Chambers Handbook for Judges - Federal Judicial Center

J. Restrictions on Law Clerks
1. Involvement in Cases of Attorneys with Whom Applications
for Employment Are Pending
Application by a law clerk to a firm that has cases pending before the
judge may create problems for the law firm, the judge, and the law
clerk. Practices regarding this matter vary. Some judges instruct their
law clerks not to apply for jobs with law firms until near the end of the
clerkship. Others permit applications, but exclude the law clerk from
all matters in which that firm is involved, requiring another law clerk
to handle such matters. The law clerk should learn the judge’s policy
and follow it. In any event, even if no restrictions are placed on a law
clerk’s applications for employment, a commonsense rule is that a law
clerk should carefully avoid even the most indirect discussion of cases
pending before the judge during interviews and other communications
with the firm. When law clerks accept a position with an attorney or
firm, they should cease further involvement in those cases in which
the future employer has an interest.
2. Practice After Termination of a Clerkship: Cases in Which
the Law Clerk Was Involved; Appearances Before the Judge for
Whom the Law Clerk Worked
Many courts or individual judges place restrictions on a law clerk’s professional
activities after the end of the clerkship. These may include
prohibitions from ever participating in any form in any case pending
during the law clerkship, or prohibitions from appearing as an attorney
in the court in which the law clerk served, usually for one or two
years. The law clerk must determine the policy of both the court and
the judge. In any event, former law clerks must not participate in a
case in which they performed work of any kind while law clerks. The
ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Responsibility also prohibit lawyers
from representing a client in a case on which the lawyer worked previously
as a public officer or employee. Some courts have adopted rules
relating to these matters, and the law clerk is, of course, bound to follow
these rules.
22 Chambers Handbook for Judges’ Law Clerks and Secretaries