Legal News

Judicial Clerkships on BigLaw?s Dime: But is it Ethical?

By Ashby Jones

What a dilemma. Do we Tivo the rest of the U.S. Open and go through the day earplugged and blindfolded, or do we just give in and catch hourly (but totally unsatisfying) glimpses on the Web? No idea. Truly an issue as we kick off the week.

To the world of law: It would seem like a perfect solution — the budget-strapped judiciary in Massachusetts is cutting back on funded clerkship positions. At the same time, you’ve got a glut of eager-beaver young lawyers getting paid by their law firms to wait a while before starting their lawyering careers in earnest. So, why not let the newbies clerk for a while on their law-firm salaries?

Because, the Boston Globe explains, it might not be ethical.

According to the Globe, “some legal specialists say the unusual proposal raises ethical questions, including whether firms that donate their fledgling associates might expect preferential treatment from the court system.”

That said, the plan slowly is making its way toward reality. The ethics panel that advises the Massachusetts Supreme Court has cleared he plan. It will now be reviewed by the State Ethics Commission.

The issue is this, according to the Globe: Firms that donate lawyers to the courts might appear to be currying favor or expect preferential treatment from the state’s judges. "I would think there would not only be an issue for the judge who hired the law clerk under the Code of Judicial Ethics, but an issue for the lawyer who accepted the appointment under the rules of professional conduct for lawyers,'' said Andrew L. Kaufman, vice dean for academic programming at Harvard Law School and chairman of the Massachusetts Bar Association's ethics panel.

A possible solution involves an intermediary and a whole lot of secrecy. Under one proposal, the Flaschner Judicial Institute, which provides continuing education to state judges, would deal with the law firms that supply the interns. Judges and court officials would have no contact with the donating firms, and the firms would be instructed not to identify the interns on their websites. The interns would be barred from disclosing which firms are paying their stipends.

On June 8, the SJC's ethics committee approved the arrangement, emphasizing that the clerks must keep the identity of their law firms secret even from the judges they are working for.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 22, 2009 (boomark / email).