law clerk

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A graduate of law school who is employed as an assistant to a judge for a period of one or two years to gain legal experience prior to assuming long-term employment in the legal profession.
• noun A law student employed as an assistant to a judge or attorney, especially to gain legal experience during the summer.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun law a clerk who assists a judge with legal proceedings. Depending on the court, such positions may be professional careers or may be temporary positions for graduating law students.