Judicial Clerkship Cover Letter & Resume Information - Loyola: Fill & Download for Free

It depends on you area of interest.If you want an internship in a law firm, you can first prepare a list of the firms you wish to intern in. You can sort them preference wise, reputation wise and even location wise. And then you can apply to them by sending a mail. You can get the mail address from their websites. Make sure not to send bulk emails and to draft and send a proper cover letter along with your CV.Also, a constant follow up is necessary because most of firms do not check their mails for days. Even a follow up via call is no big issue.If you want to intern under a lawyer of the district court of your city or High Court or Supreme Court, you can find out about the lawyers from the internet or from your circle of acquaintances and apply to them.If you want a judicial clerkship in the High Court or Supreme Court, then an application must be written to the Registrar of the desired court.In case you are looking for more options, you should definitely visit and keep checking the site Lawctopus, it keeps updating about the latest places where you can intern.Hope this helps.

After graduating from law school, I clerked for an Article III judge for a total of four years. Reviewing candidate resumes (both for law clerks and for student interns) was one of my duties, so I have an insider’s view of the process.The first thing you need to know is that a federal clerkship is a highly competitive position, especially if you plan to clerk for an active Article III judge. Circuit Court clerkships are more competitive than District Court clerkships. District Court clerkships are more competitive than clerkships for Bankruptcy judges and U.S. Magistrates. I don’t know what the exact numbers are these days, but the stack of cover letters and resumes that lived on my filing cabinet twenty years ago stood over a foot high, and that was for a single vacancy.What sorts of things will make your resume stand out?Excellent law school. Attending a T14 school is almost a necessity. You can get away with a school that is “merely” in the top 20 if you’re at the top of your class.Excellent grades. If you attend a T6 school, this means the top 20% of your class. If you attend a lower-ranked T14 school, this means the top 10% of your class.Law review or the equivalent. Judges are looking for people who know how to write. Having a published Note is a definite plus.Moot court experience is a plus, but it’s not as important as experience on a law journal.References who will tell the judge that you’re both a skilled lawyer and a team player. Judicial chambers are small; you have to be able to play well with others.Networking is a good thing. Make friends with your professors and ask them for their help.When the time comes to send out your resume, go over it with a fine-toothed comb to make sure there are no typos or formatting errors. Then ask three trusted friends to do the same thing. A single typographical error can sink an otherwise stellar resume. It makes you look sloppy.

I’ll take a stab at it:Step one: undergrad. Most law schools will require a four year undergrad degree. If you plan on doing patent law, you may need a hard science undergraduate degree, such as engineering. Your grades will be important. You should make good use of a career counselor at this junction. They can be invaluable sources of information.Although many schools offer “pre-law” degrees, most law schools do not factor that into the admissions process. Some argue that the undergraduate degree isn’t important (aside from patent practice) and some argue that it should be a supplement to whatever area you wish to practice.Step two: LSAT. This is the standardized law school admittance test. Many people choose an LSAT review course (there are several good ones out there.) The prep course is typically several months prior to the exam, and the exam is typically in the last year of your undergrad.Step three: Applications. This is where you decide where your test scores and grade fit the schools to which you wish to apply. There are formulas that several schools use (LSDAS) to determine entrance criteria.Other factors include work/life experience, entrance essays, recommendation letters, public service, and diversity. If you are a foreign national applying for school in the USA, you would start discussing appropriate visas around this time (F series, most likely). The application process will require quite a bit of information, including undergraduate transcripts. I mention this because with the many moving parts, some items may take much more time than you realize (again, if you’re outside the United States, you’ll need extra time to get translations for your transcripts, etc.)If you have a contact at the law schools to which you wish to apply, consider using them now. If the school offers admission guidance counseling, take advantage.You will also submit to several background checks. If you have any issues in your background, such as a criminal history, you should be prepared to discuss it in detail.Step Four: Decisions. Hopefully, you get into more than one school. You will need to determine which school is the best fit. Additionally, you’ll need to figure out how you’re going to pay for it. If you’re financing, or using student loans, prepare for a long arduous application process, followed by years of repayment schedules.Once you’ve picked your school, appliance (and hopefully received) the financial aid package, received your appropriate visa, found a place to live, you’re ready to start! You will have assignments for your first day of class, so be prepared. You will have to purchase legal texts, assignment books, and computer equipment. The admissions personnel will give you a guide book.Step Five: Law School (first year). It’s been decades, so the first year experience may have shifted, but I’ll give you my perspective. First year law is the “weed out” time, where the workload, and the change from undergrad teaching styles and the change from undergrad lifestyle are more than some students are prepared to handle. That being said, it’s not impossible, or even all that difficult, but it is a LOT of work, and requires a shift in your way of thinking.I noticed that the people who had the greatest issues adjusting were people with analytical backgrounds. Much of law practice involves questions in which there is no absolute correct answer. Also, law school will show you that many “sound bite” and “common sense” truths that you’ve learned throughout your life are completely wrong. Again, this was challenging to people with firmly and strongly held beliefs. You’re effective taught to view with a more skeptical eye.As for the class structure, most law schools follow a basic class structure for the first year. The courses would be civil procedure (the rules for litigation), legal writing (how to draft legal documents), criminal law, property law (personal and real property), torts (private wrongs), contracts, and constitutional law. Many schools only have one exam per subject, per term. (This is another culture shock to many, who were used to constant feedback during a school year. If you have a bad day during your exam, or you don’t test well, or have test anxiety, you’re going to have a problem.)The “whats you learn” is different than undergrad. In law school, you are given impossibly long reading assignments. Many of the assignments include thousands of pages of irrelevant information. This is on purpose. You’re not really learning the law per se, but how to think. You have to digest voluminous information, discard the irrelevant, find the nuggets of information that are actually relevant, and then apply the law to them. Many perfectionists could not grasp this. You will not be able to memorize all the reading (much less complete it.)The common saying in law school was to focus on “IRAC” which means Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion. When you read an assignment, your first job is to spot Issues. You then choose which Rules are applicable to the Issues. Then you Apply the Rule to the Issues and come up with your Conclusions. In nearly every case, the Issues and Rules do not fit together nicely. You have to Analyze the best way to force them to fit (using advocacy and arguments). Again, if you’re used to having a mathematically precise answer to a question, it’s not going to happen.Assuming you make it through the first year (many didn’t), you will have your first year grades. Depending on what you want to do with your degree, this will either be the most critical time for you, or it won’t. If you’re looking for a large firm job, academia, judicial clerkship, or the like, your first year grades can be a key into getting on to the school’s law review, a publication by the school. Many of the large firms look favorably on this, and some will give exceptional weight to the grades.Step Five (continued) Summer following first year. There are a few options. Many students choose to work during the summer following the first year. Depending on your first year grades, larger firms offer summer employment. Smaller firms are less grade-centric. Others choose to take summer courses (it reduces the amount of stress for the final two years) and others work in other fields.Step Six. Second year. This is where you take your elective law courses. Many chose to focus on the areas in which they thought they would like to practice, others went for diversity (sampling many areas of law) and others went for joint programs (some schools offer joint JD/MBA programs.) You likely find that the area you thought you liked, you don’t.Step Six (continued). Third year. You can continue taking electives. Many schools offer “externships” or “clinics.” These are courses in which you work under the guidance of a professor or a lawyer, for course credit. A popular one at my school was the criminal externship, in which you worked under a law professor and assisted on criminal cases. Other externships involved working for the government in several areas (for example, the Office of Attorney General offered course credit if you helped their lawyers on consumer protection cases.) Also, a student can apply for a student bar card, allowing the student to make court appearances (accompanied by an attorney). I’ve done this a few times, allowing students to do some direct examinations in court on smaller (typically uncontested) evidentiary matters. It’s an excellent way to learn about court decorum, get comfortable speaking to a judge and how to handle witnesses.Towards the end of the year, you will apply to take the bar exam for the state in which you wish to practice. You will have another criminal background check, another visa application (if appropriate), another biometric, another application fee and a ton of paperwork.Step Seven. Bar Exam, Ethics. Locally, the bar exam was divided into several sections. There is one exam, Professional Responsibility, which is given some time during the third year, though you can elect to take it later. This is a multi choice test dealing with legal ethics. When I took it, it was a half day exam. There are bar prep courses, however, our school had a Professional Responsibility course, and my scheduled PR exam coincided with the course.Step Seven. (continued.) Bar Prep. Although this is optional, I strongly recommend it. There are a number of bar preparation courses. They are typically given following graduation and prior to the next scheduled exam. You would presumably take the bar prep course for the state in which you wish to practice. I chose the Bar Bri course and was incredibly happy with the course. Our course was mostly classroom, with video, study guides and practice tests. If you follow the suggested schedule (which is about a 12–15 hour day, inclusive), you should be fine.Step Seven (continued). Remaining Bar Exam. The remaining bar exam was separate from the PR exam. When I took it in Texas (1996) the exam was two and a half days. The first day was a multi-state, which is a lengthy, boring, general principals test with a multiple choice format. The second full day was an essay exam covering a few topics of Texas law. The final half day was a Texas procedure test which was a mix of multiple choice, blanks, and short answers.Step Eight. Waiting on results. After the completion of the bar exam, there is a several month waiting period while tests are being graded. During this time, many grads worked as interns, law clerks, and other law related jobs. Larger firms will start the grads immediately, under supervision while waiting bar results.Step Nine. Licensure. Assuming you’ve passed, you’re now a licensed lawyer in your state. Your next step is to take an oath. Many states have a specific ceremony (in Texas, you can take the oath in front of the Texas Supreme Court). You can also take the oath in front of a judge, if you’re unable to go to the major ceremony. Once you’ve taken the oath, you’re officially licensed to practice law.Step Ten. Federal licenses. If you wish to practice in certain federal courts, you will need to apply in those courts separately. Many of those courts require a separate application, oath, filing fee. Several require two licensed lawyers in that court to “vouch” for you. Common examples are the federal district courts, Immigration court, and the USPTO.Aftermath. Now that you’re educated, licensed and ready to practice, you’ll need to keep your license! Many states have a continuing legal education requirements. For example, New York requires you to take a comprehensive course within the first two years, IIRC. There are also requirements for every year you choose to practice. Texas, for example, requires 15 hours of CLE (3 of which must be ethics based.)Also, several states require registration, annual bar dues, and the like. Part of the process includes verification that you’re up to date on student loans, not behind on child support, have no criminal history, up to date on CLE, maintained a client trust account, etc.I think that about covers it!