Judicial Law Clerks
Assist judges in court or by conducting research or preparing legal documents.
- Median annual earnings
- $64,926
- Projected change
- +4.7%
- Typical education
- Doctoral degree or more
- Employment
- 14.32K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
72.1% of the workforce
Growing to 15K by 2035
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Build the skills
ASU learning related to this career
These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
The work
What judicial law clerks do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Prepare briefs, legal memoranda, or statements of issues involved in cases, including appropriate suggestions or recommendations.
- Research laws, court decisions, documents, opinions, briefs, or other information related to cases before the court.
- Draft or proofread judicial opinions, decisions, or citations.
- Confer with judges concerning legal questions, construction of documents, or granting of orders.
- Review complaints, petitions, motions, or pleadings that have been filed to determine issues involved or basis for relief.
- Keep abreast of changes in the law and inform judges when cases are affected by such changes.
- Attend court sessions to hear oral arguments or record necessary case information.
- Review dockets of pending litigation to ensure adequate progress.
- Communicate with counsel regarding case management or procedural requirements.
- Respond to questions from judicial officers or court staff on general legal issues.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $46,151
- 25th percentile
- $52,862
- 50th percentile
- $64,926
- 75th percentile
- $80,468
- 90th percentile
- $113,306
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $64,926 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
679 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Doctoral degree or more
- 72.1%
- Master's or Professional degree
- 18.6%
- High school diploma or less
- 7.2%
- Certificate
- 2.2%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Law Clerks1,557 postings
- 02Summer Associates757 postings
- 03Family Law Associate Attorneys742 postings
- 04Judicial Clerks361 postings
- 05Family Law Associates241 postings
- 06Law Associates142 postings
- 07Corporate Associates139 postings
- 08Law Firm Consultants132 postings
- 09Legal Interns126 postings
- 10Litigation Associates109 postings
- 11Associate Attorneys/Law Clerks88 postings
- 12Term Law Clerks83 postings
- 13Associates75 postings
- 14Principal Consultants71 postings
- 15Judicial Law Clerks63 postings
- 16Cybersecurity Associates61 postings
- 17Employment Law Associates61 postings
- 18Employment Law Attorneys61 postings
- 19Legal Intake Specialists61 postings
- 20Litigators61 postings
Top employers
- 01GPAC233 postings
- 02Jackson Lewis P.C.140 postings
- 03Jobot140 postings
- 04Colorado Judicial Branch116 postings
- 05McCormack Schreiber Legal Search115 postings
- 06Lee Hecht Harrison105 postings
- 07Relx100 postings
- 08Foley & Lardner Llp85 postings
- 09Contact Government Services81 postings
- 10Robert Half74 postings
- 11State Of Iowa68 postings
- 12Earthjustice64 postings
- 13DLA Piper62 postings
- 14Alto Litigation, Pc60 postings
- 15Commonwealth of Kentucky60 postings
- 16Grayrobinson, P.A.59 postings
- 17Mcclure Harrison58 postings
- 18Capital One53 postings
- 19Clarivate Analytics44 postings
- 20State of Mississippi40 postings
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