Job Details for Career Law Clerk

The Honorable Rebecca B. Connelly, Judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia, invites applications for the position of full-time Career Law Clerk in her chambers in Harrisonburg, Virginia. This position is available starting October 2025 and is a permanent law clerk position rather than a term or temporary law clerk position.

Law clerk duties will include reviewing briefs and other case filings; docket review and preparation; legal research; writing bench memoranda; attending and taking notes during hearings; drafting orders and opinions on bankruptcy and related law issues; preparing correspondence; performing case management tasks; and serving as liaison with Clerk’s Office and public. Administrative duties will include serving as principal administrative manager of chambers; training and overseeing the term law clerks and judicial interns and externs; assisting the judge with reports required by the Administrative Office, judicial committees, and local court administration; and managing the judge’s schedule.

Attention to detail, exceptional writing abilities, and superb editing skills are required. Candidates with prior federal judicial clerkship experience and law review experience will be preferred.

Law Clerk Duties

• Research and analyze novel and complex legal issues.
• Draft orders and memorandum opinions for the judge’s review.
• Prepare case notes and monitor docket status for all hearings.
• Attend all hearings, perform research, assist during hearings, maintain hearing notes, and perform post hearing duties.
• Travel to various court locations throughout the district.
• Communicate with Clerk’s Office staff.
• Prepare bench memoranda and other written materials for hearings and trials.
• Provide information and guidance to the judge on individual cases.
• Perform extensive legal research via Westlaw, Lexis, and other databases.
• Monitor significant changes in federal statutes, federal rules, and Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit precedent.
• Review and edit orders, opinions, and memoranda drafted by term law clerks.

Administrative Duties

• Closely monitor dockets of all pending cases and draft orders, as appropriate, for scheduling.
• Serve as chambers liaison for all outside personnel, including other judges, the Fourth Circuit, the Clerk of Court, the Clerk’s Office staff, and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
• Train, assist, and supervise the term law clerks, summer interns, and judicial externs.
• Receive, screen, and refer telephone and in-person callers.
• Prepare in final form the judge’s written correspondence, annual and semiannual reports, and other items.
• Monitor all incoming mail and email communications and respond, as needed.
• Maintain the judge’s calendar.
• Schedule, modify, and cancel meetings, appointments, travel, and hearings, as directed.
• Perform other miscellaneous administrative duties as assigned by the judge and as necessary for the efficient operation of chambers.

Conditions of Employment

• Applicants must be U.S. citizens or eligible to work in the United States.
• This is a sensitive level position within the Federal Judiciary. The selected candidate will be hired provisionally, pending the successful completion of the required background check.
• Employees must adhere to the Code of Conduct for Judicial Employees.
• Judiciary employees are considered “at will” employees and can be terminated with or without cause.
• Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) for payroll deposit is required.
• Some travel to Harrisonburg, Lynchburg, and Charlottesville will be required.
• Work is performed in an office setting. Some lifting may be required to handle and set up equipment in the courtroom.