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Role hub · Judicial Law Clerks

Law Clerk: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.

The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.

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Updated Nov 4, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of law clerks earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$64,920
Hourly
$31.21
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Law Clerks assist judges in court or by conducting research or preparing legal documents. The median pay is $64,920 a year ($31.21 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a doctoral degree (52% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$64,920
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
13,290
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 5 of 5
extensive preparation
Most common education
Doctoral Degree
52% of workers

Data Government data groups this job as Judicial Law Clerks (O*NET-SOC 23-1012.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.

Key facts

Law Clerks at a glance

  • Judicial law clerks in the United States earned a median annual wage of $64,920 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • In its 2025–35 employment projections, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a doctoral or professional degree as the typical entry-level education for judicial law clerks in the United States.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS projects employment of judicial law clerks in the United States to grow 2.8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,500 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS estimated that 13,290 people were employed as judicial law clerks in the United States in May 2025, not counting the self-employed.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

Explore the role

Every page for Law Clerks

SalaryLaw Clerk salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

Open →How to becomeLaw Clerk how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumeLaw Clerk resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

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The work

What law clerks do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Prepare briefs, legal memoranda, or statements of issues involved in cases, including appropriate suggestions or recommendations.
  2. Research laws, court decisions, documents, opinions, briefs, or other information related to cases before the court.
  3. Draft or proofread judicial opinions, decisions, or citations.
  4. Confer with judges concerning legal questions, construction of documents, or granting of orders.
  5. Review complaints, petitions, motions, or pleadings that have been filed to determine issues involved or basis for relief.
  6. Keep abreast of changes in the law and inform judges when cases are affected by such changes.
  7. Attend court sessions to hear oral arguments or record necessary case information.
  8. Review dockets of pending litigation to ensure adequate progress.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Reading ComprehensioncoreActive ListeningcoreCritical ThinkingcoreWritingSpeakingActive LearningComplex Problem SolvingJudgment and Decision MakingTime Management

Knowledge areas: Law and Government, English Language, Administrative.

Tools and technology

Software law clerks use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • Thomson Reuters WestlawInformation retrieval or search softwareIn demand
  • LexisNexisInformation retrieval or search software
  • LexisNexis CourtLink Strategic ProfilesAnalytical or scientific software
  • LexisNexis Lexis AdvanceInformation retrieval or search software
  • LexisNexis SmartLinxInformation retrieval or search software
  • Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER)Information retrieval or search software
  • Thomson Reuters WestlawNextInformation retrieval or search software
  • Microsoft ExcelSpreadsheet softwareIn demand
  • Microsoft Office softwareOffice suite softwareIn demand
  • Microsoft OutlookElectronic mail softwareIn demand
  • Adobe AcrobatDocument management softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft AccessData base user interface and query softwareHot technology

Also called: Appellate Law Clerk, Career Judicial Law Clerk, Career Law Clerk, Judicial Assistant, Judicial Clerk, Judicial Law Clerk.

Method

How this page is built

Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).

How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.