The South Carolina Bar supports a Summer Law Clerk program for students with diverse backgrounds enrolled in an accredited law school. Throughout the program, you will receive valuable experience working alongside attorneys, training and mentoring from partners and associates, and meaningful client engagement.
Employers use their own hiring criteria when selecting students to interview. Compensation is determined by the Employer and paid by the Employer. The start dates and end dates are determined by the Employer. However, most clerkships begin at the same time as the Employer’s Summer Associate class for the students to participate in summer program orientation.
Application Criteria
- Member of a historically underrepresented group in the legal profession, including law students who are (a) members of racial and/or ethnic minority groups, (b) women, (c) LGBTQ, (d) differently abled, or (e) from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds
- Application (In addition, all applicants are required to submit to standard background checks that include a criminal history check, driver's license check, and a drug screening as required by the Employer). Law Clerks must maintain confidentiality even beyond the duration of their employment.
- Resume
- Cover letter
- Personal Statement about the impact of being a Law Student of a diverse background
- Law school transcript
Applicants should upload each document to the South Carolina Bar website using the form below. All documents should be in pdf format and saved with the following document titles:
- LastName_FirstName_Resume
- LastName_FirstName_CoverLetter
- LastName_FirstName_PersonalStatement
- LastName_FirstName_WritingSample
- LastName_FirstName_Transcript
Only one application will be considered. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
Applications not submitted in pdf format will not be considered. All documents must be uploaded at one time. Applicants will not have an opportunity to save a portion of their application and return later to submit the remaining documents.
Announcement of Acceptance
- Accepting applications according to the following schedule: Summer 2023 Program: January 16, 2023 - January 27, 2023
- Students must inform the office immediately of any outside employment to ensure there is no conflict of interest.
- Employers will contact you directly to schedule an interview once they have reviewed all applications on or after February 1, 2023.
Writing Sample
- Your writing sample should be the best legal writing you have done. It can be a memo from a summer job, a portion of a moot court brief, or a part of a journal note. Attach a cover page with your name and contact information. Also indicate on the cover page the extent to which the sample has been edited by someone else, the context in which you wrote it, and that you have permission to use it as a writing sample if you wrote it for an employer. You cannot use a document which you wrote for an employer without permission. Be very aware of confidentiality issues with memos and redact client-identifying information. Additionally, you should proofread the document and check your Bluebook cites.