Author: Laura Wolf

As you may recall, I landed my dream job after technically never applying for it.  You can read more about that here and here.  So, how did that happen?  Well, I was in a place of stress after having just lost a job offer and I started sending my resume out to anyone and everyone who might meet with me to discuss civil rights jobs.

Turns out, a lot of civil rights jobs – specifically in the private sector – never post openings.  So, how do you land a job with them?

Continue reading “Apply for Every Job You Want, Even the Ones with No Job Postings”

For some reason, there is a lot of stigma around clerking for senior judges, at least at my law school.  (I’ll quickly note that I am unaware whether state court benches also have senior judges.  When I use the term here, I am referring to senior judges on the federal bench.)

So, should you apply to a senior judge?  The answer is, it depends.

Continue reading “Should You Apply to Senior Judges?”

If you don’t land a clerkship straight out of law school, the world has clearly ended and you may as well prepare for Armageddon.

Ha, I kid, I kid.  Calm down.  Breathe.  Everything will be fine.  Not all clerkships are as amazing as your law school makes them out to be.  I’ve had many friends who have clerked for judges or on benches they have not loved.  And many who thought the experience was useful but not magical.  (I absolutely loved my clerkship, but I also got very lucky with landing a judge who was a great fit for me.  That’s not always the case.)

So, what happens if you don’t get a clerkship?

Continue reading “What if You Don’t Land a Clerkship?”

A recommender is the term used to describe a professor or professional mentor who you plan to ask for a clerkship recommendation letter.  Unsurprisingly, those same people typically end up being a reference for future jobs.  So who should you ask?

Your law school has probably encouraged you to ask (1) the professors in whose classes you received the highest grades and (2) the professors with the most prestige, presuming that translates into connections to judges.  I wholeheartedly disagree with this approach.

Continue reading “What is a Recommender, and Who Should You Ask?”

I get it – for most people, clerking is the time when you’re going to earn much less than when you transition over to BigLaw.  But for us civil rights folks, clerking is sometimes the most money you will make for a while.  And you might want to take that opportunity to save and/or pay down your loans.  So how much will you make?

Continue reading “How Much Will You Earn If You Clerk?”

I don’t know about your law schools, but where I went to school the notion of clerking for a federal magistrate judge seemed unthinkable.  No one really explained what magistrate judges did, it was just widely known that the position wasn’t as prestigious as clerking for an Article III judge.

Personally, I disagree.  Clerking for a magistrate judge is an incredibly worthwhile experience, both for your personal growth as well as your professional success.  But first, let’s talk about the difference between magistrate and Article III judges.

Continue reading “Should You Clerk for a Federal Magistrate Judge?”

One huge question that we never seem to really pose to law students is: How do you know which judge to clerk for?  The reason is that your school and the legal society at large has come to the conclusion that a prominent clerkship with any judge is a good clerkship, and thus you should apply to every judge so long as they are on a certain bench.  (For example, so long as they’re a federal judge or a State Supreme Court Justice.)  I will have a later post regarding whether you should limit yourself to only prestigious clerkships (you can guess my answer: no), but for now let’s dispel the myth at all clerkships on a certain bench regardless of the judge are the same.

Clerking for certain judges will be great for your personal and professional growth and clerking for others will not.  Here’s how to figure out who to clerk for.

Continue reading “How Do You Know Which Judge to Clerk For?”

Lots of people are going to tell you that if you want to be a litigator, you have to have a clerkship first.  First: stop listening to other people.  Second: start listening to yourself.

I’ll say, I think clerkships can be incredibly helpful in not only landing a future job, but in preparing you to become a litigator.  The experience not only provides you with significant writing opportunities alongside countless hours of legal research, but it can also offer you a lifelong mentorship with your judge and a fierce advocate as you search for your next career opportunity.  That said, clerkships aren’t for everyone, and I refuse to accept the fabled notion that you must clerk if you want to litigate.

What are some reasons not to clerk, you may be wondering.

Continue reading “Is a Clerkship Really That Important, and Should you Ever Turn One Down?”

If you read some of my earlier posts, you already know that halfway through my 1L year at HLS, I still did not know what a clerkship was.  I was naive enough to believe that judges – including Supreme Court Justices – did all of their own legal research and writing.

Any why would I think any differently?  As you already know, before law school I had absolutely no background in or insight into the legal profession.

Well, I eventually learned what a clerkship was and decided that I wanted one.  Simply put, a (term) clerkship is a one- or two-year position where you work in a judge’s chambers and assist in the legal research and drafting of the judge’s orders.  There are also “career clerks,” however that is not what your law school is talking about when they use the term “clerkship.”  Career clerks do not have term limits, whereas “clerkships” as you have come to know them  are limited-term positions.

After giving it some thought, I realized I wanted to clerk on the federal district court bench.  How did I come to that decision?  Well, that’s a great question.

Continue reading “What Is a Clerkship, And How to Listen to Your Gut”