Career Explorer Law
Changing shape
Judicial law clerks
Assist judges in court or by conducting research or preparing legal documents.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 23% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by +2.8% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on ethical judgement.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $64,920
- Job growth to 2035
- +2.8%
- Openings a year
- 1,500
- People doing it (2025)
- 14,000
- Usual route in
- Doctorate or professional degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Consult legal materials or public records
- Research laws, precedents, or other legal data
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Record information about legal matters
- Prepare legal or regulatory documents
- Discuss legal matters with clients, disputants, or legal professionals or staff
What the work looks like
- Prepare briefs, legal memoranda, or statements of issues involved in cases, including appropriate suggestions or recommendations.
- Research laws, court decisions, documents, opinions, briefs, or other information related to cases before the court.
- Draft or proofread judicial opinions, decisions, or citations.
- Confer with judges concerning legal questions, construction of documents, or granting of orders.
- Review complaints, petitions, motions, or pleadings that have been filed to determine issues involved or basis for relief.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Engineering teachers, postsecondaryGrows with AI, Index 28, +7.8%
- Biological science teachers, postsecondaryGrows with AI, Index 34, +7.3%
- Medical scientists, except epidemiologistsGrows with AI, Index 49, +12.6%
- AstronomersGrows with AI, Index 24, +7.8%
Also known as: Judicial Assistant, Judicial Clerk, Judicial Law Clerk, Law Clerk, Appellate Law Clerk, Career Judicial Law Clerk, Career Law Clerk, Law Researcher.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.