2026 M. Catherine Richardson 1L Clerkship Program
Date: November 3, 2025
Bond, Schoeneck & King created the M. Catherine Richardson Clerkship Program to provide meaningful law firm experience to aspiring first-year students whose backgrounds and life experiences bring a needed, particularly unique perspective and/or skill set to the legal profession.
The program is open to full-time, 1L law students attending ABA-accredited law schools. The clerkship runs for ten weeks over the summer and at least one applicant will be selected. Law clerks will work a full-time schedule of 40 hours per week. This is a paid position.
Eligible offices: Albany, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, NY.
About Bond
Bond is a firm of approximately 300 attorneys serving private and public sector clients and individuals in a broad range of practice areas. Bond has offices across New York State, including New York City, White Plains, Garden City and Melville; Naples, Florida; Red Bank, New Jersey and Kansas City. We represent clients from across the nation in a variety of practice areas including employee benefits, intellectual property, labor, higher education, business, litigation and NCAA compliance.
Eligibility Criteria
- Full-time, first year law student in good standing at an ABA-accredited law school.
- Demonstrates strong academic performance, the ability to express ideas clearly and effectively (both in writing and verbally).
- Works well with a team, takes initiative regarding decision-making/guiding others, and is involved in activities that benefit the community.
- Brings a needed, particularly unique perspective and/or skill set to the legal profession as a result of personal background or life experience.
Application Details
- Submit your application through our Applicant Tracking System.
- Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with a final deadline of February 2, 2026.
Required Application Materials
- Official first-year law school transcript (which may be only the fall semester). If grades are not available when you apply, they may be submitted later.
- Current resume (which must include undergraduate GPA or class standing).
- A typed personal statement of 1,000 words or less. The statement should include an explanation of the following:
- professional aspirations as a lawyer;
- a discussion of how the student brings a particularly unique perspective and/or skill set to the legal profession as a result of cultural fluency, resilience, service and/or life experience; and
- the office location(s) of interest as well as a discussion of any connection to the geographic area(s), if any.
Selection Criteria
Bond will review applications, conduct interviews, and select the successful applicant. In addition to personal background and experiences, academic performance, and community involvement, an important factor on which selection decisions will be based, is the student’s interest in working at Bond. Immediate family or household members of Bond, Schoeneck & King members and employees are ineligible. Please note that the student will be responsible for providing their own lodging for the duration of the clerkship.
Future Employment with Bond
A student selected for the program is not guaranteed future employment with Bond, Schoeneck & King, nor employment with us as a 2L summer clerk. However, one of our goals is to become acquainted with eligible law students who may be interested in applying for our 2L summer clerk program or employment with us after graduation. Therefore, we encourage clerkship applicants, whether selected for the M. Catherine Richardson 1L Clerkship or not, to apply for our 2L summer clerk program. Please be advised that our 2L summer clerk program has a separate application process. An application for the M. Catherine Richardson 1L Clerkship Program is not considered an application for our 2L summer clerk program or any other employment with Bond, Schoeneck & King.
Questions?
Contact: Hannah Retz, Recruiting Coordinator, at hretz@bsk.com.
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