Capitol Hill post-clerkship Forum

[Anonymous User]

Probably a long shot, but I was wondering if anyone here has experience working as a legislative aide or legislative counsel on Capitol Hill post-clerkship. Will probably be mostly connections based I assume. To the extent it matters, I am top 10% at a T6. Had a full ride so no student loans to worry about so have been thinking about maybe just trying to skip Biglaw post-clerkship because that is not what I want to do long term anyways.

[Anonymous User]

What’s your question? There are junior counsel roles and pay is terrible but it’s an option if that’s what you want to do. Worth noting that some offices may alternatively take you as a term fellow if no permanent role available + if you have funding via your school or otherwise

[Anonymous User]

Do you have any Hill experience? If not, you will need to do something unpaid or nearly unpaid to get your foot in the door. (A school funded fellowship as mentioned above would be a good idea.)

What sort of work do you want to do? For example, you will not get hired as a counsel or even associate counsel to a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee without some experience (either on the Hill or in the substantive area(s) you would cover, ideally both). You *might* be able to snag a "Judiciary Aide" role in one of those offices if it comes open.

If you're willing to look more broadly, especially in the House and on some of the less-sexy committees, you'll have more options, though it will still be tough.

Connections are definitely a (the) way to get your resume looked at, but you may still need to go in as something as low as an LC (legislative correspondent).

Again, the best path if you're looking to go straight in would be a school funded fellowship, do well, and use that as a springboard to a Counsel position.

You mention that biglaw isn't what you want to do long term anyway. What is? If it's work on the Hill, then jumping right there probably makes sense. If it's something else, it might make sense to work towards that something else for a bit until you can jump over to the Hill with some experience. (You avoid the absolute worst-paying jobs that way.)

Are you a Republican or a Democrat? Asking for two reasons. First, you actually need to be one or the other. We tend to get along, especially those of us working on/around Senate Judiciary, but this is still a contact sport and a team sport. Second, my perception is that the hiring is somewhat different (though it probably differs more by office than it does by party).

[Anonymous User]

Do you have any Hill experience? If not, you will need to do something unpaid or nearly unpaid to get your foot in the door. (A school funded fellowship as mentioned above would be a good idea.)

What sort of work do you want to do? For example, you will not get hired as a counsel or even associate counsel to a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee without some experience (either on the Hill or in the substantive area(s) you would cover, ideally both). You *might* be able to snag a "Judiciary Aide" role in one of those offices if it comes open.

If you're willing to look more broadly, especially in the House and on some of the less-sexy committees, you'll have more options, though it will still be tough.

Connections are definitely a (the) way to get your resume looked at, but you may still need to go in as something as low as an LC (legislative correspondent).

Again, the best path if you're looking to go straight in would be a school funded fellowship, do well, and use that as a springboard to a Counsel position.

You mention that biglaw isn't what you want to do long term anyway. What is? If it's work on the Hill, then jumping right there probably makes sense. If it's something else, it might make sense to work towards that something else for a bit until you can jump over to the Hill with some experience. (You avoid the absolute worst-paying jobs that way.)

Are you a Republican or a Democrat? Asking for two reasons. First, you actually need to be one or the other. We tend to get along, especially those of us working on/around Senate Judiciary, but this is still a contact sport and a team sport. Second, my perception is that the hiring is somewhat different (though it probably differs more by office than it does by party).

Thanks for the advice this was super helpful. Happy to start from bottom as an LC or what not. Not in this for the money. I did intern twice in undergrad but that was a while ago and the connections are made there are pretty stale.

One question that came to mind. I am a Democrat (my writings, law school club, and internships will demonstrate that), but my judge is a Republican-appointee. They're not one of the loud ones though to the extent it matters, but I do have a lingering fear of someone googling them and thinking I'm not part of the Democrat team.

As far as fellowships go I was looking at some. For instance I saw one for Sherrod Brown, which was unfunded. I guess the process would be get the position and then get school funding or do schools typically have their own fellow positions?

Edit: is it worth it applying to LC non-JD required positions as well or should I stick to only JD-required positions. My understanding is an LC, by its nature, does not require a JD though.

[Anonymous User]

Would strongly advise entering as an LC. I haven't heard of any LCs with a JD (not to say there aren't any), but I think offices would be really skeptical at hiring someone for what can be an entry level role with a JD. Plus these are low level jobs that pay even worse than other jobs on the Hill.

Honestly if I were you I would just do biglaw after your clerkship. Extremely common for people to do a couple years of biglaw and the move over to the Hill as a counsel, either in a personal office or perhaps on committee (several current or recent counsels on Senate Judiciary, for example). This gives you practical experience you can play up in an interview, even if let's be honest biglaw is mostly paper pushing. I also would not discount the importance of saving a nest egg given chronically awful pay on the Hill. I have seen a few people enter as (functionally more junior) counsels right after finishing clerkships, but I think usually they have connections like having interned in that office as law students.

If you can get access to Legistorm or a similar service, I'd recommend looking for people who hold counsel positions and then looking at LinkedIn to see the variety of paths that might be available to you. Happy to try to answer any more questions you may have.

[Anonymous User]

Would strongly advise entering as an LC. I haven't heard of any LCs with a JD (not to say there aren't any), but I think offices would be really skeptical at hiring someone for what can be an entry level role with a JD. Plus these are low level jobs that pay even worse than other jobs on the Hill.

Honestly if I were you I would just do biglaw after your clerkship. Extremely common for people to do a couple years of biglaw and the move over to the Hill as a counsel, either in a personal office or perhaps on committee (several current or recent counsels on Senate Judiciary, for example). This gives you practical experience you can play up in an interview, even if let's be honest biglaw is mostly paper pushing. I also would not discount the importance of saving a nest egg given chronically awful pay on the Hill. I have seen a few people enter as (functionally more junior) counsels right after finishing clerkships, but I think usually they have connections like having interned in that office as law students.

If you can get access to Legistorm or a similar service, I'd recommend looking for people who hold counsel positions and then looking at LinkedIn to see the variety of paths that might be available to you. Happy to try to answer any more questions you may have.

Looking around at linkedin, I notice a lot of these legal fellow roles which appear to be internship types that are not paid. Do people typically get outside funding or is this one of those unfortunate things where you need to build a nest egg or rely on parental funding. (I assume there are, of course, some outside funding orgs, but I was wondering how common these are).

[Anonymous User]

There are definitely outside organizations and that’s how I think most fellows fund their time, in addition to school-funded fellowships. Another reason not to start as an LC is that offices can be weird about promoting from within sometimes although this varies. Some offices will hire people who are more credentialed from off the Hill rather than promoting an LC, even though practically the LC is capable and more knowledgeable. Maybe more of an issue for dems as there tends to be more credential inflation.