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The differences between legal externs and law clerks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a law clerk has an average salary of $55,916, which is higher than the $47,238 average annual salary of a legal extern.
The top three skills for a legal extern include litigation, legal intern and legal issues. The most important skills for a law clerk are litigation, legal issues, and legal memos.
| Legal Extern | Law Clerk | |
| Yearly salary | $47,238 | $55,916 |
| Hourly rate | $22.71 | $26.88 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 10,986 | 75,014 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Average age | 46 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | - |
Legal externs are law students who took the opportunity to do on-the-job training at a law firm. Instead of monetary compensation, they receive academic credits. Legal externs primarily engage in job shadowing. They are usually assigned mentors in the law firm, and they would shadow their mentors in their daily routines. Legal externs are exposed to the actual work done by lawyers. Legal externs are involved in cases, providing insights while building a solid case for their client, giving advice to clients, and representing clients under the supervision of the actual lawyers in the firm. They are usually not given administrative or clerical tasks since they are expected to do more tasks directly related to being a lawyer.
Law clerks are employees in a legal firm who handle clerical tasks for the office. They handle the office's official phone lines, answering incoming calls, and making outgoing calls. They also field office correspondence, often receiving incoming mail and distributing them to their addressees. They manage office documents and ensure that they are correctly filed and labeled in their respective storage bins. Law clerks help make office life more comfortable because they make sure that the office is running well. They also manage appointments and office calendars.
Legal externs and law clerks have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Legal Extern | Law Clerk | |
| Average salary | $47,238 | $55,916 |
| Salary range | Between $23,000 And $93,000 | Between $27,000 And $114,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | New York | New York |
| Best paying company | Jones Day | Hughes Hubbard & Reed |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Professional |
There are a few differences between a legal extern and a law clerk in terms of educational background:
| Legal Extern | Law Clerk | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Most common major | Law | Law |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between legal externs' and law clerks' demographics:
| Legal Extern | Law Clerk | |
| Average age | 46 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 46.0% Female, 54.0% | Male, 52.5% Female, 47.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 6.4% White, 75.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 8.3% Hispanic or Latino, 17.8% Asian, 10.3% White, 53.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 13% |