Unless you’re a lawyer or a law student, you might not know what a law clerk does. When I tell people that I’m a law clerk for a federal judge, sometimes they nod, smile, or just change the subject. More often than not, however, they ask, “What does that even mean?” Once I explain, many then ask, “Do you get paid for that?” I do indeed get paid, but the benefits of clerking stretch far beyond my government paycheck. Broadly speaking, law clerks exist to ensure that the judges they work for are as informed as possible before making decisions. They do so by researching the law involved in each case and writing memos analyzing the facts of that case and the litigants’ arguments in light of this law. They also attend trials and hearings, where they mostly observe and take careful notes so that they can later discuss with their judges any unexpected issues that arose during these proceedings. “Through [my clerkship] experiences, I not only bolstered my abilities to analyze and explain complicated …