Ethical Concerns Raised Over Associates Sent to Work as Law Clerks
Large firms looking for win-win solutions to economic realities that have them deferring start dates for young associates are close to striking such a deal in Massachusetts.
That’s where there’s a proposal to send incoming associates to the courts, to work for free as clerks. The arrangement would come at a good time for the state courts, which have been withdrawing their own employment offers for incoming law clerks because of budget cuts.
The Massachusetts law clerk deal isn’t without its critics. The Boston Globe reports that there’s a concern that firms who are donating associates will expect preferential treatment in the courts.
The ethics concern has led to an unusual proposal, that the clerks come in through a double-blind process. The clerks couldn’t reveal which firms they work for and the law firms couldn’t identify them on their websites. Clerkships would be handled by a third party, the Flaschner Judicial Institute, which provides CLE for judges in the state. The idea is to keep judges in the dark about who’s paying the tab for their clerks.
Also, under the proposal, clerks would be required to recuse themselves from cases involving their firms—without identifying the specific conflict of interest.
The arrangement has reportedly cleared one hurdle, having been approved by the Committee on Judicial Ethics of the Supreme Judicial Court. Now it goes before the State Ethics Commission.
