Law Clerk

About This Role

This is a formal Law Clerk intern position established under the PALACE ACQUIRE (PAQ) program, centrally managed and funded by the Air Force Personnel Center. The role involves legal research, writing, and preparing cases for litigation, and is designed for recent law graduates or third-year law students with superior academic or practical legal achievements.

Responsibilities

• Identify legal issues, cite applicable law, and determine if precedents are involved
• Write legal opinions and memoranda
• Identify and understand issues, options, and recommend courses of action
• Communicate effectively with diverse groups, both orally and in writing, in formal and informal settings
• Prepare cases for litigation, including interviewing witnesses and collecting and organizing evidence

Requirements

• Completed a law degree from an ABA-accredited school within the previous two years or currently a third-year law student
• Demonstrated superior law student work or activities, as shown by one of the following:
  • Academic standing in the upper third of the law school graduating class
  • Work or achievement of significance on one of the law school's official law reviews or journals
  • Special high-level honors for academic excellence in law school (e.g., membership in the Order of the Coif, winning a moot court competition, or membership on the moot court team that represents the law school in competition with other law schools)
  • Full-time or continuous participation in a legal aid program, as opposed to one-time, intermittent, or casual participation
  • Significant summer law office clerk experience
  • Other evidence of clearly superior accomplishment or achievement
• Grade Point Average of 2.95 or higher
• Knowledge of legal systems, principles, research, and writing
• Ability to identify legal issues, cite applicable law, and determine if precedents are involved
• Skill in writing legal opinions and memoranda
• Skill in identifying and understanding issues, options, and recommending courses of action
• Ability to communicate effectively with a diverse group of individuals, in and outside the legal profession, both orally and in writing, in both formal and informal settings
• Ability to prepare cases for litigation, to include interviewing witnesses and collecting and organizing evidence

Important Details

• Law clerks may serve for no more than 14 months before being admitted to the bar of the highest court of a State, the District of Columbia, a U.S. territory, or a U.S. commonwealth
• Individuals who fail to be admitted to such bar within 14 months of appointment shall be separated
• Law clerks may convert to an entry-level attorney (0905) position after demonstration of satisfactory employment as a law clerk and admittance to a bar of a U.S. state, territory, or commonwealth
• Department of the Air Force attorneys must remain in good standing and in active (or equivalent) status in at least one jurisdiction during their entire course of employment with the Department of the Air Force

About the Company

This position is centrally managed and funded by the Air Force Personnel Center, Directorate of Civilian Personnel Operations (AFPC/DPC) and administered by the Legal Career Program, AFPC/DPZC, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas.