A judicial clerkship after law school is an invaluable professional experience that provides training and growth opportunities for all lawyers regardless of eventual practice area or specialty. You can intern for judges during law school as well and reap some of the benefits of a clerkship experience.
As a clerk you will witness the evolution of an array of cases with various substantive and procedural issues, thus enhancing your legal knowledge and helping you decide which practice area appeals to you. You will also hone your research, writing and analytical skills in ways that will support you throughout your legal career.
Another benefit of clerking is seeing many lawyers of varying skills in action. You will learn firsthand what works and what differentiates effective lawyers from less effective ones. The learning experiences of clerking coupled with observations of lawyering will supplement your formal law school education and amplify your legal skills quickly and exponentially.
[Read: Prepare for a Judicial Career in Law School.]
A clerkship also offers a unique and prolonged opportunity to see firsthand how a judge approaches a case, considers the parties’ briefs, researches issues and drafts opinions. It provides a view into the life of a lawsuit from the court’s perspective that will inform the way you practice law throughout your career.
Other key benefits of a clerkship include:
— Mentorship from the judge that often evolves into a lifelong bond.
— A credential that follows you for your professional life; many clerkships are prestigious and will hold sway with future prospective employers.
— Being better positioned to get certain types of legal jobs, such as a federal prosecutor, a judge or a law school professor.
— Potential eligibility for a clerkship bonus if you go into private practice after your clerkship.
— A broad network of past and future clerks and judges who can serve as resources as you advance in your career.
[Read: Find the Right Career Fit as a Future Lawyer.]
There are many ways in which you can position yourself to get a coveted clerkship during the law school admissions process.
Learn about the experience of clerking. Many of the benefits of clerking are well-known throughout the legal industry and outlined above. However, it can’t hurt to do your own exploration.
Talk to present and former clerks and hear their experiences. Many lawyers with clerkship experience are eager to mentor prospective lawyers but don’t have the opportunity because they are not asked.
Consider questions such as: What does the day-to-day life of a clerk look like? How have the experiences of your clerkship supported you in your legal career? What have been the most valuable takeaways from your clerkship experience?
You could also visit courts of various kinds and levels to observe and get a better sense of what clerking entails. You can choose to weave your interest in clerking into your law school application narrative and to support a compelling “why law school” story.
Maintain academic excellence. Clerkships in federal court at the district and appellate levels require superior academic excellence. Other clerkships in state court and specialized courts also consider good grades to be an essential component of fitness for the roles.
Getting good grades as an undergraduate will strengthen your law school candidacy and also support your efforts to secure clerkships after law school.
And it is important to continue to demonstrate academic success with stellar grades as a first- and second-year law student. Clerkship opportunities abound, but the better your grades at the higher-ranked schools, the better your chances of securing more prestigious federal court clerkships.
Choose a law school that will support your postgraduation clerkship goals. If you aim to clerk in federal court and have designs on appellate clerkships and even the far more coveted Supreme Court clerkships, you should go to the highest-ranked law school that you can attend with your credentials.
Prestigious clerkship opportunities are far more accessible to graduates of top-tier law schools who have performed well at those schools. This isn’t to say that you cannot get a federal court clerkship at a lower-ranked school; it is simply harder. Federal court judges are highly selective and often hire clerks who are successful at top schools.
[Read: Choose the Right Law School for an Appellate Law Career.]
However, it isn’t necessarily the case that those schools place the highest percentages of graduates in clerkship positions. Moreover, if you are not wedded to federal court clerkships, school rank becomes less important. Many law schools place a significant percentage of their graduates into clerkship positions.
It is therefore in your interest to pay attention to law schools’ postgrad clerkship placement statistics when choosing a school, as schools with higher percentages are likely to offer better support to secure clerkships.
Lastly, you could look at the career services offerings of law schools when making a choice about where to enroll. Most law schools have dedicated webpages for their career services office, and you can do some digging to assess the depth and breadth of clerkship support provided to students. For example, does the law school have a dedicated clerkship counselor?
If you intend to clerk after law school, position yourself in the best way possible by learning about the clerkship experience, maintaining academic excellence and factoring your clerkship goals into your school choice.
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How Law School Applicants Can Boost Odds of a Clerkship originally appeared on usnews.com
