Court Opportunity Recruitment for All (CORA) identifies and promotes opportunities for internships, externships and clerkships within the judiciary at the state and local level, both in person and remote. CORA works by connecting interested applicants to state court opportunities.
A judicial clerkship, internship, or externship is an invaluable experience that provides great training and opportunity for growth. Most people change jobs during their careers, and having the experience of working for a court will be valuable regardless of the type of work that you do. And you will be more competitive for future opportunities. These positions offer valuable insight on how judges think, and how chambers, courtrooms, and courthouses operate.
Traditionally, finding a state court clerkship, internship, and/or externship is challenging—especially if you are trying to do a national search—because each state and local court posts opportunities and selects law clerks, interns, and/or externs differently. CORA changes all of this: creating one-stop spot for clerkships, internships, and externships with state courts across the nation.
Learn more about CORA by downloading our brochure.
Launched in 2021 in response to action from the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators, the Blueprint for Racial Justice is examining the systemic changes needed to make equal justice under the law an enduring realityfor all.
CORA (Court Opportunity Recruitment for All) is a web-based platform that connects courts with students in search of opportunities and is the state court equivalent to the OSCAR federal court clerkship portal identifying and promoting opportunities for clerkships, internships, and externships within the judiciary in state and local courts.
All users will benefit from CORA. Students will benefit from a streamlined process that makes connecting with opportunities in state courts easy and transparent. Colleges and universities will benefit from having a central place to direct students and to view available opportunities. And courts will benefit from having ready access to a pool of qualified interns, externs, and clerks from diverse backgrounds.
A student applicant can apply to courts and municipalities for an internship, externship, or clerkship. Not all courts in all states will have opportunities, but the portal will display the opportunities available in the states you select.
The NCSC worked with Foundant Technologies to build the CORA platform. Foundant specializes exclusively in making philanthropy easier and more impactful through forward-looking technology solutions. All of their cloud-based solutions focus on the unique needs of funders, nonprofits, scholarship providers, and community foundations with the goal to make day-to-day tasks streamlined.
CORA is free to all students, applicants, and courts.
Clerkship - the position or status of a clerk, especially in the legal profession.
Externship - a temporary training program in a workplace, especially one offered to students as part of a course of study.
Internship - the position of a student or trainee who works in an organization, sometimes without pay, to gain work experience or satisfy requirements for a qualification.
Not every state is participating in CORA at this time. Please check back in the future as more and more states join the collective and contact that state directly to pursue available opportunities.
Our team will answer your email within 1 business day.
All applicants will be asked to submit their resume, cover letter, transcript, and at least one letter of recommendation. Applicants will need to upload a writing sample, and two additional letters of recommendation if they are applying for an externship or clerkship.