clerkship

English

Etymology

clerk +‎ -ship

Noun

clerkship (countable and uncountable, plural clerkships)

1. The state or business of a clerk.
   • 1947 January and February, “Railway Literature”, in Railway Magazine, page 62:

     Queen Mary of the Iron Road. By Fred C. Bishop. […] This is the life-story of a boy who was determined to become an engine driver, and who lost no time in realising his ambition. A bold plunge from a clerkship in a coal merchant's office carried Fred Bishop, at the age of 14, into the locomotive department of the London & North Western Railway.

2. (law) A temporary job of assisting a judge in writing legal opinions, generally available to a beginning attorney for one to two years.
3. (medicine) Clinical training for physicians during the second half of medical school.

See also

• law clerk