The Clerk's Office
People imagine a lawyer spending time arguing in front of a judge, but a big part of a lawyer’s job is standing at a window in the clerk’s office or on the phone, politely asking a government employee to file papers. This requires some people skills and patience that professors do not teach in law school. And lawyers need to learn the inner workings of the court to actually get their filings before a judge or to be legally enforceable.
Why should you read this post about the clerk’s office?
It is the most important part of litigation and I am aware of no textbook or law school class about it.
You’re at the clerk’s office right now and you are looking for help online.
You work at the clerk’s office and want to know what lawyers tell other lawyers about your work.
Image credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerk#/media/File:The_Women's_Royal_Naval_Service_on_the_Home_Front,_1917-1918_Q19761.jpg
What the Clerk’s Office Does
Many people confuse the court clerk’s office with a judge’s clerk. These are two different offices. A judge’s clerk helps a judge maintain their schedule, attend to calls and correspondence, or research or draft decisions. But a court clerk does not work for a particular judge, but instead the court (or the county) as a whole.
Clerk’s offices often handle the intake of new cases. They make sure the papers are filed correctly, collect the filings fee, and randomly assign the case to a judge. They may also process the paperwork for the admission of new lawyers to practice before a court.
They may also be involved when papers need to be filed with a court without electronic filing. Some cases are exempt from electronic filing requirements because a party does not have a lawyer, or because the case is secret and has been kept away from the online database. In those cases, litigants may file papers directly with the clerk’s office.
Before papers go to a judge, people in the clerk’s office may screen them, not to evaluate the legal arguments, but to make sure they conform to court rules and, if they do not, return them to the lawyers to fix. In my experience, even good lawyers get their papers returned because a court clerk finds errors with how the lawyer prepared or filed them.
Clerks are also involved in judgments. A judge may decide in favor of one side or another, but it is the clerk’s office that may process and issue the judgment. In New York, the clerk may not issue a judgment until months after the judge orders one. The clerk also records when the judgment is satisfied and, if the judgment involves land or security interests, the clerk records those details, too.
Clerks Are a Great Source of Help
I have found the clerk’s office to be a great source of help. Some court procedures are not written down, which makes compliance difficult. And different courts have very different procedures. One way to navigate the process is by just calling and asking the clerk for help.
One challenge, though, is that the clerk’s office is only open during business hours and it can be busy. And so while some clerk’s offices are easy to reach, others can be harder to get someone’s attention.
Clerks Appreciate Politeness and In-Person Visits
Lawyers have a reputation for being self-important and rude. Members of the general public who litigate without lawyers have a reputation for being insane cranks. And clerks have to deal with a steady stream of both kinds of people every day. This can be frustrating.
And so it has been my experience that clerks really appreciate when people are patient and polite with them.
Like most bureaucracies, clerks offices have big backlogs. And so some kinds of filings take a long time to process. I have observed that visiting a clerk in person may prompt them to take an action on a file that may have waited for weeks or months without a personal visit. And, while some clerk’s offices answer their phones reliably, others do not, and a so an in person visit may be the best bet for getting someone’s attention.