You also complete all of the coursework requirements for the M.S.E.L. degree but save the M.S.E.L. internship, which you will complete during the following fall semester. This strategy involves academic, financial, and career planning but, if done correctly, can put you in the right place at the right time with the right set of skills, which is exactly how and when many public interest and governmental organizations hire. Most federal and many state court judges hire law students or recent law graduates to serve for either one or two years as a judicial law clerk. Some students get hired as early as their second year for a position with either a federal judge or a state supreme court judge. Many other judges, however, will recruit students during their third year of law school.
Some judges are very selective in terms of the academic credentials they require.
In all cases, a judicial law clerk position is viewed as a very positive public service position and can be an excellent stepping-stone to a position with a public interest or governmental organization. On a practical level, a judicial clerkship provides the opportunity for a graduate to gain admission to a state bar and gives them a year of post-law school experience, both of which are often prerequisites for government and public interest jobs. Serving as judicial law clerks has been a very successful strategy for many VLS students and we actively promote this strategy as a way of breaking into a public service position. The goal then becomes addressing the debt in such a way that the student can gain enough financial freedom to pursue the work in which he or she is truly interested. The student s initial job varies widely depending on the particular interests and background of the individual student.