Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the purpose of this FAQ?
Simply put, transparency.
LAP’s mission is to ensure that law clerks have positive clerkship experiences, while extending support and resources to those who do not. LAP promotes transparency in judicial clerkships by partnering with law schools and other stakeholders to provide prospective law clerks with the information they need to make informed decisions about clerking via LAP’s Clerkships Database. By democratizing information about judges, LAP vastly increases the breadth and candor of information available to applicants, as well as to clerkship directors and deans advising students on the application process. Everyone who wants to clerk should feel empowered to make the career decision that’s best for them. Knowledge is power.
LAP likewise aims to promote transparency to the fullest extent as well. In fact, it is the first core value listed in our Vision Statement.
This FAQ provides key information on some of the most common and important questions that stakeholders may have regarding LAP. But LAP does not stop with our FAQs when it comes to promoting transparency. We also provide detailed information for stakeholders and others regarding LAP’s data practices in our Privacy Policy. And if you have any questions about how we collect or use data submitted by law clerks and others, you can contact us at info@legalaccountabilityproject.org.
2. What is the Clerkships Database?
LAP’s Clerkships Database fosters beneficial clerkship experiences and diversifies clerkship applicant pools by democratizing information about judges and increasing transparency in the clerkship application process. Law clerks from courthouses (and law schools) nationwide submit post-clerkship surveys about their clerkship experiences. Law student and recent graduate subscribers can read all the surveys, in order to identify judges who will create positive work environments and avoid judges who mistreat their clerks. The Clerkships Database replaces the “whisper networks” which are currently one of the only ways for prospective clerks to obtain information about judges. This initiative ensures that applicants have as much information about as many judges as possible before making important career decisions about clerking.
3. How does the Clerkships Database work?
Currently, every law school has a ceiling on the number of judges they have information about, which depends on 1) who alumni have clerked for in the past and 2) their willingness to share information about their clerkship experiences with their law schools. LAP shatters this ceiling on knowledge about clerkships by democratizing information about judges, ensuring that clerkship applicants have as much information about as many judges as possible.
The Clerkships Database is populated with more than 1,450 post-clerkship survey responses about more than 1,000 judges and includes the following information:
· Judge’s name, state, court, law school alma mater, gender, race, and appointing president or governor (if applicable);
· Clerkship interview information;
· Clerkship experience information, including workplace environment, feedback provided, perspective on tasks, and work/life balance during the clerkship; and
· Ratings of the overall clerkship experience and each judge as a manager (positive, neutral, or negative).
The advanced search functionality of LAP’s Database, whereby applicants can narrow their searches by judge’s name, state, court, race, gender, law school, and appointing president/governor, facilitates a seamless and efficient search, far beyond the search capacity of other clerkship resources.
LAP’s Database contains information about judges from every U.S. state and every federal circuit and is the largest independent repository of clerkship information in the United States. It is more than twice the size of top law schools’ clerkships databases and continues to grow.
4. Does LAP disclose the identities of individuals who submit information to the Clerkships Database?
No. The Clerkships Database is not a public-access website. Neither judges nor journalists can access it. The Clerkships Database employs various security features for all users to ensure that only those who are authorized to either read or write surveys can access the Clerkships Database.
Authorized users must create accounts with LAP that include their first and last name, email address, law school affiliation, and graduation year. Users’ law schools or LAP will verify that they clerked.
Clerks’ names will not be accessible to students reading surveys in the Clerkships Database unless clerks affirmatively choose: their names are provided upon registration solely to verify that they are authorized account users. This system ensures security and also lessens law clerks’ concerns about reputational harm in the legal community and retaliation that have thus far precluded them from sharing less-than-positive clerkship experiences.
5. Does LAP modify or revise any of the information submitted by law clerks and made available through the Clerkship Database?
LAP’s Centralized Clerkships Database is based solely on user-generated data from former law clerks, in which LAP functions as a neutral tool that operates on voluntary inputs. LAP does not play any role in creating, developing, or transforming any content or other information provided by former law clerks to LAP. The only involvement LAP may have with law clerk submissions is in the event information is submitted regarding a judge that the submitting individual did not actually clerk for (which will be removed from the Clerkships Database).
As a result of the lack of engagement by LAP with law clerk content submissions, LAP is immune from civil liability, including alleged defamation, for any third-party content submitted to the LAP by former law clerks under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA).
Section 230 of the CDA provides immunity to “providers” (e.g. website operators) and users from any cause of action relating to third-party content posted on an “interactive computer service” (e.g. website) (see 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(1), (e)(3)). Providers have Section 230 immunity so long as they do not co-create the third-party content, only engage in editorial functions that do not cause illegal or discriminatory content, and do not design a content submission system that otherwise violates the law (compare J. B. v. G6 Hosp., LLC to Fair Hous. Council v. Roommates.com).
Users, like law schools utilizing the Clerkship Database, benefit from Section 230 immunity since the survey content posted in the Clerkship Database is not generated or posted by the law schools. LAP’s Clerkship Database is a collection of clerkship surveys that are completed by current and/or former law clerks. Because survey content is generated by the law clerks, the law clerks would be responsible for the accuracy of any factual statements.
LAP does engage in minor editorial functions but does not materially alter the content of the survey results. Additionally, the CDA's "Good Samaritan" provision permits LAP to engage in its content moderation functions to enforce venue rules and meet compliance requirements without losing immunity (see 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(2)).
6. How does LAP ensure privacy and security?
LAP’s Database employs numerous security features to protect the sensitive information we maintain about judges and clerkships. The Database login process is similar to 2-factor authentication and is tied to a user’s email account, rather than a username/password login system. Users receive a login link to their email account. This reduces the risk of impermissible login information-sharing and unauthorized access.
Additionally, LAP has disabled printing, right click, copy/paste, and save functions in the Clerkships Database. Users will also notice a watermark on every post-clerkship survey that reads "CONFIDENTIAL" and notes a time stamp and user's name and email address to discourage impermissible information-sharing. Throughout the Database, users are reminded that it is a violation of LAP’s Terms of Use to disclose, whether verbally, electronically, or through other means, the name or other identifying (or potentially identifying) information regarding any individual who has provided comments that are accessible through the Service.
This information is made accessible to Database users for a legitimate clerkship search and should not be used for any other purpose.
7. I am applying for clerkships and this sounds like a fantastic initiative. How do I access information in the Clerkships Database?
Through partnerships with law schools, the Clerkships Database operates on a subscription model. Students at participating law schools are granted access to the Clerkships Database after they create an authorized user account.
Additionally, individual law students and recent graduates applying for clerkships can subscribe to the Clerkships Database for an individual user fee of just $40 per year. Clerkship applicants can visit survey.legalaccountabilityproject.org to register for Clerkships Database access.
The Clerkships Database is one of the best ways for law students to ensure they have a positive clerkship experience. If your law school does not currently participate in the Clerkships Database, let them know that you would like access to this valuable resource.
8. How can I submit information regarding my prior clerkship experience?
As indicated above, the Clerkships Database is populated with post-clerkship survey responses by former law clerks from courthouses across the country. If you clerked for a judge who is still on the bench and would like to share information about that experience, you can submit a Post-Clerkship Survey. Your survey response will be anonymous unless you indicated otherwise.
If you completed multiple clerkships, you will be prompted to complete a second (or third) survey upon submission. Please do not provide information regarding more than one clerkship in a single submission.
9. Are there any antitrust issues associated with use of the Clerkships Database?
No. Generally speaking, U.S. antitrust laws are designed to address improper agreements and similar activities by companies that reduce or restrain competition in the marketplace. The objective of antitrust laws is to ensure there are strong incentives in the marketplace for organizations to provide the highest quality of products and services to consumers.
LAP’s Clerkships Database serves to enhance competition among judges, as judges are incentivized to provide law clerks with the best experience possible so they can attract the best and brightest law students to apply for clerkships.
10. Are there any confidentiality concerns associated with submitting a post-clerkship survey?
No. The Code of Conduct for Judicial Employees (“Employees’ Code”) prohibits the disclosure of any confidential information received in the course of official duties except as required in the performance of such duties. However, LAP’s post-clerkship survey, which asks a variety of questions about chambers culture, judges’ managerial styles, and the clerkship experience - the “judge as employer” - does not solicit any confidential information about judicial deliberations, decision-making, or cases presided over during the clerkship. This is not dissimilar from the ways some law schools solicit post-clerkship surveys from their alumni following their judicial clerkships. Law clerks should not be concerned that they are violating their law clerk duty of confidentiality by sharing their clerkship experiences with LAP. And, in fact, some judges have actively encouraged their clerks to submit surveys following their clerkships.
Furthermore, the federal judiciary has taken steps in recent years to clarify that reporting mistreatment (discrimination, harassment, abusive conduct, bullying, and/or retaliation) does not violate confidentiality. The Employees’ Code notes that chambers confidentiality specifically “does not prevent, nor should it discourage, any employee or former employee from reporting or disclosing misconduct, including sexual or other forms of harassment, by a judge, supervisor, or other person.”
LAP’s Clerkships Database is a repository of clerkship experiences - from very positive, to very negative, to neutral or nuanced. The information clerks submit to LAP does not go beyond the walls of LAP’s Clerkships Database and will only be viewed by students and new attorneys actively applying for clerkships, as well as some clerkship advisors at participating law schools.
11. Who uses LAP’s Clerkships Database?
LAP launched the Clerkships Database in April 2024. Since that time, we have onboarded more than 1,000 active users, including students and alumni from nearly every U.S. law school. Additionally, several top law reviews, including the Harvard Law Review, New York University Law Review, Texas Law Review, and George Washington Law Review, have subscribed on behalf of their e-boards. You can visit LAP’s Press Releases section for updates about law school subscribers.
12. How does LAP verify survey submissions and user registrations?
Both clerks submitting surveys and students requesting Database access register with their full name, email address, law school, and graduation year. LAP’s administrator dashboard compiles all survey submissions and user registrations, and a database administrator reviews them multiple times per day. Our registration process combines automated features and a human review component to ensure that no unauthorized users access the Clerkships Database.
As LAP onboards law school subscribers, a representative from career services will also have an administrator dashboard to help LAP confirm the identities of some former clerks submitting surveys, as well as user requests, from their law school.
LAP does not post unverified survey submissions in the Clerkships Database, nor do we grant Database access to unverified users. LAP has constrained Database access to current law students and recent graduates (up to 5 years’ post-grad) to ensure that individuals access the Database solely for a legitimate clerkship search. Registrants must sign our User Agreement and upload a copy of their student identification or drivers license for verification.
13. My law school operates an internal clerkships database. What differentiates LAP’s Database from other resources?
The main difference is LAP’s goal: to help you decide whether a judge is actually someone you want to work for, empowering you with agency over your legal career. Other differentiating factors include:
Breadth: LAP collects surveys from clerks nationwide, whereas law schools’ information is restricted to who their alumni have clerked for in the past, and their willingness to share information with the school. This nationwide scope increases not just the sheer volume of information LAP collects, but candor as well: clerks are empowered to share honest feedback with LAP when they are one of many.
Candor: LAP is proud to have amassed the most honest feedback about judicial clerkship experiences. The option to submit to LAP’s Database anonymously (after LAP verifies clerks’ identities), the nationwide scope of the Project, and LAP’s status as a trusted, neutral third party repository of information, enable us to collect honest reviews.
Content: LAP asks the right questions of clerks - about work environment, chambers culture, and expectations for the position - intended to elucidate candid, nuanced information. Most law schools’ surveys do not. Our survey is heavily influenced by what students want to know before clerking, and what law clerks wish they’d known before clerking. That’s why clerks often share the feedback that they enjoyed filling out our clerkship survey and never had a platform to share candidly before.
User Interface: LAP presents information in user-friendly ways for applicants to efficiently narrow and filter their searches. Law school databases allow users to search for judges by name, court, and state. LAP vastly improves upon this with our advanced search functionality: users can filter their search by judge’s gender, race, law school, and appointing president/governor. And each judge profile includes a count of the number of positive, neutral, and negative ratings about the judge as a manager and the overall clerkship experience, so users can filter by past clerks’ reviews.