Class Definition
The Rhode Island Supreme Court invites rising third-year law school students and recent law school graduates to apply to serve as law clerks in the Trial Court Law Clerk Department for the 2025-2026 term. Candidates with outstanding academic records and excellent legal writing, research, and oral communication skills are encouraged to apply.
The Department is comprised of seventeen law clerks who each are assigned to work in one of the following courthouses for the term: Licht Judicial Complex in Providence (ten law clerks); Noel Judicial Complex in Kent County (three law clerks); McGrath Judicial Complex in Washington County (one law clerk); Murray Judicial Complex in Newport County (one law clerk); Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal in Cranston (one law clerk); and the Garrahy Judicial Complex in Providence (one law clerk). Applicants must be willing to work in any of these locations and will receive their yearlong assignments during the first week of the term.
Trial Law Clerk Term: August 24, 2025 - August 22, 2026
Job Description: The Trial Court Law Clerk Department serves judicial officers on the Rhode Island Superior, District, and Family Courts, and the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal. Law clerks perform legal research and writing on complex areas of civil, criminal, family, administrative, and zoning law. Law clerks assist the judiciary by performing legal research, preparing written bench memoranda, and assisting with writing draft judicial decisions, but tasks may differ depending on the law clerk's particular assignment within the Department.
Required Qualifications For Appointment
Application Deadline: Applications must be post-marked by January 13, 2025.
Letters of recommendation sent separately must be post-marked by January 27, 2025.
Application Materials: Cover letter, addressed to Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell, indicating that the applicant is applying for a Trial Court Clerkship;
Resume;
Copy of an official law school transcript, (incomplete, unofficial transcripts may be submitted but must later be supplemented with complete, official transcripts once available);
Two letters of recommendation, including one from a law school professor who is able to comment on the applicant's writing and academic skills; and
One full-length, unedited writing sample, written for a law school course or legal internship, preferably within the last year. A legal brief or memorandum recently prepared as a class assignment or for an internship is preferred, but not required.
It is preferred, though not required, that all application materials be sent in one mailing, with the exception of letters of recommendation, which may be mailed directly by recommenders. Submissions by email or fax will not be accepted.
Please send all application materials to
Trial Court Law Clerk Department
c/o Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell
Rhode Island Supreme Court
Licht Judicial Complex
250 Benefit Street
Providence, Rhode Island 02903
Applicants will be notified by email upon receipt of their applications. It is the applicant's responsibility thereafter to verify that all materials have been received by the application deadline. An applicant's file will not be considered complete until all the required application materials have been received. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
For additional information or questions regarding the application requirements, please email Karen A. Torti, Principal Planner and Program Specialist of the Rhode Island Supreme Court Trial Court Law Clerk Department, at ktorti@courts.ri.gov.
The Rhode Island Supreme Court is an equal opportunity employer and encourages all interested parties to apply.
Supplemental Information
DO NOT APPLY ONLINE. PLEASE ADHERE TO THE ABOVE PROCESS.
For information regarding the benefits available to State of Rhode Island employees, please visit the Office of Employee Benefits' website at http://www.employeebenefits.ri.gov/.
Also, be advised that a new provision in RI General Law 35-6-1 was enacted requiring direct deposit for all employees. Specific to new hires, the law requires that all employees hired after September 30, 2014 participate in direct deposit. Accordingly, any employee hired after this date will be required to participate in the direct deposit system. At the time the employee is hired, the employee shall identify a financial institution that will serve as a personal depository agency for the employee.
Agency State of Rhode Island
Address One Capitol Hill
Providence, Rhode Island, 02908
Website http://www.apply.ri.gov
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