Title: Law Clerk - Probate & Family Court - 2025-2026
Pay Grade: Grade 16
Starting Pay:$73,722.23 Departmental Mission Statement: To deliver timely justice to the public by providing equal access to a fair, equitable and efficient forum to resolve family and probate legal matters and to assist and protect all individuals, families and children in an impartial and respectful manner.
Organizational Profile:
http://mass.gov/courts/court-info/trial-court/pfc/
Notes: This position currently offers a hybrid work schedule. This clerkship term is from September 2, 2025 - August 31, 2026
This is a posting to serve as a Probate & Family Court Law Clerk in either Eastern or Western Massachusetts.
Eastern Massachusetts may be assigned to Barnstable, Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester.
Western Massachusetts may be assigned to Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin.
All applicants must upload a resume with the online application. The resume must be in PDF format and its filename must start with the applicant’s last name. Applicants must indicate whether they would like to be considered for a law clerk position in either eastern Massachusetts or western Massachusetts.
In addition to the submission of their resume and application online at the Trial Court website, applicants are also required to submit a current transcript (official or unofficial) and a writing sample in response to the fact pattern as listed in this posting. The transcript and writing sample must be emailed by midnight of September 30, 2024 to: chris.vogel@jud.state.ma.us .
Letters of recommendation are not requested or required. Applicants selected for interviews may be asked to submit additional materials, including a statement of interest, an official law school transcript, and an additional writing sample.
Position Summary:The law clerk position is responsible for performing legal research and writing assignments to assist the judges of the Probate and Family Court. The term runs until August 31, 2026. There may be the opportunity to apply for an additional one-year clerkship term. Law clerks work directly with the judges, and under the supervision of the Manager of Legal Research Services, the Managing Attorney, and the Chief Justice.
A reliable car and the willingness to travel to courthouses throughout the Commonwealth are requirements of the position.
A judicial clerkship in the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court offers a unique, exciting and rewarding environment in which to begin a legal career. The Probate and Family Court hears cases on subjects relating to all aspects of a person’s life, from birth to death. Law clerks in the Probate and Family Court are exposed to a wide variety of family, probate and equity issues; including adoption, paternity, custody, divorce, guardianships, legal bioethics, petitions to partition real estate, trust reformations and will contests. The law in these areas is constantly evolving and cases of first impressionoften confront the court, making a clerkship experience in the Probate and Family Court interesting and challenging.Cutting edge issues such as the changing definition of family are not uncommon.
Law clerks apply to serve in either eastern or western Massachusetts. The majority of opportunities to serve are in eastern Massachusetts. All law clerks are assigned to rotations by the Manager of Legal Research Services, with the final approval of the Chief Justice.
Law clerks based in eastern Massachusetts may be assigned to any of the Probate and Family Court divisions within or east of Worcester County. These are Barnstable, Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester. Law clerks based in western Massachusetts may be assigned to any of the Probate and Family Court divisions west of Worcester County. These are Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin. The rotation system gives law clerks the opportunity to work with numerous judges and to gain a broader understanding of the work of the Probate and Family Court.
Duties: - Attending hearings, portions of trials, and other courtroom proceedings, as needed
- Discussing legal issues with judges
- Performing careful and accurate legal research and analysis, using both online and book resources
- Clearly and concisely conveying results of research and analysis to judges, orally and in writing
- Preparing well-written and error-free legal research memoranda, and drafting findings of fact, conclusions of law, rationales, judgments and memoranda of decision
- Completing assignments in a timely manner and within deadlines established by judges
- Performing additional legal research and analysis and further review and revision of written work products as appropriate
- Rotating among various Probate and Family Court locations every six months, as assigned by the Administrative Office of the Probate and Family Court
- Accurately and timely submitting all required administrative forms, such as work logs and case lists, among others
- Maintaining law clerk offices and work areas, including updating pocket parts of books as necessary
- Performing related tasks as required
Minimum Requirements: These are the minimum requirements necessary to apply for a position of Law Clerk:
- Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school or eligibility to sit for the Massachusetts bar exam, as of the start of the clerkship
- Excellent legal writing and communication skills
- Excellent legal research and analytical skills, using both online and book resources
- High professional and ethical standards
- Access to a reliable car and the willingness and ability to travel to courthouses as assigned
- Experience and knowledge in the use of personal computers, including word processing programs such as Microsoft Word and legal research services such as Lexis and Westlaw
- Demonstrated ability to follow written and oral instructions
- Demonstrated ability to manage, prioritize, and complete simultaneous assignments from various judges
- Demonstrated ability to work well independently while maintaining productivity and demonstrating good judgment
- Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and otherwise complete assignments in a timely manner
- Demonstrated ability to work well with others in a professional setting, including judges, managers, court staff, and other law clerks
- Genuine commitment to serving the full term of the clerkship
Additional preferred qualifications include: - Membership in the Massachusetts Bar and intent to practice law in Massachusetts
- Substantial legal research and writing experience, including prior experience as a judicial intern for a Probate and Family Court judge
- Courses in probate and/or family law, research assistant positions, prior work experience in the areas of probate and family law and clinical placements
- Familiarity with legal research resources beyond Westlaw and Lexis
- Demonstrated commitment to government or public service
- The Probate and Family Court invites well-rounded and distinguished recent law school graduates and practicing attorneys to apply for the clerkship positions. Solid academic credentials are important, however, there are no rigid requirements regarding class rank or standing.
- All law clerks must reside in Massachusetts for the duration of the law clerk term.
Writing Sample Instructions:Please draft a response to the fact pattern listed below in the format of a memorandum of law.The writing sample must be typed, double-spaced, and cannot exceed six pages. Apply Massachusetts statutory and case law to each fact pattern and follow the Blue Book system of citation.The writing sample and the transcript must be emailed by midnight of September 30, 2024 to: chris.vogel@jud.state.ma.us .
Roger and Mirka were married in April 1999 in Bern, Switzerland. The couple eventually moved to Massachusetts and had six children. The family enjoyed an upper middle-class lifestyle: they funded their children’s participation in tennis, paid for some of their children to attend the Nadal International School, a private high school for talented tennis players, and accumulated personal property of significant value, including Rolex watches, home furnishings, and fine art and antiques. In addition, because of the couple’s generous annual income of over $2 million, and their comparatively modest spending, they also routinely allocated significant portions of their income to investments and savings. Roger and Mirka also consistently donated approximately ten percent of their income to the Swiss Foundation, an early childhood education charity, in which they both are volunteers. Roger is the sole income earner in the family as Mirka stayed home to care for the parties’ six children. In December 2022, Mirka filed a complaint for divorce. The matter came before Judge Williams for trial in May 2024, and the primary contested issues were child support, alimony, and property division. The parties’ five oldest children are emancipated. The parties agree that Mirka should have primary physical custody of the youngest child, Leo, who is fifteen years old.
Judge Williams has come to you seeking advice:
Can Judge Williams utilize all of Roger’s $2 million annual income to calculate child support, and decline to order alimony? Judge Williams would like you to provide her with a description of any factors or analysis she will need to consider in deciding whether to order child support, alimony, or both.
Assuming Judge Williams decides to order alimony, can she consider the parties’ established practice of saving during the marriage as a component of their marital lifestyle in awarding alimony? Please describe any considerations which will be important to the determination of whether the parties’ practice of saving should be accounted for in the alimony order.
Considering the disparity in the parties’ employability and opportunity to acquire future assets and income, Judge Williams would like to divide the marital estate with Mirka receiving approximately fifty-five percent and Roger receiving approximately forty-five percent. Is this type of equitable, rather than equal, division of the marital estate permissible? What, if any, other factors than those stated should Judge Williams consider in determining how to divide the marital estate?
Closing Date/Time: 2024-11-21
