How much money do law clerks make per hour or year?

I am kinda stuck between 2 career paths. I did have my mind set on dental hygiene but that program is more competative than law clerk. I just want to know which one i should go to and which one has better pay?

$12 and hour and about $24,000 per year. You are right about the dental hygiene program. You make bank but it's competitive. Usually only the young hot women succeed in that field.

Are you thinking that every law clerk is paid the same thing?

There are several types of "clerks," most require a law degree. You don't sound up to that.

Clerks do all the really crappy jobs in a law office. They have to do all the mail, copying, filing, record retention...yuck! And they do not get paid well. I think the entry level clerks where I work make about $22k/year.

Being a Law Clerk is not a career. It's more like a line on a resume.

Law Clerks don't get paid much. No one takes the job for the money. Generally speaking, it pays less than almost anything else a person with the same qualifications could do, but people take the job for the benefit of having a job in a law office on their resume, the potential contacts they might make there, and the possibility of learning something useful in a career in Law.

What you might have in mind is a job as a Paralegal. This is very different from a Law Clerk. Law Clerks don't know anything, and aren't generally allowed to talk to clients or answer phones. Their duties are research and writing, and scut work like making copies or coffee. Occassionally they get to take important documents to be filed in official records.

Paralegals on the other hand will often possess varying amounts of legal knowledge about their area of concentration. They will draft legal documents, and arrange paperwork for real estate closings, or pleadings for litigation, and often interface with clients, other attorneys, and third parties. The things they do not do is far more limited than what they can do, and includes giving legal opinions, signing anything other than as a Notary or Witness, and appearing in court on a client's behalf.

Which one you choose shouldn't be a matter of pay. While I don't know a lot about life as a dental hygienist, I can assure you that you won't last long as a Paralegal if you don't enjoy it.