Don Cruse

I wanted to pass along an unusual set of job opportunities for readers in the Houston area who are interested in making a transition to appellate law — including new graduates who have just taken the bar exam.

The First Court of Appeals has three job postings up:

  • A law clerk position, open to new graduates and others. 1 (PDF) The listing says “Ideally, the applicant will be available to begin training with other Law Clerks on August 31, 2010.” So if you’re a new graduate and the kind of person who reads this blog, you might want to send them a resume. Now.

  • A staff attorney position for an attorney with some experience (PDF). The term “staff attorney” is the Texas terminology for a more permanent, more senior law clerk. 2

  • A central staff attorney position, which would involve tasks for the Court as a whole more than any particular Justice (PDF).

I’ve written before about the benefits of a clerkship to start your legal career. And I have met quite a few attorneys that used used a well-timed stint as a staff attorney to shift the focus of their career toward appellate law.

I hope that three of my readers are about to do the same.

After I heard about these openings, I looked through the other court of appeals websites for similar postings. All I saw was a staff attorney position open in the Waco Court (PDF).

  1. Update: This job listing says that a Texas license is required for this law clerk position, but I’ve been told that it is open to new graduates. I would not worry about that language. I suspect the court just recycled that part of the listing they normally use for staff attorneys. The application packet for 2011-2012 law clerks makes clear that “A license to practice is not a requirement, although applicants are encouraged to take the Texas Bar.” (PDF). There’s no reason this law clerk position should be any different. ↩

  2. Much as Texas eventually changed the term “briefing attorney” to “law clerk,” they probably should change staff attorney to something more befitting the position. ↩