsf/hisj = Biographical Directory of Federal Judges
• http://lawschoolclerkship.blogspot.com/  A private website with forums to help facilitate info sharing among applicants & current clerks

For more information on additional resources, click here.