Article III Groupie doesn't just dish judicial dirt -- hey, say that ten times fast -- here at UTR. Occasionally she does something that is vaguely helpful for her readers (assuming, of course, you don't believe gossip is good for you).
Recently a longtime fan of this blog emailed A3G asking for some advice. A3G did not know what to tell this reader, but she would like to turn over the query to her large and knowledgeable readership. Here it is:
Most [district court] chambers are allowed two full-time law clerks, as well as a deputy clerk and secretary. Instead of having a deputy clerk, however, my judge has three law clerks (a permanent and two rotating), who share deputy clerk duties along with the secretary. Unfortunately, one of us must have the title of "deputy clerk" for purposes of payroll in Washington.
While I did not realize this when hired, it has recently come to my attention that serving as a law clerk under the title of "deputy clerk" will not count as a year of legal experience. As such, and to my complete dismay, I will not obtain a pay raise next year. As this is a more recent practice, that determination was just handed down from our clerk's office.
I know from researching judges last summer that at least a few Court of Appeals Judges have the practice of hiring four law clerks and doing without a secretary. [A3G note: Circuit judges are actually entitled to five staff members, either three clerks and two secretaries or four clerks and one secretary.] And I surmise that at least a few other district court judges participate in similar practices as my judge.
I would like to know if others in a similar situation have found a way around this problem.
This situation strikes A3G as unfortunate and unfair. Can anyone offer advice or insight about how to deal with it? If so, please add a comment to this post, or email A3G (and please let her know if, contrary to this blog's default rule regarding the confidentiality of UTR reader email, she can forward your message to the reader who posed this question). Thanks!
P.S. In case you're wondering, yes, the title of this post is a reference to the old television advertisement for this product -- you know, the commercial with the mother and the daughter, walking along the beach...
We had a three clerk system in my chambers, with the CRD taking on the bulk of the docketing management and the "admin clerk" handing the day-to-day case management and interaction with GSA.
The only downside is that in a non-traditional chambers, one of the clerk positions will max out at JS-13 (I think). It may not be a problem if the clerks are all new grads, but if there are some that have a year or two of practice, or have been clerking for a couple of years, then someone may get screwed out of the extra $$ upon "promotion."
Posted by: | September 29, 2005 at 12:41 PM
Our district court chambers also has 3 clerks (two rotating and one permanent) and a secretary with the three clerks handling all deputy duties on a rotating basis as you described. However, for paperwork purposes, our secretary is designated as the courtroom deputy (rather than an official secretary) and the three of us are all designated as law clerks thus we get law clerk salaries and "legal experience" and the only thing the secretary/deputy must do is file a deputy "time in court" sheet each month with all of our accumulated hours. This is a long-winded way of saying that the secretary should just be designated deputy re paperwork only (not with respect to duties) and the rest of you as law clerks and then everyone can keep doing what they do while getting the appropriate credit.
Posted by: | September 28, 2005 at 01:14 PM
Two suggestions:
1. Why does your payroll title have to be the same as your resume title? If the title has to be conferred for purposes of paperwork, then why must it be used beyond that? Why not simply ask the judge if you can use the title law clerk for professional purposes (i.e., resume), even if your payroll title is Deputy Clerk? I can only imagine that any reasonable judge would appreciate the circumstances and the value of the law clerk title, esp. when you are doing all the same work (and s/he didn't tell you in advance!). And if you've cleared it with the judge, then anyone who actually calls for a reference will be able to confirm it.
2. I have a friend who interned for the summer for a Circuit Judge, immediately following her graduation from law school, and at the end of her internship he gave her a certificate saying that she was a "law clerk" so that she could use the law clerk title on her resume, rather than intern.
Seriously, though, explain to the judge your predicament and find out what they would suggest. Put the ball in his/her court. Any reasonably kind judge would surely try to find some solution.
Good luck!
Posted by: | September 28, 2005 at 12:07 AM
I clerk in a district court chambers that has three law clerks--all rotating on one-year stints--a courtroom deputy, and no secretary. We're all designated "law clerks," and we're all getting credit for legal work. Unlike the situation mentioned in the earlier post, though, we three law clerks split up the secretarial duties. It works great as long the clerks don't have ego problems related to admin work.
Posted by: | September 27, 2005 at 08:32 PM
Or, more humanely, have the secretary be appointed to the "deputy clerk" position and the clerk slide into the third chambers spot.
Posted by: | September 27, 2005 at 07:26 PM
The solution is quite simple. Do what a district court judge did in our area -- he let his secretary go, and hired a law clerk to replace her. So now, he has three law clerks and a courtroom deputy. The courtroom deputy takes on the minimal secretarial duties such as filing and correspondence. Problem solved.
Posted by: | September 27, 2005 at 07:11 PM