Full Job Description
Company Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Working at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York positions you at the
center of the financial world with a unique perspective on national
and international markets and economies. You will work in an
environment with a diverse group of experienced professionals to
foster and support the safety, soundness, and vitality of our economic
and financial systems.
The Bank’s flexible work model
supports balancing the demands of work and life, while prioritizing
the value of connecting and collaborating with our colleagues in
person. Employees are expected to live within a commutable distance of
their primary work location to support team collaboration.
At the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the work we do is
consequential and challenging, now more so than ever. Our environment
encourages growth and diversity. Our employees flourish in a
team-oriented atmosphere and are dedicated to the important mission of
the New York Fed.
What we do:
The Legal
Function of the New York Fed hires first-year law students each summer
for a 10-week paid clerkship program. Law clerks receive challenging,
diverse assignments from the two divisions of the Legal Function,
described in the “Overview of the New York Fed’s Legal Function”
section below. The assignments frequently involve legal research and
writing and are typical of the assignments given to junior attorneys
in the Legal Function. Law clerks are paired with mentors for the
summer to provide guidance on a personal and professional
basis.
OVERVIEW OF THE NEW YORK FED’S LEGAL FUNCTION
The Legal Function's mission is to provide high-quality legal
services to the New York Fed. The function is headed by the Bank's
general counsel and comprises two divisions, each headed by a deputy
general counsel.
The Supervision, Markets & Financial
Services (SMFS) division provides legal advice in connection with: (i)
financial institution supervisory and regulatory matters, including
legal support for supervision and regulatory reporting and legal
analysis of regulatory applications; (ii) the Bank’s open market, U.S.
Treasury auction, foreign exchange, reference rate and discount window
operations; (iii) the Bank’s external and sponsored committees and
(iv) financial and account services of the Bank for the U.S. Treasury,
foreign central banks and international organizations, depository
institutions, and other customers, and analyzes pending legislation.
The Enterprise Legal Services (ELS) division provides
a range of expertise in support of the Bank’s mission and operations.
The Enforcement and Litigation team represents the Bank in litigation
and other disputes, advises on litigation risk and oversight matters
and, together with the Board of Governors, pursues regulatory
enforcement investigations and actions against supervised financial
institutions in the Second Federal Reserve District. The Financial
Intelligence and Investigations Unit conducts investigations, responds
to law enforcement requests, and provides expertise on matters
including financial fraud, accounting, and BSA/AML and OFAC-related
matters. The Employment & Corporate Matters team advises on employment
and labor law matters that impact the Bank’s people, including those
related to diversity, ethics, immigration, organizational change, and
personnel policies, and advises and provides legal support to the
Bank’s Freedom of Information Office.
The Technology
and Contracts team drafts, negotiates and advises on documents
relating to the Bank’s procurement of goods and services, software and
data licensing, cloud computing, and other technologies as well as
matters relating to intellectual property, data privacy and security.
Your role as a Law Clerk
Law
clerks receive challenging, diverse assignments from the two divisions
of the Legal Function, described in the “Overview of the New York
Fed’s Legal Function” section above.
The assignments
frequently involve legal research and writing and are typical of the
assignments given to junior attorneys in the Legal Function.
Law clerks are paired with mentors for the summer to
provide guidance on a personal and professional basis.
What we are looking for:
We seek applicants with
outstanding academic records, evidence of strong research and writing
skills, an interest in and commitment to public sector employment,
maturity, and personal achievement. Please Note : The
program is highly competitive, and the class size is limited.
To
Apply: Only first-year law students will be considered.
The program requires that applicants complete their first year of law
by the beginning of the clerkship, which is ordinarily in late May.
Candidates must supply a cover letter and resume with their
on-line application. An applicant’s cover letter should be uploaded in
the same section of the application site that asks for a resume to be
uploaded.
The cover letter should address the following
questions:
1.) Why do you want to work at the New York Fed?
2.) How have your personal, professional, and academic
experiences contributed to your interest in public service?
3.) What’s one aspect of the New York Fed’s work that you’d
like to learn more about?
We accept applications through the
New York Fed’s public website from January 3rd, 2025, to February
28th, 2025, at 11:59pm EST. Positions are filled on a rolling basis.
Once all positions are filled, the application portal may be
closed prior to February 28th, 2025.
In addition, all applicants
must submit law school transcripts as soon as they are available. If a
law school GPA is not yet available when applying, please enter “0.0”
as a GPA. Since the process is rolling, applicants should apply with a
resume and cover letter; the law school transcript may be submitted or
emailed separately after the application has started.
A writing
sample is required from candidates invited to interview.
Applicants
must generally be available for web-based videoconference interviews
during January and February of 2025. With respect to the summer
program itself, law clerks can expect a hybrid in- person/remote work
environment that will require them to reside within commutable
distance of our head office in New York City. Please note, summer
housing is not provided.
Summer law clerks must remain in the United
States for certain aspects of the pre-employment & background check
process, which will start approximately 6 weeks prior to the first day
of the internship. In addition, all candidates must comply with
information handling rules.
For any questions regarding the Summer
Law Clerk Program, please write to Cristina Fajardo at or
Salary Range: $94,900
Your regular wages for the Law
Clerk program will be paid on a semi-monthly basis and will be
calculated based on an annual salary of $94,900, less applicable
taxes. We believe in transparency at the NY Fed. This salary range
reflects a variety of skills and experiences candidates may bring to
the job. We pay individuals along this range based on their unique
backgrounds. Whether you’re stretching into the job or are a more
seasoned candidate, we aim to pay competitively for your contributions
.
Our Touchstone Behaviors —Communicate
Authentically, Collaborate Inclusively, Drive Progress, Develop
Others, and Take Ownership—help shape the culture of the Bank. They
also provide a shared language for how we work together and achieve
success, and they set clear expectations for leading with impact at
every stage of your career with us. Learn more.
The New York
Fed expects its employees to perform their duties with honesty,
integrity, and impartiality, and without improper preferential
treatment of any person. Learn more about our code of
conduct and conflicts of interest rules.
The
Federal Reserve Bank of New York is committed to a diverse workforce
and to providing equal employment opportunity to all persons without
regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual
orientation, gender identity, age, genetic information, disability,
pregnancy, or military service.
We value
accessibility for all candidates and are happy to provide an
accommodation or assistance. Please email us at and
we’ll be glad to help. Please note, this is a
dedicated e-mail box designed exclusively to assist applications with
accommodation requests in relation to our recruiting process. All
other inquires including the status of applications will not receive
a response from this e-mail box.
This is not
necessarily an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties,
performance standards or requirements, efforts, skills or working
conditions associated with the job. While this is intended to be an
accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right
to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be
performed when circumstances change.
This position
requires access to confidential supervisory information (CSI). Access
to CSI is limited to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents,
individuals who meet the definition of “protected individual” under 8
U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3), and certain other nonimmigrants. All non-U.S.
citizens authorized to access CSI information must sign a declaration
of intent to expeditiously become a lawful permanent resident and
thereafter a U.S. citizen when eligible.
Full Time / Part Time Full time
Regular / Temporary Temporary
Job Exempt (Yes / No) Yes
Job Category Internship Family Group
Work Shift First (United States of America)
The Federal Reserve Banks believe that diversity and inclusion
among our employees is critical to our success as an organization, and
we seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a
diverse candidate pool. The Federal Reserve Banks are committed to
equal employment opportunity for employees and job applicants in
compliance with applicable law and to an environment where employees
are valued for their differences.
Always verify and apply to
jobs on Federal Reserve System Careers ( or through verified Federal
Reserve Bank social media channels.
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