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Attorney law clerk skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted experts
James Tomaszewski,
James Tomaszewski
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical attorney law clerk skills. We ranked the top skills for attorney law clerks based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 16.8% of attorney law clerk resumes contained litigation as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills an attorney law clerk needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 attorney law clerk skills for your resume and career

1. Litigation

Here's how attorney law clerks use litigation:
  • Shadowed solicitors in the Commercial Litigation Department; attended meetings with international clients; assisted in drafting of legal documents.
  • Review documents in response to FOIA litigation discovery requests, compiling and organizing relevant, non-privileged documents for tender.

2. Discovery Responses

Discovery response is the response made by a person on trial once discoveries are made against them. Certain motions are filed against a person on trial, which may include a request for interrogations, request for production, etc, and they have to file a response within some time. The official response is filed in court and its copies can be distributed to the other parties.

Here's how attorney law clerks use discovery responses:
  • Analyzed and evaluated discovery, including discovery responses, medical records and deposition testimony.
  • Analyzed discovery responses and drafted motions to compel further discovery responses and oppositions thereof.

3. Settlement Agreements

Here's how attorney law clerks use settlement agreements:
  • Prepared demand letters and negotiated settlement agreements with insurance carriers.
  • Drafted contracts, including: employment contracts, stock grant contracts, non-disclosure agreements, and settlement agreements.

4. Pre-Trial Motions

Pre-Trial Motions are those legal motions which are employed before the trial actually begins, often at hearings or outside of the courtroom. For example, a prosecutor or a defense attorney might file something called a "motion to dismiss", which is an attempt in getting the judge to consider dismissing the case in question before it can even get to trial.

Here's how attorney law clerks use pre-trial motions:
  • Supervised the organization of thousands of discovery documents utilized for depositions and pre-trial motions.
  • Drafted memorandum, pre-trial motions, briefs, and petitions for a personal injury/medical malpractice plaintiff=s firm.

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7. District Court

Here's how attorney law clerks use district court:
  • Worked on a broad range of civil and criminal issues brought before the federal district court and federal court of appeals.
  • Assisted newly appointed judge with creating and implementing chamber policies and procedures on both the circuit and district court levels.

8. Real Estate Transactions

Here's how attorney law clerks use real estate transactions:
  • Assisted in the representation of corporate clients and developers for real estate transactions, land-use issues, and zoning approvals.
  • Handled real estate transactions on behalf of lenders, including negotiating and drafting real estate contracts and loan documents.

9. Probate

Here's how attorney law clerks use probate:
  • Conducted and defended depositions in contested probate proceedings.
  • Litigated contested probate matters and guardianship proceedings.

10. Civil Litigation

Civil litigation is a legal process that is followed when a non-criminal legal dispute occurs between two parties. Such a legal process does not involve any criminal charges or penalties. The plaintiffs in such cases only seek compensation for the damages done by the defendants.

Here's how attorney law clerks use civil litigation:
  • Assisted in strategic case management, project planning, and corresponding staff supervision involving civil litigation and intellectual property prosecution matters.
  • Work on several e-discovery projects for large-scale civil litigation in various areas of law including pharmaceutical, medical device and anti-trust regulations

11. Interrogatories

Here's how attorney law clerks use interrogatories:
  • Drafted various motions, interrogatories, letters, memorandum, petitions, and jury charges in both civil and legal fields.
  • Drafted real estate documents, wills and trusts, interrogatories, requests for admissions, and answers and objections to discovery.

12. Subpoenas

Subpoenas are formal and legal documents issued mostly by a court or some other government agency that demands the presence of the person the document is addressed to, to show up at court. Subpoenas are issued to individuals whom the court wants to appear either as a witness in a particular case in order to testify or to provide any evidence such as an object or a document.

Here's how attorney law clerks use subpoenas:
  • Drafted motions, answers, memos, subpoenas, and client letters for a criminal defense attorney.
  • Prepared legal papers and correspondence, including briefs, pleadings, contracts, affidavits and subpoenas.

13. Demand Letters

Here's how attorney law clerks use demand letters:
  • Composed demand letters; propounded and responded to written discovery; screened potential cases at initial client consultations
  • Drafted and prepared documents including client letters, demand letters to opposing parties, and letters to government agencies.

14. Administrative Law

Here's how attorney law clerks use administrative law:
  • Conducted interviews and prepared witnesses for testimony at administrative law hearing.
  • Drafted appeals of unfavorable Benefit Review Conference Hearings to the administrative law courts of the Workers' Compensation Commission.

15. Labor Law

Here's how attorney law clerks use labor law:
  • Assisted in labor law lectures, arranged and analyzed lecture questionnaires, communicated with prospective clients.
  • Revised position descriptions, contracts and employment applications to bring clients into compliance with labor laws.
top-skills

What skills help Attorney Law Clerks find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What soft skills should all attorney law clerks possess?

James Tomaszewski

Director of the Center for Professional Development, University of Cincinnati

Engagement, Resilience, Responsiveness, Respectfulness, Integrity.

What hard/technical skills are most important for attorney law clerks?

James Tomaszewski

Director of the Center for Professional Development, University of Cincinnati

Excellent writing skills.

What skills stand out on attorney law clerk resumes?

James Tomaszewski

Director of the Center for Professional Development, University of Cincinnati

Demonstrated commitment to a particular practice area, especially experiential learning opportunities such as externships and clinics.

What attorney law clerk skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Hanna Royce

Assistant Dean of Career Services, University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law

The key to success is to add new and relevant legal experience to their resume. If graduates are not taking on full-time roles, this could mean completing document review or project work on a contract basis.

List of attorney law clerk skills to add to your resume

Attorney law clerk skills

The most important skills for an attorney law clerk resume and required skills for an attorney law clerk to have include:

  • Litigation
  • Discovery Responses
  • Settlement Agreements
  • Pre-Trial Motions
  • Legal Issues
  • Legal Memoranda
  • District Court
  • Real Estate Transactions
  • Probate
  • Civil Litigation
  • Interrogatories
  • Subpoenas
  • Demand Letters
  • Administrative Law
  • Labor Law
  • Summary Judgment
  • Criminal Law
  • Employment Law
  • Law Firm
  • Client Intake
  • Federal Courts
  • Client Interviews
  • Arbitration
  • Civil Rights
  • Legal Advice
  • Court Appearances
  • Circuit Court
  • Criminal Defense
  • Administrative Hearings
  • Criminal Cases
  • Medical Malpractice
  • Legal Opinions
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Social Security
  • Legal Analysis
  • Court Proceedings
  • Intellectual Property
  • Insurance Defense
  • Court Hearings
  • Jury Trials
  • Oral Arguments
  • Settlement Conferences
  • Plaintiff
  • Legal Research
  • Court Orders
  • Settlement Negotiations
  • Bench Trials
  • Pre-Trial Conferences
  • Motion Hearings
  • Appellate Briefs

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.