Law clerk
In many nations, clerk duties are performed by permanent staff attorneys or junior apprentice-like judges, such as those that sit on France's Conseil d'État.
The term typically lasts a year and generally fulfills the articling requirement for provincial law societies, which qualifies a person to become a practising lawyer in a Canadian jurisdiction.
[4] The Federal Court of Appeal, which is based in Ottawa but hears cases across the country, selects 15 law clerks each year, or one per judge.
[13] Since 2006 they have taken part in a week-long exchange in Washington DC at the U.S. Supreme Court established by the late Justice Antonin Scalia and Lord Rodger of Earlsferry.
[15] Sally Kenney's article on clerks, or référendaires, on the European Court of Justice (ECJ) provides one detailed point of comparison (2000).
[16] 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.
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 claim.
The work of a law clerk entails assisting the judges with writing verdicts and decisions and conducting legal inquiries and research.
Since 2009, the Court of Final Appeal has been offering full-time, one-year fixed-term appointments to junior lawyers who graduated from highly ranked law schools.
[21] Working as a judicial assistant is considered to be a unique and prestigious opportunity for junior solicitors or barristers, and is viewed as a stepping stone to a successful career in law.
Upon completing the position, judicial assistants typically return to private practice, working as solicitors in Magic Circle firms or barristers in top chambers.
The final merit list is prepared and the selected candidates are offered positions to work under the sitting judges of the Supreme Court starting from the month of July.
Generally, it involves preparing summary opinions and briefs for the Special Leave Petitions listed for the Miscellaneous Days (i.e., Monday and Friday).
On the Non-Miscellaneous Days, involve attending Court proceedings and preparing notes for the arguments advanced by the counsels on matters listed.
[24] In addition to this, students from law colleges all over the country are given the opportunity to act as 'legal trainees' under Supreme Court judges during their vacation periods.
They are typically recent law graduates and were introduced on a gradual basis to phase out the traditional Usher/Crier or "tipstaff" position (a process that is almost complete), while simultaneously providing research assistance to the judge to whom they are assigned.
Judicial Assistants are typically recruited on a three-year contract and take up the role for this or a shorter period of time, generally before entering/returning to practice or academia.
Applications are invited from all over Pakistan calling on fresh law graduates, Advocates and Barristers to submit their CVs, transcripts/degrees, three letters of recommendation and a legal writing sample.
Applicants thereafter are shortlisted purely on merit and interviewed eventually by the scrutiny committee, consisting of senior judges and law clerks of the Court, before final appointment.
In recent years, all law clerks appointed have been licensed advocates placed at the top of their class with excellent research credentials.
Law clerks in Poland have their own organisation called National Society of Judicial Assistants (Ogólnopolskie Stowarzyszenie Asystentów Sędziów).
If they take up this option, they will be posted to other branches of the Singapore Legal Service, for example as Deputy Public Prosecutors at the Attorney's General Chambers or as Assistant Registrars in the Supreme Court Registry.
Many Justices' Law Clerks choose to join private firms after their stint (and several have recently achieved the title of Senior Counsel), while others have chosen a path in academia.
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.
The work as a law clerk mainly entails assisting the judges with writing verdicts and decisions, keeping the records during trials and conducting legal inquiries.
After about six months the law clerk is trusted with deciding simpler non-disputed issues by himself (such as registering prenuptials or granting adoptions).
In 1960, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter rejected Ruth Bader Ginsburg for a clerkship position due to her gender.
The Administrative Law Judges of some federal agencies - such as the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Federal Communications Commission, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Veterans Administration, the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development - may hire Attorney Advisors that perform judicial law clerk duties for them, such as researching the most current case law, writing and editing opinions and orders and assisting the Administrative Law Judges with trial-like adjudications, hearings and other similar procedures.
[58] Instead, recent law school graduates opt for judicial clerkships leaving few in the legal field with practical legislative experience.
[68] But most California judges prefer staff attorneys because it reduces the problem of having to bring new law clerks up to speed on pending complex cases, particularly those involving the death penalty.
