How To Become A Career Law Clerk: What It Is and Career Path

What is a career law clerk and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Frank Alcock Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a career law clerk. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.82 an hour? That's $41,219 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -130,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a career law clerk?

Frank Alcock Ph.D.

Director of Academic Initiatives and Special Projects, Professor of Political Science and Environmental Studies, New College of Florida

You're just beginning on what will hopefully be a long and rewarding journey. Career paths are less stable and more turbulent than they were a decade ago, so understand this at the outset. You may find yourself moving into a well-defined career path that you enjoy and that's great. But professional versatility is becoming an increasingly important asset. Versatility will build over time as you cultivate more skills and experiences. Lifelong learning will continue to be indispensable so always look for opportunities to learn from your setbacks as well as your successes. And embrace your future. It won't be boring.

ScoreCareer Law ClerkUS Average

Salary

3.2

Avg. Salary $41,219

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.3

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.34%

Asian 8.44%

Black or African American 9.50%

Hispanic or Latino 18.88%

Unknown 8.04%

White 54.80%

Gender

female 77.03%

male 22.97%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

5.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.8

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a career law clerk

Explore career law clerk education requirements

Most common career law clerk degrees

Bachelor's

25.9 %

Doctorate

25.9 %

Associate

22.2 %

Start to develop specific career law clerk skills

Skills	Percentages
Litigation	24.34%
Legal Issues	15.43%
Criminal Cases	14.86%
Pending Cases	12.15%
Data Entry	11.70%

Complete relevant career law clerk training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New career law clerks learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a career law clerk based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real career law clerk resumes.

Research career law clerk duties and responsibilities

Demonstrate strong math skills in managing inmate s accounts and calmly and effectively deescalating outbursts of belligerent inmates.
Analyze petitions for allowance of appeal, appellate briefs, and intermediate appellate opinions in preparing for disposition of discretionary appeals.
Develop presentations for state police officers to reinforce drunk driving and highway safety initiatives via PowerPoint.

Prepare your career law clerk resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your career law clerk resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a career law clerk resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable career law clerk resume templates

Build a professional career law clerk resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your career law clerk resume.