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    Welcome

    Judicial Clerkship Program

    About the Judicial Clerkship Program (JCP)

    The JCP is a joint effort of the ABA Council for Diversity in the Educational Pipeline and the ABA Judicial Division with the generous support of LexisNexis®.

    The program is designed to bring judges and underrepresented law students together through structured networking and educational activities that encourage them to apply for judicial clerkships.

    Please contact Kris Berliant at [email protected] or at (312) 988-5700 for questions.

    If you have questions about law school participation in JCP, please contact Selina Thomas, Diversity Director in the ABA Office of Diversity and Inclusion, at [email protected] or (312) 988-5736.

    Volunteer Opportunity for Judges

    What’s involved:  Judges participate on panels, in social events, and are the heart of the Program's "research exercise." To acquaint the students with the working relationship between the judge and the law clerk, the students are convened in small groups of students with two or more judges assigned to each group. The students assume they are judicial clerks and that the judge they work for has been assigned to write an opinion on an issue pending before the Supreme Court. In four sessions the students discuss the issue with the judges and then, on their own, research and write between sessions.  Ultimately, they develop an outline of an opinion resolving the issue.  

    Contact [email protected] to volunteer for the 2024 Judicial Clerkship Program on February 1-3, during the ABA Midyear Meeting in Louisville, KY.

    Judicial Division JCP Committee

    Hon. James G. Gilbert, Co-Chair
    Robert Saunooke, Co-Chair
    Hon. Heather Welch, Co-Chair

    JCP Related News

    Midyear 2021: Judicial Clerkship Program boosts diverse law students, February 24, 2021

    Watch Justice Frank Sullivan recieve suprise JCP honor at the  Diviersity Reception hosted by the Indianapolis Bar Association, December 2018

    2018 Judicial Clerkship Program Pictures: April 19-21, 2018 in Chicago

    Midyear 2017: Judicial Clerkship Program Offers Unique Opportunity

    IU McKinney Students Attend Acclaimed ABA Judicial Clerkship Program, February 9, 2016

    Law School/Student Participation

    Law schools and others interested in supporting in the Judicial Clerkship Program, please contact Selina Thomas at [email protected] or (312) 988-5736.

    2020 Participating Law Schools

    1. American Indian Law Center, Inc.
    2. Arizona State University  
    3. Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
    4. Loyola University Chicago School of Law
    5. Michigan State University College of Law
    6. Penn State Law 
    7. Saint Louis University
    8. South Texas College of Law Houston
    9. Southern University Law Center 
    10. Southwestern Law School
    11. UC Irvine School of Law
    12. University of Colorado Law School
    13. University of Iowa
    14. University of San Francisco
    15. University of Tennessee College of Law