Judicial Law Clerks
Assist judges in court or by conducting research or preparing legal documents.
13,290 people do this job in the US. $64,920 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 93%
- 3%
- 3%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 19%. Today's estimate: 26%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 18 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research laws, court decisions, documents, opinions, briefs, or other information related to cases before the court.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 25% | 3.3 h1.3 h to 1.6 work days | 28%Half by Feb 2027 | |
| Prepare briefs, legal memoranda, or statements of issues involved in cases, including appropriate suggestions or recommendations.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 25% | 5 h1.7 h to 2.1 work days | 15%Half by Jun 2027 | |
| Draft or proofread judicial opinions, decisions, or citations.Done daily by most who do it. | 25% | 1 work day2.5 h to 3.1 work days | 5%Half by Oct 2027 | |
| Review complaints, petitions, motions, or pleadings that have been filed to determine issues involved or basis for relief.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 9% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | 77%Half by now | |
| Confer with judges concerning legal questions, construction of documents, or granting of orders.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Attend court sessions to hear oral arguments or record necessary case information.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 3.3 h1.3 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Review dockets of pending litigation to ensure adequate progress.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 2% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | 77%Half by now | |
| Prepare periodic reports on court proceedings, as required.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 2% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | 49%Half by now | |
| Participate in conferences or discussions between trial attorneys and judges.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 1% | 1.7 h50 min to 2.5 h | 97%Half by now | |
| Keep abreast of changes in the law and inform judges when cases are affected by such changes.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 0.9% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | 95%Half by now | |
| Respond to questions from judicial officers or court staff on general legal issues.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 0.8% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | 97%Half by now | |
| Enter information into computerized court calendar, filing, or case management systems.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 0.7% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Lawyers10% now, 56% by 2028
- Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates40% now, 94% by 2028
- Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers44% now, 88% by 2028
- Paralegals and Legal Assistants23% now, 70% by 2028
- Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants41% now, 54% by 2028
- Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners36% now, 79% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).