Rural Practice Committee

Benefits

Even if you have no intention of hiring an associate at this time, the benefits you receive from hiring a summer clerk, as set out below, outweigh the costs. Hiring a clerk also helps educate students to small-town practice and, hopefully, in all cases allow the students to be a little more road-ready upon graduation. The attorneys who have hired clerks in the summer realized a number of benefits, some of which they hadn’t expected. Responses to a survey of participating attorneys  yielded these comments:

• Assisted in reducing the workload
• Helped me complete past projects
• Helped clean up past-due files
• Provided a good sounding board  

The last comment was probably the most surprising to many attorneys. As one pointed out, it’s nice to have someone with whom you can discuss legal issues, even if he or she just completed the first year in law school.