A judicial clerkship is an invaluable experience that provides great training and opportunity for growth for all lawyers, regardless of practice area. Most lawyers change jobs during their career, and having a clerkship shows that you are a highly capable lawyer, improving your value regardless of the type of work you do. And, you will be more competitive for postgraduate fellowships, scholarships, internships, and government honors programs.
One of the most rewarding aspects of a judicial clerkship is that you will gain a valuable mentor. As judges are usually the best of the profession, you will learn at the hands of a master. Most judges take their mentoring role seriously; more seriously than many practicing lawyers. Judges describe the relationship with their clerks as a bond that is unique in legal environments.
By obtaining a clerkship, you will be a better lawyer, have a credential that will follow you throughout your professional career, and most importantly, gain experience that would take years to accumulate otherwise.
Additionally:
- You see a variety of cases with different substantive law and procedural issues that improve your general knowledge of the law. This will help you decide which practice area is right for you.
- You have an intense research and writing experience that will help you be a more efficient and effective legal writer.
- You see lawyers of varying skill levels and will learn by analyzing their strategies and techniques with the judge and other clerks.
- You get inside the head of a judge.
- As a future transactional or in-house lawyer, you see how your work product might be litigated. Additionally, you
- become more thoughtful in your drafting and in due diligence reviews; you are a better writer where writing really matters; you understand when to use and the impact of choice of law, choice of forum and arbitration clauses; you know that legal research is important and not to always rely on forms; and you understand the economics of litigation and discovery.
- You join a clerkship family of past and future clerks, providing a broad network from different law schools, geographic areas, and practices of law.