A legal clerk is a person who assists with administrative work in a law office or government agency such as a court. Generally, a clerk’s responsibilities include a wide variety of tasks including handling correspondence, filing documents, researching case law, and formatting or drafting legal documents. Legal clerks are often law students in their second or third year of law school who work closely with a lawyer, or they may be newly licensed lawyers working for a judge. In fact, some legal clerkships are highly coveted and competitive positions.

In many ways, it's the legal clerk that is at the very heart of the legal system. The clerk connects with people at various levels of the law system including clients, legal secretaries, paralegals, lawyers, and judges. Even though a legal clerk’s primary functions are administrative, he or she can gain experience that may prove valuable in his or her legal future.

Although a legal education may not be required to become a legal clerk, many legal clerks have some type of legal education or training. For example, this education might take the form of law school or paralegal coursework. Alternatively, it's possible to start as a legal secretary and evolve into a legal clerk — in some cases, the two positions are highly related. Many firms have begun to offer on-the-job training for legal clerks, but many top firms fill their legal clerk positions with law students. Sometimes those students go on to practice law at the firm they clerked at once they become licensed.

The primary responsibilities of a legal clerk can be divided into two general halves — administrative and legal. On the legal side of things, law clerks often comb through case law that might be helpful for a particular case. He or she might go through client files to retrieve particular information the attorney leading that case might be looking for.

On the administrative end, law clerks do a lot of the same things other administrative assistants do — answering phones, filing documents, fielding client and prospective client questions. He or she will typically need to have exceptional communication and computer skills. Legal clerks also need to be trustworthy since much in the practice of law is highly confidential. The clerk should also have meticulous attention to detail since a clerical error could affect the outcome of a case.