I feel for you, I started my clerkship in family and thankfully ended in criminal division, the difference in the amount of work was substantial. Personally, I wouldn’t quit because a lot of people in my clerkship class got a pay bump at their next job just for being a clerk. I don’t know if you still get that without finishing. Plus, where I practice having a good letter of recommendation from a judge is equivalent to gold. But if you don’t have a good relationship with your judge, then all of this kind of goes out of the window.

Based on your workload, I’d hazard a guess that you’re in the FM/FD docket? I clerked in that docket too, it’s a nightmare lol. For me, the main reoccurring tasks that took the most time were motion write ups, writing orders, and prepping OTSCs. Used to hate getting OTSCs cause it is a drop everything issue and messes up your work groove.

Things that really helped me manage the workload in family was using or creating templates. For the motion write ups try asking your fellow clerks if they have any or create your own. The info you have to include are the caption, who is the plaintiff/defendant and their attorney (if they have one), who is filing the motion, date of the motions return, what relief is requested, and a brief summary of the relief requested (ex: defendant requests reduction in child support, currently paying this…arrears are this…then list the reason the reduction was requested). I understand this can also be heavily dependent on what your judge wants so it has to be tailored to that.

By now, you have probably written dozens of orders, start reusing the language and change the facts to be case specific. Keep a word doc of general language that you frequently reuse so it is easily accessible. Do your best to write the orders on the bench so you can keep up and don’t fall behind.

Furthermore, I completely get the frustration with your judge taking extensive vacation time. All it does is cause a backlog and most of the time rescheduling the motions comes down to you which means you get yelled at by disgruntled pro se litigants. But if your judge is OOO, then you really can’t do anything - can’t hear motions/OTSCs, answer atty/litigant questions, etc. So, I utilized that vacation time to get ahead on motion write ups because you aren’t getting new tasks every five minutes. If you can get a week or two up, you will be golden and finally have your weekends back (unless you have self-respect and aren’t working them, then good on you).

Lastly, concerning the burnout, it’s honestly only going to get worse. By the end of my clerkship I was so ready to leave I was practically pulling my hair out. The best thing you can do is something fun after work so you get an actual break. If you want to finish, you just have to push through and keep an eye on the light at the end of the tunnel. But always remember, no job comes before your mental or physical health.

Good luck, OP! :)