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Judicial Law Clerks

Assist judges in court or by conducting research or preparing legal documents.
  • Summary

  • Details

  • Work Activities

    • Coordinate judges' meeting and appointment schedules.
    • Enter information into computerized court calendar, filing, or case management systems.
    • Draft or proofread judicial opinions, decisions, or citations.
    • Research laws, court decisions, documents, opinions, briefs, or other information related to cases before the court.
    • Keep abreast of changes in the law and inform judges when cases are affected by such changes.
    • Verify that all files, complaints, or other papers are available and in the proper order.
    • Prepare briefs, legal memoranda, or statements of issues involved in cases, including appropriate suggestions or recommendations.
    • Participate in conferences or discussions between trial attorneys and judges.
    • Draft or proofread judicial opinions, decisions, or citations.
    • Review dockets of pending litigation to ensure adequate progress.
    • Prepare periodic reports on court proceedings, as required.
    • Review complaints, petitions, motions, or pleadings that have been filed to determine issues involved or basis for relief.
    • Enter information into computerized court calendar, filing, or case management systems.
    • Maintain judges' law libraries by assembling or updating appropriate documents.
    • Review complaints, petitions, motions, or pleadings that have been filed to determine issues involved or basis for relief.
    • Respond to questions from judicial officers or court staff on general legal issues.
    • Maintain judges' law libraries by assembling or updating appropriate documents.
    • Perform courtroom duties, including calling calendars, administering oaths, and swearing in jury panels and witnesses.
    • Confer with judges concerning legal questions, construction of documents, or granting of orders.
    • Communicate with counsel regarding case management or procedural requirements.
    • Supervise law students, volunteers, or other personnel assigned to the court.
    • Attend court sessions to hear oral arguments or record necessary case information.
    • Perform courtroom duties, including calling calendars, administering oaths, and swearing in jury panels and witnesses.
    • Prepare briefs, legal memoranda, or statements of issues involved in cases, including appropriate suggestions or recommendations.
    • Review dockets of pending litigation to ensure adequate progress.

    Skills

    • Operations Analysis
      • Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
    • Operation and Control
      • Using equipment or systems.
    • Systems Analysis
      • Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
    • Management of Material Resources
      • Managing equipment and materials.
    • Installation
      • Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
    • Repairing
      • Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
    • Equipment Selection
      • Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
    • Reading Comprehension
      • Reading work-related information.
    • Writing
      • Writing things for co-workers or customers.
    • Learning Strategies
      • Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
    • Active Listening
      • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
    • Equipment Maintenance
      • Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
    • Speaking
      • Talking to others.
    • Instructing
      • Teaching people how to do something.
    • Service Orientation
      • Looking for ways to help people.
    • Science
      • Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
    • Persuasion
      • Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
    • Technology Design
      • Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
    • Systems Evaluation
      • Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
    • Time Management
      • Managing your time and the time of other people.
    • Operations Monitoring
      • Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
    • Judgment and Decision Making
      • Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
    • Management of Personnel Resources
      • Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
    • Mathematics
      • Using math to solve problems.
    • Coordination
      • Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
    • Programming
      • Writing computer programs.
    • Quality Control Analysis
      • Testing how well a product or service works.
    • Management of Financial Resources
      • Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
    • Critical Thinking
      • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
    • Negotiation
      • Bringing people together to solve differences.
    • Monitoring
      • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
    • Social Perceptiveness
      • Understanding people's reactions.
    • Complex Problem Solving
      • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
    • Troubleshooting
      • Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
    • Active Learning
      • Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    Abilities

    • Originality
      • Creating new and original ideas.
    • Time Sharing
      • Doing two or more things at the same time.
    • Problem Sensitivity
      • Noticing when problems happen.
    • Auditory Attention
      • Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
    • Visual Color Discrimination
      • Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
    • Inductive Reasoning
      • Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
    • Deductive Reasoning
      • Using rules to solve problems.
    • Flexibility of Closure
      • Seeing hidden patterns.
    • Manual Dexterity
      • Holding or moving items with your hands.
    • Wrist-Finger Speed
      • Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
    • Response Orientation
      • Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
    • Dynamic Strength
      • Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
    • Spatial Orientation
      • Knowing where things are around you.
    • Extent Flexibility
      • Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
    • Gross Body Equilibrium
      • Keeping your balance or staying upright.
    • Hearing Sensitivity
      • Telling the difference between sounds.
    • Gross Body Coordination
      • Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
    • Glare Sensitivity
      • Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
    • Dynamic Flexibility
      • Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
    • Perceptual Speed
      • Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
    • Static Strength
      • Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
    • Mathematical Reasoning
      • Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
    • Multilimb Coordination
      • Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
    • Trunk Strength
      • Using your lower back and stomach.
    • Sound Localization
      • Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
    • Speech Recognition
      • Recognizing spoken words.
    • Memorization
      • Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
    • Reaction Time
      • Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
    • Far Vision
      • Seeing details that are far away.
    • Night Vision
      • Seeing at night or under low light.
    • Oral Expression
      • Communicating by speaking.
    • Finger Dexterity
      • Putting together small parts with your fingers.
    • Category Flexibility
      • Grouping things in different ways.
    • Written Expression
      • Communicating by writing.
    • Visualization
      • Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
    • Fluency of Ideas
      • Coming up with lots of ideas.
    • Number Facility
      • Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
    • Selective Attention
      • Paying attention to something without being distracted.
    • Written Comprehension
      • Reading and understanding what is written.
    • Information Ordering
      • Ordering or arranging things.
    • Control Precision
      • Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
    • Speed of Closure
      • Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
    • Arm-Hand Steadiness
      • Keeping your arm or hand steady.
    • Near Vision
      • Seeing details up close.
    • Depth Perception
      • Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
    • Speech Clarity
      • Speaking clearly.
    • Stamina
      • Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
    • Oral Comprehension
      • Listening and understanding what people say.
    • Speed of Limb Movement
      • Quickly moving your arms and legs.
    • Explosive Strength
      • Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
    • Rate Control
      • Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
    • Peripheral Vision
      • Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    Knowledge

    • Design
      • Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
    • Medicine and Dentistry
      • Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
    • Sociology and Anthropology
      • Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
    • Computers and Electronics
      • Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
    • Telecommunications
      • Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
    • Administrative
      • Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
    • Food Production
      • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
    • Sales and Marketing
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
    • Chemistry
      • Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
    • Philosophy and Theology
      • Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
    • Education and Training
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
    • Customer and Personal Service
      • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
    • Biology
      • Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
    • Personnel and Human Resources
      • Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
    • Psychology
      • Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
    • English Language
      • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
    • Communications and Media
      • Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
    • Production and Processing
      • Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
    • Mechanical
      • Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
    • History and Archeology
      • Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
    • Therapy and Counseling
      • Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
    • Foreign Language
      • Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
    • Transportation
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
    • Engineering and Technology
      • Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
    • Administration and Management
      • Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
    • Economics and Accounting
      • Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
    • Physics
      • Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
    • Mathematics
      • Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
    • Law and Government
      • Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
    • Building and Construction
      • Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
    • Fine Arts
      • Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
    • Geography
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
    • Public Safety and Security
      • Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    Education

    Education
    Doctoral or professional degree
    Work Experience
    No work experience
    Training
    No on-the-job training

    Pay

    Washington Annual Salary
    80260/yr
    Washington Hourly Wage
    38.59/hr

    Washington Employment Trends

    Currently Employed
    670
    Yearly Projected Openings
    50

    Personality

    Conventional: People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines. They do well at jobs that need:
    • Integrity
    • Attention to Detail
    • Analytical Thinking
    • Dependability
    • Independence
    • Achievement/Effort

    Tools

    • Inkjet printers
    • Laser fax machine
    • Laser printers
    • Personal computers
    • Photocopiers
    • Scanners
    • Tablet computers

    Technology

    • Analytical or scientific software
    • Calendar and scheduling software
    • Data base user interface and query software
    • Document management software
    • Electronic mail software
    • Information retrieval or search software
    • Internet browser software
    • Office suite software
    • Operating system software
    • Presentation software
    • Project management software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Web platform development software
    • Word processing software