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Judicial Law Clerk ProgramEach fall, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP), the NRC's independent trial-level adjudicatory body, selects a handful of highly-qualified applicants to serve as judicial law clerks beginning in September of the following year. Judicial clerkships typically last two years, though the terms can be flexible depending on the post-clerkship employment plans of an individual clerk. Panel law clerks are not assigned to any one judge, but rather provide support for different judges and three-judge Licensing Boards during their tenure with the ASLBP. This structure allows clerks to work on a variety of projects, issues, and cases. It also provides clerks with the opportunity to learn a broad range of skills and work closely with a number of legal and technical judges who have varying styles and approaches to ASLBP adjudications. On this page:
About the ProgramClerking for the ASLBP presents an exciting opportunity to work in an increasingly complex and important area of the law, particularly for applicants with an interest in federal regulatory and administrative law or environmental and energy law. The ASLBP adjudicates a wide range of nuclear matters, including reactor and materials licensing and agency enforcement proceedings, most of which involve both safety and technical matters and environmental issues. Law clerks thus have a variety of duties, including interpreting complex legal and technical matters involving issues such as reactor technology, radioactive waste disposal, and the scope of agency authority and responsibilities. In addition, Panel law clerks aid Licensing Boards in preparing for and conducting evidentiary hearings, including assisting with discovery and evidentiary rulings and managing documentary materials for the adjudicatory record, and often serve as the primary point of contact for parties appearing before a Board. The ASLBP Judicial Law Clerk Program also uniquely prepares its law clerks for future employment, whether in the public or private sector, as they gain valuable insight into the administrative process as well as the deliberative decision-making processes of individual judges. Over the past several years, the ASLBP's former law clerks have gone on to associate positions with various law firms that practice before the ASLBP and employment with other federal agencies. In addition, at the conclusion of his or her clerkship an ASLBP law clerk remains eligible for all federal government honor attorney employment opportunities, including the Department of Justice Attorney General's Honors Program and the NRC's Honor Law Graduate Program (HLGP). Many of the Panel's past law clerks have emphasized the impact their experience with ASLBP had on their ability to secure competitive and rewarding post-clerkship employment.
Work AssignmentsAs noted above, ASLBP law clerks have the opportunity to work on a wide range of projects and cases, and to serve with a variety of judges. Individual assignments are made by the Chief Counsel, who acts as a “gatekeeper” to help clerks manage their work load, as law clerks are generally assigned to several cases or matters at any given time. Typical assignments include drafting judicial decisions and orders, conducting legal research, preparing legal memoranda, and providing assistance to Licensing Boards during evidentiary hearings. Clerks are often assigned to work on a particular case for an extended period of time and therefore are involved in the development of a case from its earliest stages, including rulings on standing and contention admissibility and resolving discovery disputes, to its latter stages, including conducting an evidentiary hearing and drafting decisions on the merits of those evidentiary presentations. In addition to working on adjudicatory matters, law clerks have the opportunity to participate in a variety of other projects regarding the Panel's adjudicatory mission, including drafting comments on proposed NRC rules and assisting in the testing and implementation of the Digital Document Management System, the ASLBP's electronic hearing support system, which is now in production. Because Licensing Boards typically conduct hearings and oral arguments at a location in the vicinity of the nuclear facility that is the focus of a particular case, clerks generally have the opportunity for some travel over the course of their service with the Panel. In particular, the ALSBP's Las Vegas hearing facility will be the primary venue for the anticipated Department of Energy application to construct a geologic repository for high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Accordingly, although officially stationed at the NRC's Rockville, Maryland headquarters, ASLBP law clerks should anticipate working and living in Las Vegas for extended periods of time during the pendency of the Yucca Mountain proceeding. For additional information, see Location of ASLBP Hearings.
Training and DevelopmentIn addition to the “on the job” training ASLBP law clerks receive working with various legal and technical judges, clerks can participate in a variety of formal legal and technical training. Because the NRC is located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, law clerks have the opportunity to attend any number of programs sponsored by the American Bar Association (ABA) or other professional associations, such as the ABA's annual Administrative Law Conference and various state and District of Columbia Bar Association continuing legal education programs. On the technical side, each year the NRC holds a Regulatory Information Conference covering a variety of nuclear-related subjects, including licensing and rulemaking matters, radioactive waste management, and security and emergency preparedness issues. In addition, the NRC has a technical training center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that provides training in various scientific and engineering fields associated with regulating nuclear materials and facilities. Finally, the ASLBP periodically holds Panel Meetings to address pertinent technical and legal developments. Over the past several years, Panel law clerks also have had the opportunity to tour several nuclear facilities, including the operating reactors at Calvert Cliffs in southern Maryland, Watts Bar in northern Tennessee, and Three Mile Island in central Pennsylvania, the site of the most serious commercial nuclear power plant accident in United States history, and Yucca Mountain, the site of the proposed high-level waste geologic repository.
QualificationsGeneral Qualifications. To be considered for the Judicial Law Clerk Program, applicants must be third-year law students who will earn their J.D. by June of the academic year of application, graduate law students in their last year of study, or current judicial law clerks whose clerkship ends no later than September of the year following application. Graduate law students and judicial clerks should not have any significant post-J.D. legal employment. Only United States citizens can be admitted to the Judicial Law Clerk Program, and each person selected for the program must undergo a complete security/background investigation and be granted a security clearance. Academic Qualifications. The ASLBP generally considers only those applicants who are in the top thirty percent of their law school class, though special consideration is given to applicants with other relevant qualifications, such as pertinent academic degrees/backgrounds or related work experience. Due to the nature of law clerk duties, the ASLBP places a premium on analytic and writing skills. Law Review or comparable journal experience is strongly preferred. Finally, the ASLBP is looking for candidates who have demonstrated strong interest and ability in administrative and regulatory law, and environmental or energy law.
Salary and BenefitsGrade and Salary Levels. Using federal grade and salary levels, ASLBP judicial law clerks will typically start at grade GG-11, step 9. Applicants who have previously served as judicial law clerks may enter at a higher grade. After one year of satisfactory job performance, and assuming admission to the Bar of any state or the District of Columbia, an ASLBP law clerk is eligible for a promotion to grade GG-12, step 5. Benefits. To learn more about health benefits, vacation and sick leave, life insurance, retirement plans, and other NRC benefits, please see the NRC Employee Benefits page. ASLBP law clerks may also be eligible for relocation expenses on a case-by-case basis. Work Schedules. Judicial law clerks are eligible for various flexible work schedules, including a “Compressed Work Schedule” that allows employees to work eight 9-hour weekdays and one 8-hour weekday per 2-week pay period, with flexible start and end times, and receive one weekday off per pay period. Other Benefits. Judicial law clerks can also take advantage of the many other benefits of working at the NRC, including an on-site fitness center, health center, and child development center, and public transportation subsidies. For more information, please see the NRC Quality of Life page.
How to ApplyThe ASLBP currently participates in a number of off-campus interview programs in the Washington, D.C. area. In addition, the NRC Office of General Counsel shares Honor Law Graduate Program applicant information with the Panel for those HLGP candidates who indicate an interest in the ASLBP Judicial Law Clerk Program. Applicants can also apply for this position directly by submitting:
Anthony C. Eitreim, Chief Counsel or by e-mail to Anthony.Eitreim@nrc.gov (e-mail submissions encouraged)
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