This material is general public information for educational purposes only. It should not be used as legal, financial, or tax advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by reading it. Federal, state, and local rules may vary and may change over time. A qualified professional can review specific circumstances.
Key Facts
- Federal level: OSCAR is a web-based system for federal law clerk and appellate staff attorney recruitment, and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts manages OSCAR.
- Federal level: Federal Law Clerk Hiring Best Practices are voluntary guidelines for federal judges, and each judge determines his or her own recruitment and hiring schedule.
- National overview: The ABA Judicial Clerkship Program connects law students with judges and law clerks and provides a unique three-day hands-on experience.
- National overview: On the ABA program page, the participation framework includes an annual participation fee and travel cost coverage for up to six law students each year by participating law schools.
- State level: A New York Third Department page describes a temporary clerkship program that hires six or seven applicants each year as a two-year program beginning in August.
- State level: The New York Third Department page describes an end-of-July posting and a mid-September application deadline, and it lists required materials including a UCS 5 form and a self-edited writing sample.
- Federal level: OSCAR duties guidance says the duties and functions of a federal judicial law clerk are determined by the employing judge, with typical work including legal research and drafting orders and opinions.
- Federal level: The Federal Judicial Center ethics pamphlet topics for federal judicial law clerks include confidentiality, conflicts of interest, political activities, online activities, and gifts.
Last reviewed: May 2026. Legal rules, forms, deadlines, and procedures can change by jurisdiction, agency, and court system.
- Why “judicial clerkship program” can point to several different systems
- The ABA Judicial Clerkship Program as a pipeline effort
- ABA participation structure and the program year timing details
- Scholarship support described on the ABA program page
- Federal law clerk hiring uses OSCAR, not an ABA calendar
- Federal judges control hiring timing, with voluntary best practices and pilot restrictions
- Federal and state clerkship listings do not follow one national script
- State clerkships vary, with New York’s Third Department describing a temporary program
- Federal law clerk duties and ethics topics that show up in federal guidance
- Practical takeaways about authority, not just dates
- Related legal information
- Sources
Why “judicial clerkship program” can point to several different systems
The phrase “judicial clerkship program” can describe either a pipeline effort that introduces law students to judges and chambers or the court-driven hiring system that selects law clerks. The two tracks share a goal, but they usually run on different calendars and under different control points.
The ABA Judicial Clerkship Program as a pipeline effort
The ABA describes the Judicial Clerkship Program (JCP) as an initiative that connects law students from diverse backgrounds with judges and law clerks and provides a unique hands-on experience over three days. The ABA program page also identifies the program as presented by the ABA Council for Diversity in the Educational Pipeline and the ABA Judicial Division, which means the program design and participation structure come from those ABA entities rather than from a federal government hiring office.
The ABA program page is available at Judicial Clerkship Program.
ABA participation structure and the program year timing details
On the ABA page, selected law schools participating in the Judicial Clerkship Program must commit to paying an annual participation fee and sending and covering travel costs for up to six law students each year to attend. The ABA page also states the program is open to all students and that first- and second-year students who have not yet secured clerkship positions are preferred for participation.
The same ABA page lists a 27th annual Judicial Clerkship Program event during the 2027 ABA Midyear Conference, with January 28 to January 31 in Chicago, Illinois, and it lists a participation form deadline of November 6, 2026. The page also lists a prior program location of “2010: Orlando, FL,” which can matter when older mentions resurface even if the program continues in later years.
Scholarship support described on the ABA program page
The ABA program page describes an ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship that, in the program-page cycle it references, grants 10 to 20 incoming diverse law students $15,000 of financial aid over their three years in law school. Because this language appears in an annual program listing, the scholarship figures can be cycle-specific and other cycles may list different details.
Federal law clerk hiring uses OSCAR, not an ABA calendar
Federal law clerk recruitment operates through a different framework than the ABA pipeline program. OSCAR is described as a web-based system for federal law clerk and appellate staff attorney recruitment, and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) manages the OSCAR program.
OSCAR’s general description appears at About OSCAR. Separate OSCAR guidance also describes how prospective applicants can search for federal law clerk vacancies using OSCAR.
Federal judges control hiring timing, with voluntary best practices and pilot restrictions
OSCAR describes the Federal Law Clerk Hiring Best Practices as voluntary guidelines for federal judges, and it states that each judge determines his or her own recruitment and hiring schedule. OSCAR also describes a date-specific Federal Law Clerk Hiring Pilot that includes restrictions for a graduating class timeline, including rules such as when judges will accept clerkship applications and when judges will contact applicants. OSCAR’s pilot materials include example restrictions tied to the graduating class of 2027, including that judges will not accept formal or informal clerkship applications before 12:00 pm EDT on Monday, June 8, 2026, and will not directly or indirectly contact applicants before 12:00 pm EDT on Tuesday, June 9, 2026.
For the best practices overview, see Federal Law Clerk Hiring Best Practices. The pilot materials are available at Federal Law Clerk Hiring Pilot.
Federal and state clerkship listings do not follow one national script
The safest way to read clerkship deadlines is to match the deadline to the hiring authority that posted it. Federal law clerk timing guidance in OSCAR materials reflects judge-controlled hiring under OSCAR’s framework, while state court clerkship opportunities depend on the particular court’s own posting and application materials.
| Where the term shows up | Who controls details | What the official page says details are for |
|---|---|---|
| ABA Judicial Clerkship Program | ABA entities listed on the program page | A three-day hands-on experience described by the ABA page, plus participation fee and travel-cost structure |
| Federal law clerk hiring | The judge, reflected through the OSCAR framework | OSCAR materials describe vacancy access and voluntary best practices, plus pilot-page timing restrictions for a defined class timeline |
| State clerkship example | The specific state court that posts clerkship opportunities | A state court program with a seasonal window and required materials |
State clerkships vary, with New York’s Third Department describing a temporary program
State court clerkship programs can describe different clerkship categories and seasonal timing. A New York state court page describing Appellate Division, Third Department clerkship opportunities states that the justices generally hire career clerks and do not regularly accept applications for personal law clerks. The same page describes a temporary clerkship program in the law research department that hires six or seven applicants each year as a two-year program beginning in August.
The New York page also states that the opportunity is traditionally posted at the end of July with an application deadline in the middle of September, and it lists required materials including a UCS 5 application form, cover letter, resume, law school transcript, and a self-edited writing sample. The court page is available at Clerkship Opportunities.
Federal law clerk duties and ethics topics that show up in federal guidance
Even when two opportunities share a “clerkship” label, the work depends on the employing judge and court system. OSCAR’s duties guidance states that the duties and functions of a federal judicial law clerk are determined by the employing judge. The duties guidance also describes typical tasks that can include conducting legal research, preparing bench memoranda, drafting orders and opinions, and assisting in courtroom proceedings.
Federal ethics materials for judicial law clerks also focus on themes connected to chambers work. The Federal Judicial Center describes its ethics pamphlet topic areas as covering confidentiality, conflicts of interest, political activities, online activities, and gifts. That pamphlet topic summary appears on the FJC page at Maintaining the Public Trust Ethics for Federal Judicial Law Clerks.
Practical takeaways about authority, not just dates
“Judicial clerkship program” can refer to an ABA-sponsored pipeline or to a court-controlled hiring and recruitment system. In federal contexts, OSCAR materials emphasize judge discretion and include voluntary best practice framing, while pilot pages include date-specific restrictions for a defined class timeline. In state contexts, court websites can describe clerkship categories, posting windows, and required application materials that differ from court to court.
