Job Advice for Law Clerks: Respect the Legal Secretary

For many law students, their first job in law school is a clerkship. For many new law clerks, clerking can be intimidating. Law students have learned how to do legal research and writing in law school, but there are many practical tasks of law clerks that law school does not teach. For example, when I started clerking at a law firm, I did not know how to file pleadings at the courthouse, obtain cover sheets to put on petitions, schedule court dates or obtain court files. The attorneys at the law firm were helpful, but they did not have time to train me in these tasks. So, the only place I could turn for help was the firm's legal secretaries.

A law firm's secretaries really make the whole firm work. Some sole practitioners or small firms function without secretaries, but doing so is difficult, even for a small firm. It's very important that you, as a law clerk, realize the importance of legal secretaries, for several different reasons. Besides the fact that legal secretaries are very important and deserve respect, legal secretaries and law clerks can be a great benefit to each other, but only when they can work together successfully.

You may not realize it, but the way you treat legal secretaries is very important. It can even decide whether or not you're hired as a law clerk to begin with. Legal secretaries often have input and influence over hiring decisions, and if you make a positive (or negative) impression on a firm's legal secretary when you come to the firm for an interview, there's a good chance that they will pass this along to the hiring partners in the firm. If a law student is polite and friendly to a secretary when they arrive for an interview, this can only help that candidate. However, if a law student is rude or inconsiderate to a secretary, the secretary may pass this on to the attorneys in the firm, and that student is almost certainly not going to be hired.

Once you begin working as a law clerk, you should never underestimate the importance of the secretaries in your firm. Besides the fact that having respect for everyone you work with is just a good thing to do, it makes sense to do so. You don't want to anger the secretaries you work with, because they can either make or break you in a clerkship. You almost certainly will need the secretaries' help at some point during your clerkship.

As a law clerk, you will almost certainly need the secretaries' help at some point. I started clerking at a law firm at the beginning of my second year of law school. Law school had prepared me for some of the tasks I needed to accomplish as a law clerk, like research, writing and legal argument. But law school hadn't prepared me for the practical tasks of a clerkship, like filing pleadings, dropping off child support payments for clients, or obtaining court records. The attorneys at my firm didn't have time to teach me how to do these day to day activities. Yet I learned how to do all of these things efficiently and quickly, and I was only able to do so with the help of the firm's legal secretaries. I politely asked them if they had time to help me, and they gladly offered me guidance. I learned how to do some essential functions of my job and I also built a good professional working relationship with them. Throughout my time at the firm, I was able to go to them with questions I had about many practical tasks which were necessary for my job. Likewise, when they had questions about certain research or writing tasks, they often came to me. This was one way that allowed me to stand out as a law clerk, and it made me feel great at work, because I became a valued member of the team.

Conversely, if you're rude to a firm's secretaries, they can thwart you in your clerkship. I don't necessarily mean that they will purposely try to make you mess up, although this is a real possibility, depending on how much of a jerk you are to them. But if you need help and you've been a complete jerk to a secretary, she may not be so eager to help you. And without her help, you're likely to be pretty much on your own. You could try to ask other law clerks, but in many firms, there is a lot of competition between clerks and the other clerks may be unwilling to provide honest help. You could try to ask one of the attorneys, but they may be too busy to help you.

It is also important to remember that as a law clerk, you are at the bottom of the firm's totem pole. This means that you should never think or act as if you are above doing the work of a legal secretary. Quite honestly, you should be thankful to have the opportunity to help the secretaries. Legal secretaries are above you in terms of importance. You are more disposable than they are. If you are asked to answer telephones, make copies, or do some filing work, do it. So you got accepted to law school, big deal. I don't know a single legal secretary who couldn't get into law school if they wanted to. Get over yourself and do what you're asked to do. If you refuse to do it, it makes you look lazy and egotistical. This isn't the impression you want to leave with any place which you hope to be employed...for long.