Imagine this. You grab a cup of coffee and head to the court. With enough coffee flowing through your veins, you're now ready to chat with the judge about legal questions, granting orders and even the construction of documents. Who are you? You're a law clerk and this is just the beginning of your day.
The rest of your day may be spent going through complaints, looking at petitions or motions, and even reading through pleadings so you can help develop a case. Then, you need to type up some judicial opinions, decisions, or citations. There's lots of work to do as a law clerk, so you need to be organized so you don't waste a single minute.
As a law clerk, you'll probably spend a lot of time with judges. You're there to provide assistance on legal determinations while also writing up research-based opinions that are relevant to the court. The best part of becoming a law clerk is that you don't have to wait very long to become one. You could be a student by day and a law clerk by night. Unless you have night classes, in which case it might be switched.
How to Become a Law Clerk
What is a Law Clerk
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Law Clerk. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.28 an hour? That's $50,511 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 50,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Law Clerk Do
There are certain skills that many Law Clerks have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed Communication skills, Computer skills and Interpersonal skills.
How To Become a Law Clerk
If you're interested in becoming a Law Clerk, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 63.0% of Law Clerks have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.5% of Law Clerks have master's degrees. Even though most Law Clerks have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Law Clerk. When we researched the most common majors for a Law Clerk, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or Doctoral Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Law Clerk resumes include Master's Degree degrees or Associate Degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Law Clerk. In fact, many Law Clerk jobs require experience in a role such as Legal Extern. Meanwhile, many Law Clerks also have previous career experience in roles such as Internship or Judicial Internship.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
And if you’re looking for a job, here are the five top employers hiring now:
Law Clerk Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of Attorney you might progress to a role such as Partner eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title Executive Vice President.
Law Clerk Jobs You Might Like
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Law Clerk
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12 Law Clerk Resume Examples
Build a professional law clerk resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 12+ resume templates to create your law clerk resume.
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Justin Simpson Law Clerk |
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Johnny Thompson Law Clerk Experience Law Clerk2020 - Present Whiteford•Baltimore, MD
Federal Law Clerk2016 - 2020 The Legal Aid Society•Baltimore, MD
Appellate Law Clerk2010 - 2016 Port Authority NY&NJ•New York, NY
Skills Court ProceedingsTrial PreparationCivil LitigationBankruptcyPre-Trial MotionsInternetTaking MessagesCivil RightsSummary JudgmentDiscovery Responses Education Doctoral Degree Law2007 - 2010 New York Law School•New York, NY Bachelor's Degree Political Science2004 - 2007 University of Washington•Seattle, WA |
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Learn How To Write a Law Clerk Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Law Clerk resumes and compiled some information about how to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Law Clerk Resume Examples And TemplatesAnd if you’re looking for a job, here are the five top employers hiring now:
Choose From 10+ Customizable Law Clerk Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Law Clerk templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Law Clerk resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Law Clerk Demographics
Law Clerk Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among Law Clerks, 47.5% of them are women, while 52.5% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among Law Clerks is White, which makes up 63.1% of all Law Clerks.
- The most common foreign language among Law Clerks is Spanish at 46.5%.
Find the best Law Clerk job for you
Law Clerk Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Law Clerk Jobs - $93K and Up
- Work From Home Law Clerk Jobs
- Entry Level Law Clerk Jobs
- Part Time Law Clerk Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Law Clerk Jobs
Top Colleges for Law Clerks
1. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
2. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
3. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
4. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
5. Yale University
New Haven, CT • Private
6. Cornell University
Ithaca, NY • Private
7. Georgetown University
Washington, DC • Private
8. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
9. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
10. University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN • Private
Find the best Law Clerk job for you
Law Clerk Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Law Clerk Jobs - $93K and Up
- Work From Home Law Clerk Jobs
- Entry Level Law Clerk Jobs
- Part Time Law Clerk Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Law Clerk Jobs
Online Courses For Law Clerk That You May Like
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About this Course This four-week course titled AI and Law explores the way in which the increasing use of artificially intelligent technologies (AI) affects the practice and administration of law defined in a broad sense. Subject matters discussed include the connection be between AI and Law in the context of legal responsibility, law-making, law-enforcing, criminal law, the medical sector and intellectual property law. The course aims to equip members of the general public with an elementary ab...
This course teaches Japanese law. It covers the legal system and basic concepts. The course starts with the study of concepts that are common to many countries, such as sovereignty, constitution, separation of three rights, basic human rights and personal security. Furthermore, it covers current issues in Japan, for example, those faced in daily life from a legal perspective based upon laws and related practices. By studying Japanese law, you learn about the relationship between law and...
Top Skills For a Law Clerk
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 10.6% of Law Clerks listed Discovery Responses on their resume, but soft skills such as Communication skills and Computer skills are important as well.
Best States For a Law Clerk
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a Law Clerk. The best states for people in this position are New York, Massachusetts, California, and Vermont. Law Clerks make the most in New York with an average salary of $76,993. Whereas in Massachusetts and California, they would average $67,126 and $62,590, respectively. While Law Clerks would only make an average of $61,181 in Vermont, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. District of Columbia
$84,100
Avg. Salary
2. New York
$76,993
Avg. Salary
3. California
$62,590
Avg. Salary
How Do Law Clerk Rate Their Jobs?
Top Law Clerk Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ Law Clerks and discovered their number of Law Clerk opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that United States Courts was the best, especially with an average salary of $55,699. Superior Court of New Jersey follows up with an average salary of $55,590, and then comes Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom with an average of $203,466. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a Law Clerk. The employers include Leidos, CACI International, and Cincinnati Financial
Law Clerk Videos
Becoming a Law Clerk FAQs
How long does it take to become a Law Clerk?
It takes 3 years of professional experience to become a law clerk. That is the time it takes to learn specific law clerk skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 6 to 8 years years to become a law clerk.