Clerking for an ALJ

[lawstudent]

Hi all, 

I am interested in clerking for an ALJ after graduation, and cannot find much information about the application process. Should I simply call chambers and ask if they will be hiring clerks? In your experience, are there many slots available? If so, what qualifications do you look for when hiring clerks? 

Thanks

[northwest]

The position you're looking for is actually called "attorney advisor", and it's different from being a law clerk. In most offices, the attorney advisors draft decisions for all the ALJs in the office (and sometimes for ALJs in remote offices depending on workload). These are career-track positions that don't have the normal one-year turnaround that applies to most judicial branch (federal or state) law clerk jobs. Your best bet is to go to usajobs.gov and try to set up an account that will send an email to you when an attorney job becomes available in the region you're interested in. You can find information on that site of the qualification requirements. Good luck. Note: although most ALJs are hired by Social Security, there are attorney advisors working for all sorts of federal agencies.

[operationalj]

Depending on your graduation date- some hearing offices provide unpaid clerkships for law students. The clerkships are great experience if you are interested in administrative law and/or disability law.

[Deleted]

I got hired at SSA via USA Jobs but I have not seen SSA advertising for Attorney Advisor postions in the past few years. I spoke to an old co-worker who told me that SSA has been hiring law school graduates coming right out of law schools in their states at GS-9s.

[dendrobates]

My two cents worth, relating to SSA, check the postings for jobs advertised through your career services and see if your school has a type of reciprocity with the other law school career services, so you can check their listings, as well. Also, would not hurt to find out who the Hearing Officer Directors, or HOD and HOCALJs or Hearing Office Chief Administrative Law Judges are in the offices you are interested in and send a letter of interest along with a copy of your resume. Check for old announcements for Attorney Adviser for the requirements and have your writing sample polished and ready to go. Do not forget to send a follow-up thank you note to both the HOD and HOCALJ for their time and efforts in reviewing your letter of interest etc... I would still check USAjobs. Wonderful job, maybe not as much money as a private attorney, but the flexibility is wonderful and you have more job stability. Although you work hard, the stress is much less than private practice. Finally, this is a career ladder position, so you move up fairly quickly from a GS-9 to an GS-11 to finally the cut off with a GS-12, although you still get step increases or raises along the way. Finally, you typically are hired based off of your experience level, so if you are a new grad, then I concur with probably being hired as a GS-9. Good luck

[chinook]

lawstudent

The responses already posted apply ONLY to SSA. Remember there are other agencies that have ALJs and some of those agencies have law clerks. In my agency law clerks are given a two year appointment, starting as a GS-11. I would write to the Chief Judge at every non-SSA agency about a year before graduation expressing an interest.

As an aside, with sequestration, agencies might not be replacing law clerks as their appointment expires. My clerk leaves in September and we are not replacing any that are leaving. Watch the backlogs get bigger.

[lawstudent]

Thank you all for your advice