Clerk in Territorial Court Taking Qs Forum

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Re: Clerk in Territorial Court Taking Qs

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Jan 09, 2014 7:06 am

Tangerine Gleam wrote:Very interesting! Do you work on criminal matters?
We have a pretty active criminal docket, so I do a lot of criminal work. It's actually great, in terms of experience, because I'm one of those government agency-wannabes.

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worldtraveler

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Re: Clerk in Territorial Court Taking Qs

Post by worldtraveler » Mon Jan 13, 2014 5:30 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
worldtraveler wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
worldtraveler wrote: I think I'd prefer local but not really sure how to even find those opportunities. All the alumni and advice I can find is for federal.
I'm in federal, but we hang with the local clerks. I'll ask around and see how they found their jobs/what they think would help you.
Thanks!
Sorry I took so long. I've asked around and tried to get a general sense for you (or, if you've moved on to some other plan - since I took freaking forever - for anyone else who is interested). The local courts don't have a centralized system. It seems that each judge does things differently, and most frequently they just post openings with career services folks.

I do know that several of them are starting to move now, though, as the current clerks' terms move to about their halfway point.
I have an employment contract until June 2015, so I won't be thinking of it for a while, but definitely great for future reference. Thanks!

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FlanAl

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Re: Clerk in Territorial Court Taking Qs

Post by FlanAl » Fri Aug 08, 2014 6:31 pm

I know its a longshot but I thought I'd bump this to see if the OP could give any insight into territorial AG's and public defender type gigs, or pretty much any type of legal opportunities a mainlander might have in the territories. If you aren't clerking in fed court would you need to take the territory's bar exam?

I've got a great job lined up in the states that I'm excited about but it would be great to know what options I might have down the line. And nice to have something to think about when Jimmy Buffett comes on the radio. Feel free to pm.

Also, this article seems pretty dated but if you have the time and could share your thoughts on it I would really appreciate it!
http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/transna ... Keyser.pdf

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Re: Clerk in Territorial Court Taking Qs

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Aug 09, 2014 4:46 pm

FlanAl wrote:I know its a longshot but I thought I'd bump this to see if the OP could give any insight into territorial AG's and public defender type gigs, or pretty much any type of legal opportunities a mainlander might have in the territories. If you aren't clerking in fed court would you need to take the territory's bar exam?

I've got a great job lined up in the states that I'm excited about but it would be great to know what options I might have down the line. And nice to have something to think about when Jimmy Buffett comes on the radio. Feel free to pm.

Also, this article seems pretty dated but if you have the time and could share your thoughts on it I would really appreciate it!
Obviously every territory is going to be a little different. I'd say the majority of attorneys I see are not from here
or, if they are, they went to undergrad or law school somewhere else. That said, the bar here is pretty protective, and so essentially anyone who isn't an AUSA or AFPD has to be barred here.

In terms of opportunities - I know the territorial AG hired a few new prosecutors lately. I'm not really in tune with the hiring for the territorial PDs, just because they don't often appear before us. If they're anything like our FPD, then they don't have enough defenders and are way overworked. But, if they're like FPD, they won't hire anyone to alleviate it.

What I can tell you, if you're a criminal defense type, is that you can actually make a living as a CJA or local-court appointed attorney here. There are defense guys who just do those cases, and apparently make enough to put food on their tables. There's plenty of criminal work to go around. Other than that, most attorneys here either work for our "big" firms or they're generalists that do a little of everything. Everyone here is suing each other all the time, though, so there's plenty of work to go around.

As to that article, it's very specific to American Samoa, and to a healthier economy. The recession hit the territories, too, and it shows up in things like the cost of our fuel, our electricity, our water, etc. Cost of living, at least where I am, is much higher than that article implies, and my take-home pay (even though I get a COLA) doesn't leave me with the type of disposable income the author estimates. There are a lot of other sacrifices that come with living in a territory, too. I think the article is good about listing some of them, like inability to vote for the federal government that oversees you, but ignores some others. Many of the territories have endemic issues with corruption, police brutality, and just general mismanagement. They tend to have higher crime rates, higher poverty rates, and less-educated citizenry. There is nothing wrong with each of those things, per se, but it can be a little depressing to see it whenever you go anywhere. Finally, and the article hints at this but I don't know that the discussion was that thorough, there are some significant cultural differences, and what those differences are varies substantially by territory.

Hopefully that was useful and, if not, let me know, and I'll try and get more to what you're interested in.

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FlanAl

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Re: Clerk in Territorial Court Taking Qs

Post by FlanAl » Fri Aug 15, 2014 10:47 am

hey, thanks a bunch for the information! Any chance you think you'll be floating around here in a couple of years? Right now all of this is sort of a distant pipe dream because of my 3 year contract on the mainland. Would the timeline for AG/public defender jobs be sort of whenever the jobs open up or do you think I should start sending resumes once I have like 1 year left of my contract?

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Re: Clerk in Territorial Court Taking Qs

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Sep 03, 2014 8:37 am

I'll probably still be floating around TLS in a couple years, sure. It helped me a lot, the least I can do is give back (albeit with changing perspective as I move forward). I probably won't still be on-island though, because my clerkship will end and, though I do like it here an awful lot, I do not think living here forever is in the cards for me.

In terms of TAG/TPD jobs, I'd jump on them as they open, but no sooner than 1 year before you're out of your contract. I say this because they tend to hire on relatively fast turnarounds, from what I can see, and you don't want to get an interview (which, if you have to interview in person can get really expensive) and then have to turn a job down because you can't start early enough.

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Re: Clerk in Territorial Court Taking Qs

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Sep 03, 2014 5:29 pm

I'd be happy to answer some questions as well. I'm currently clerking in a non-federal territorial court.

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Re: Clerk in Territorial Court Taking Qs

Post by worldtraveler » Mon Sep 15, 2014 1:25 am

Anonymous User wrote:I'd be happy to answer some questions as well. I'm currently clerking in a non-federal territorial court.
Do you have advice for how to find openings for positions like that?

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Re: Clerk in Territorial Court Taking Qs

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:43 pm

Sometimes they post them on Symplicity other times they don't. But I'd also recommend scouring their websites.

Guam: http://www.guamcourts.org/Management/employment.html and http://www.guamcourts.org/Information/job.html
CNMI: http://www.justice.gov.mp/Employment_2.html
Virgin Islands: http://www.visupremecourt.org/Administr ... rtunities/
Puerto Rico: http://www.ramajudicial.pr/orientacion/empleos.htm - not sure if there is a better site for this--this site is in Spanish.

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Re: Clerk in Territorial Court Taking Qs

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Mar 14, 2017 12:10 pm

Anyone know job prospects as far as law firms after a clerkship with a territorial court?

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Re: Clerk in Territorial Court Taking Qs

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Mar 17, 2017 11:44 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Anyone know job prospects as far as law firms after a clerkship with a territorial court?
OP here, who clerked in federal court. My exit opportunities were on-par with my peers who clerked in non-CA/NY/IL district court, both for government and private sector purposes.

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Re: Clerk in Territorial Court Taking Qs

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Oct 28, 2017 12:31 am

Not OP, but also clerked in federal territorial court. Went to Biglaw after and received same bonus as AIII.

Edit: Just looked at the dates, sorry for the thread necro.

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