U.S. Courts

U.S. Courts covers civilian jobs in the federal judiciary: the courts of appeals, district courts, bankruptcy courts, probation and pretrial services offices, federal public defender organizations and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The judiciary is a separate branch of government with its own personnel system, so most of the competitive-service rules that apply to executive agencies do not apply here. Each court hires for itself, posts its own vacancies on uscourts.gov and sets its own application process, and some courts also post on USAJOBS.

Recent listings have included staff attorneys, career and term law clerks, official court reporters, courtroom deputy clerks and intake deputy clerks, a courtroom manager, a case manager, a judicial assistant, a probation support technician, a space and facilities specialist, a senior programmer analyst and an IT technician.

Applying tip: read the vacancy announcement for its own instructions, because courts often ask for a cover letter and the judiciary’s application form rather than a USAJOBS resume, and law clerk positions usually run through the judge’s chambers. The legal jobs guide covers how judiciary and executive-branch legal hiring differ.