Law Clerk Careers

What do law clerks do?
Law clerks perform a number of duties critical to the legal process as an integral part of the legal and judicial systems. Acting as an assistant to an attorney or judge at the state, federal or local level, a law clerk is a sort of support position and can provide a wide array of services relating to the disposition of cases. A number of would-be lawyers and judges work as law clerks to get the chance to learn more about the field and gain first-hand experience.

Included in law clerks' duties are researching legal documents to provide supporting evidence for a particular case, preparing affidavits and other legal documents, preparing drafts of motions or briefs, writing correspondence, filing motions or other documents with the court and communicating with judges, attorneys, witnesses and others related to a given case.

What skills should I have to start a career as a law clerk?
Before entering into the field, those interested should have strong verbal and written communication skills, which could be detected through an aptitude test. They must also have organizational and time-management skills capable of handling the multiple duties involved in preparing for a given case. Strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities are a plus. Additionally, a law clerk must be capable of understanding legal documents, which can be incredibly complex.

Quite often, a law clerk is a law student or recent law school graduate. In these situations, the clerk would be gaining legal experience before taking the Bar Exam. Those not enrolled or graduated from law school may decide to take a career assessment test to determine if they have the right skills to pursue a job as a law clerk. Those that do may consider earning a paralegal or legal assistant degree. These degrees can also prepare the would-be clerk for the level of understanding of the law, legal jargon and rules of the court that are necessary to do the job properly.

Other types of criminal justice and legal careers :

• Court reporter
• Judge
• Lawyer
• Legal
• Legal Assistant
• Mediator
• Paralegal