Chambers Handbook for Judges - Federal Judicial Center

The Judicial Conference has resolved “[t]hat no person employed
on a full-time basis in the federal judicial establishment shall engage in
the private practice of law.” Furthermore, section D of Canon 5 of the
Code of Conduct for Law Clerks restricts law practice by law clerks.
The two rationales for applying this rule to law clerks are clear: First,
practicing law could raise serious conflicts between a law clerk’s obligations
as a judicial employee, bound to impartiality, and his or her obligation
to represent a client fully; and second, it would be nearly impossible
for a law clerk to perform adequately and still have time for
another job.
§ 2-2. Protocol
A. Confidentiality and Loyalty
Law clerks and secretaries owe the judge complete confidentiality. The
judge relies on the law clerks’ and secretaries’ confidentiality in discussing
performance of judicial duties, and must be able to count on
their complete loyalty. Chambers staff must not criticize the judge’s
decisions or work habits to anyone, even other members of the same
court. Unless expressly authorized by the judge, law clerks and secretaries
should never comment on the judge’s views or offer a personal
appraisal of the judge’s opinions; the judge is the only one who can or
should communicate to the bar whatever personal views the judge
wishes to have known publicly.
Judge Ruggero J. Aldisert describes the loyalty owed by a law clerk,
and much of what he says is also applicable to secretaries:
A judge’s law clerk is a confidant. More than any other experience in
preparing for a career in the legal profession, a clerkship is grounded
on notions of confidentiality, pervasive in the practice of law. The
judge–clerk relationship is as sacred as that of priest–
penitent. Indeed, to emphasize the importance of this relationship, I
give new law clerks a formal message:
I have retained you as researchers and editors, but you are also my
lawyers. As lawyers, you are absolutely forbidden to disclose the intimate
details of this lawyer–client relationship, of the decisionmaking
and decision-justifying processes that take place in these cham-
14 Chambers Handbook for Judges’ Law Clerks and Secretaries