Clerkships give graduates an insider's look at law
Judicial clerkships provide invaluable, insightful and, often, incomparable legal experience for new graduates who are embarking on their careers, said a panel of USC law faculty members who spoke last week about their own clerkships.
The clerkship experience will vary widely depending on the judge and the court. Some law clerks are given great responsibility, including drafting decisions that may be published in the Federal Reporter and other legal publications with few changes. Most are responsible for going through briefs, researching case law, working on bench memos and attending oral arguments. Many judges will discuss important legal decisions with their law clerks at length, and can develop lifelong relationships with their clerks.
Judicial clerkships, in other words, provide superb training for writing, research and legal analysis skills.
"Right out of law school, you are in a very powerful position in the law," said Professor Scott Bice, who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren. "You're really a junior judge."
Dean Scott Altman, who served as a law clerk for Judge Dorothy Nelson of the 9th Circuit, called clerking a "terrifically interesting job" which teaches law school graduates the difference between good and bad legal advocacy.
"I learned to recognized what was overwrought, overclaimed and overstated" in legal arguments," he said. "I learned a tremendous amount of law."
The pay is pretty decent as well. Federal clerks just out of law school currently earn $43,326 during their first year. Those who have done post-graduate work and passed the bar, or are in their second year of a clerkship, earn a base salary of $51,927. And nearly all firms pay former clerks more than other new associates, and the year clerking almost always counts toward the partnership decision.
Professor Dan Klerman encouraged students to pursue judicial clerkships even if they intend to work in a law firm in the future. For example, graduates interested in entering corporate law may want to clerk at the Chancery Court in Delaware, which he called the "Supreme Court for corporate law." At the very least, clerking will turn students into "super competent" legal advocates, which will probably help make them standouts at their firms.
"Let me tell you: What I teach you in civil procedure will not make you a super competent person," Klerman joked. "A clerkship will."
Students seeking clerkships have many options: state and federal courts, trial and appellate, and specialty courts such as bankruptcy and administrative law. Professor Elizabeth Garrett, for instance, has clerked for Judge Stephen Williams of the D.C. Circuit, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and Howard Hotlzmann, an arbitrator on the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague.
Professor Jean Rosenbluth has clerked for Ferdinand F. Fernandez, a 9 th Circuit judge, and Alicemarie H. Stotler, a district court judge.
"The district court is non-stop action," she said. "It's a lot of motion practice that you don't see at the appellate level. Almost every day there is some kind of hearing taking place in the judge's courtroom. You really see the huge range of advocates come before the court . and get to see what worked with the court and what didn't.
Students interested in clerkships should contact Dean Melissa Balaban or Erika Schreiber in the Career Services Office, which will also hold a number of clerkship workshops during the year.
