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In the United States, Canada and Brazil, a law clerk is a person who provides assistance to a judge in researching issues before the court and in writing opinions. Those unfamiliar with court operations often incorrectly assume that a law clerk is a court clerk or courtroom deputy, essentially a secretary for the court. To the contrary, a law clerkship is one of the most prestigious and coveted jobs in the legal profession. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
A court clerk or clerk of the court is an occupation whose responsibilities include maintaining the records of a court. ...
Working as a judicial law clerk at any level of government is generally considered a prestigious occupation within the legal field. It tells others in the legal profession that an individual came out of law school with enough competence and legal intelligence to earn a judge's trust and heavily influences the judge's decisions. Working as a law clerk generally opens up career opportunities.
Among the most prestigious clerkships are those with the United States Supreme Court; the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals; certain federal district courts, such as the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the District of Columbia; and certain state courts, particularly the Delaware Court of Chancery and the New York Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States...
The United States Courts of Appeals (or circuit courts) are the mid-level appellate courts of the United States federal court system. ...
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. ...
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. ...
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (S.D.N.Y.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties: New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. ...
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction is comprised of the entirety of Long Island and Staten Island. ...
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia is the United States District Court that hears cases originating in the District of Columbia under Federal law. ...
The Delaware Court of Chancery is a court of equity in the United States state of Delaware. ...
The Court of Appeals is New Yorks highest appellate court, created in 1847, replacing the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors. ...
United States
Qualifications Most law clerks are recent law school graduates who were at the very top of their class, and/or graduated from the most prestigious law schools.[1] Federal judges, especially those at the appellate level, often require that applicants for law clerk positions have experience with law review or moot court. As such, the law clerk application process is highly competitive, with most federal judges receiving hundreds of applications for only one or two open positions in any given year. State level trial court judges are more likely not to require the highest credentials because the majority of students with top credentials seeking clerkships receive federal and state appellate court appointments, and never become available to these judges.[2] // A law school is an institution where future lawyers obtain legal degrees. ...
Because of the selection criteria, many notable legal figures, professors, and judges were law clerks before achieving greatness in other areas of the law.
Five Supreme Court Justices previously clerked for other Supreme Court Justices. Associate Justice Byron White clerked for Chief Justice Frederick M. Vinson. Associate Justice John Paul Stevens clerked for Associate Justice Wiley Rutledge. Associate Justice Stephen Breyer clerked for Associate Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chief Justice John Roberts clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist when Rehnquist was still an Associate Justice. Rehnquist himself had previously clerked for Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson. Byron Raymond White (June 8, 1916 – April 15, 2002) won fame both as a football running back and as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. ...
Frederick Moore Vinson (January 22, 1890–September 8, 1953) served the United States in all three branches of government. ...
John Paul Stevens (born April 20, 1920) is currently the most senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. ...
Wiley Blount Rutledge (1894 - 1949) was a U.S. educator and jurist. ...
Stephen Gerald Breyer (born August 15, 1938) is an American attorney, political figure, and jurist. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
This article is about the Chief Justice of the United States. ...
William Hubbs Rehnquist (October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American lawyer, jurist, and a political figure who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the Chief Justice of the United States. ...
Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892–October 9, 1954) was United States Attorney General (1940–1941) and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1941–1954). ...
Some judges seek to hire law clerks who not only have excelled academically but also share the judge's ideological orientation. However, this occurs mostly at the level of some state supreme courts and the United States Supreme Court. Law clerks can have a great deal of influence on the judges with whom they work.
Upon completing a judicial clerkship, a law clerk often becomes very marketable to elite law firms.
Exceptions The Supreme Court of California and the various districts of the California Court of Appeal have generally avoided using law clerks since the late 1980s.[3] Justices of the Supreme Court of California (circa May 2005). ...
Court of Appeals is the title of certain appellate courts in various jurisdictions. ...
Instead, California has largely switched to using permanent staff attorneys at all levels of the judiciary; a few judges do use law clerks, but they are quite rare. For example, the Supreme Court of California has over 85 staff attorneys, of whom about half are attached to particular justices and the rest are shared as a central staff. The California system has been heavily criticized for denying young attorneys the chance to gain experience, and low turnover has resulted in a lack of ethnic and gender diversity among the staff attorneys.[4] But most California judges prefer staff attorneys because it avoids the problem of having to bring new law clerks up to speed on pending complex cases (particularly death penalty cases).[5]
Outside the United States While there has been relatively little inquiry comparing clerks across nations, some research has been done comparing clerkship practices in the U.S. with non-U.S. courts. Still, in some countries the position of law clerk does not exist. But in many nations clerk-duties are performed by permanent staff attorneys or junior apprentice-like judges like those that sit on the French High Court, the Conseil d'Etat. In the English Court of Appeal, they are known as Judicial Assistants. The permanent staff attorneys, or clerks--called Referendaires at the European Court of Justice provide one point of comparison to American clerks. Canadian, Swedish and Brazilian practices can also help illuminate the similarities and differences across nations. In France, the Conseil dÉtat (English: Council of State and sometimes Counsel of State) is an organ of the French national government. ...
European Court of Justice building, Luxembourg The Court of Justice of the European Communities, usually called the European Court of Justice (ECJ), is the highest court of the European Union (EU). ...
European Court of Justice Sally Kenney’s article on clerks, or Referendaires, on the European Court of Justice (ECJ) provides one detailed point of comparison (2000). There are some major differences between ECJ clerks and their American counterparts, largely because of the way the ECJ is structured. One key difference is that ECJ clerks, while hired by individual judges, serve long tenures as opposed to the one-year-clerkship norm at the U.S. Supreme Court. This gives ECJ clerks considerable expertise and power. Because ECJ judges serve six-year renewable terms and only issue unanimous opinions, the most important role of ECJ clerks is to facilitate uniformity and continuity across chambers, member-states, and over time. Furthermore, this role is heightened because the European Union is composed of very different nations with disparate legal systems. Kenney found that ECJ clerks provide legal and linguistic expertise (all opinions are issued in French), ease the workload of their members, participate in oral and written interactions between chambers, and provide continuity as members rapidly change. While Kenney concludes that they have more power than their counterparts on the U.S. Supreme Court, ECJ clerks act as agents for their principals—judges—and are not the puppeteers that critics suggest. European Court of Justice building, Luxembourg The Court of Justice of the European Communities, usually called the European Court of Justice (ECJ), is the highest court of the European Union (EU). ...
Canada In Canada, judicial clerkships are available to students graduating law school in most courts. Most superior and appellate courts, including the Federal Court, hire at least one clerk for each judge. The term typically lasts a year. As in the United States, the most prestigious clerkship available is with the country's highest court, the Supreme Court of Canada. Each Justice of the Supreme Court hires three clerks for a one-year term. Successful candidates are selected for a variety of reasons, but most often are distinguished by exceptional academic records. Many Supreme Court law clerks have gone on to become leaders of the profession. For example, Mr. Justice Jean Cote of the Alberta Court of Appeal was one of the very first Supreme Court law clerks, serving as a clerk in the program's inaugural year (1967). The Supreme Court of Canada (French: Cour suprême du Canada) is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeal in the Canadian justice system. ...
Sweden After successfully obtaining the Swedish law degree called Candidate of Law one can apply for a position as a law clerk ("notarie" in Swedish) either in the Administrative Courts (länsrätt) or in the General Courts (tingsrätt) [1]. Applicants are rated according to their accumulated points, which are calculated mainly by grades. Higher grades giving higher scores and the one with the highest score applying to any given spot is accepted. One applies to the Swedish Court Agency (Domstolsverket) about six times a year, which calculates the scores and apportions the applicants. The Courts in the bigger cities naturally tends to be most popular, thereby needing the highest scores even if they also have most law clerk positions. Candidate of Law ( or candidatus/candidata juris, in Sweden ) is the title awarded to jurists who have passed the state exam of law in Denmark, Norway and Sweden at one of the state universities, after studying law for 5, 6 or 7 years. ...
The ratio is about one law clerk per judge, and the clerk switch judge after a time, usually three months. The rationale being that working for different judges broadens the scope of learning.
The term as law clerk is two years, after which the law clerk may opt to apply to the Court of Appeals in the Administrative system or the General system ("kammarrätt" or "hovrätt") and continue on the path that traditionally leads to Judge, or leave the Court system for another career. Having completed the two years is considered qualifying and may open up career opportunities otherwise closed.
The work as a law clerk mainly entails assisting the judges with writing verdicts and decisions, keeping the records during trials and conducting legal inquirys. After about six months the law clerk is trusted with deciding simpler non-disputed issues by himself (such as registering prenuptials or granting adoptions). After about a year the law clerk is entrusted with judging simpler criminal and civil law cases by himself (in General Courts), such as petty theft or a civil case involving low sums of money.
Brazil After obtaining the Brazilian law degree, it is possible to be selected by judges or Justices to be one of their law clerks. It is required that applicants for law clerk positions have experience and expertise with procedural law and also share the judge's ideological orientation. Like in the US, the most prestigious clerkship available are those at the higher courts, such as the "Supremo Tribunal Federal" – STF" (Federal Supreme Court) and the "Superior Tribunal de Justiça" – STJ (Superior Court of Justice). Each Justice (“Ministro”) of such courts can hire up to five law clerks and clerkship does not have a fixed term (Justices can replace law clerks at any time). The work as a law clerk mainly entails assisting the Justices with writing verdicts, decisions and researching precedents. Working as a law clerk is considered to be a prestigious occupation within the legal field and opens up vast career opportunities. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...
The Superior Tribunal de Justiça – STJ[1] is the Brazilian highest court in non-constitutional issues and grants a Special Appeal (Recurso Especial in Portuguese) when a judgement of a court of second instance offends a federal statute disposition or when second instance courts make different rulings on the...
References - ^ Wayne L. Anderson and Marilyn J. Headrick, The Legal Profession: Is it for you? (Cincinnati: Thomson Executive Press, 1996), 110.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Itir Yakar, “Unseen Staff Attorneys Anchor State’s Top Court: Institution’s System of Permanent Employees Means Workers Can Outlast the Justices,” San Francisco Daily Journal, 30 May 2006, 1.
- ^ Yakar, 1.
- ^ Yakar, 1.
Cohen, Jonathan Matthew, Inside Appellate Courts: The Impact of Court Organization on Judicial Decision Making in the United States Courts of Appeals (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2002).
Kenney, Sally J., “Beyond Principals and Agents: Seeing Courts as Organizations by Comparing Referendaires at the European Court of Justice and Law Clerks at the U.S. Supreme Court,” Comparative Political Studies 33 (5, June 2000): 593-625.
Ward, Artemus and David L. Weiden, Sorcerers' Apprentices: Law Clerks at the United States Supreme Court (New York, NY: NYU Press, 2006).
See also Law clerks have assisted Supreme Court Justices in various capacities since the first one was hired by Justice Horace Gray in the 1880s. ...
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