| LEO Num | Topics | Summary | Date |
0713
 Print
|
| A city attorney may serve as a hearing officer in other jurisdictions as long as the lawyer complies with the ethics rules. | 8/20/1985 |
1439
Print
|
| A Commissioner in Chancery involved in a divorce proceeding left a firm to become a judge. The client may hire another lawyer in the firm to represent the client in a child custody dispute. | 10/21/1991 |
ABA-391
Print
|
| A former judge may not use the term "judge" when practicing law. | 4/24/1995 |
0623
Print
|
| A judge cannot sit on a case in which a party is represented by lawyer from judge's son's or daughter-in-law's firm, unless the relationship is disclosed and parties consent. | 11/14/1984 |
1070
Print
|
| A lawyer acting as a Special Justice may not handle any cases in which the lawyer was involved as an Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney. | 5/4/1988 |
1804
Print
|
| A lawyer appearing before a judge on whose behalf the lawyer had filed a supporting letter in connection with a complaint against the judge being considered by the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission: does not have to reveal this fact to opposing counsel; has not run afoul of the Rules' prohibition on giving "anything of value" to a judge if the "gift or loan" appears to be made "to influence official action" (because the letter is not a "gift or loan"); must be careful not to state or imply that the lawyer may "influence improperly" the judge. | 9/20/2004 |
1234
Print
|
| A lawyer becoming a judge may sell the physical assets of a law firm but not its goodwill, active client files or work in progress. It is improper to inflate the value of the assets to disguise the sale of the practice as a going business. [Rule 1.17 permits the purchase or sale of a law firm's practice, including good will, under certain circumstances.] | 4/19/1989 |
ABA-449
Print
|
| A lawyer considering whether to represent a judge who is simultaneously presiding over a matter involving a client may proceed "only if the lawyer reasonably believes that he will be able to provide competent and diligent representation to each affected client, and each affected client gives informed consent, confirmed in writing." A judge considering whether to retain a lawyer who might appear before the judge must recuse himself if the representation would create "a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party or a party's lawyer" (this is a non-waivable ground for disqualification under the new judicial code). A judge represented by a lawyer appearing before him and who determines that he does not have such a personal bias or prejudice may continue presiding if the judge discloses on the record the lawyer's representation of the judge on an unrelated matter, and if the parties and their lawyers consider "out of the presence of the judge and court personnel" whether to weigh the disqualification, and unanimously agree that the judge may continue presiding. A lawyer's silence in the face of a judge's failure to comply with this process himself violates the prohibition on assisting a judge in an ethics violation. A lawyer's reminder to the judge of his duty does not violate the ex parte contact prohibition. If the judge still does not make the required disclosure after such a reminder, the lawyer representing the judge in an unrelated matter may not disclose the representation (which is protected by the ethics duty of confidentiality, although not by the attorney-client privilege). Even if otherwise permissible, such a disclosure would not comply with the process mandated by the judicial code. Similarly, "the judge's misconduct cannot be cured by reliance on the fact that all parties to the matter already might be aware of the lawyer's representation of the judge in another matter." If the lawyer discovers that one of his firm's clients is appearing before a judge that the lawyer is representing, "the Committee believes that, at least presumptively, the representation begun later in time is the one from which withdrawal would be required." The lawyer might also have to withdraw from representing the client, either because the judge might "develop a bias" against the lawyer or his partner, or because the lawyer cannot obtain his other client's consent to the continuation of the representation despite the judge's possible bias (because the lawyer cannot disclose his or his partner's representation of the judge). The lawyer may not report the judge (his client) to the judicial disciplinary authority, because Rule 1.6 trumps the duty to report a judge's misconduct. Neither the lawyer nor judicial ethics rules "prescribe specific time periods" that a lawyer "ought not to appear before the judge on behalf of a client" if the lawyer had previously represented the judge. That issue depends on "whether a reasonable person would believe, in light of the time that had elapsed, that the judge's fairness and impartiality could still be questioned." In making that determination, the lawyer should assess the nature of his representation of the judge (whether it was consequential as a judicial disciplinary proceeding as inconsequential as a real estate transaction), the size of the fee, whether the representation was isolated or one of a series of matters "and whether the representation was in a matter that was highly confidential or highly publicized." Lawyers considering representing judges might ask the judge to sign an engagement letter pledging to follow the judicial code process, or an engagement letter with "an advance waiver of confidentiality." | 8/9/2007 |
0215
Print
|
| A lawyer may appear before a court in which a partner is a substitute judge as long as the partner has not presided over any of the case. | 6/3/1972 |
0750
Print
|
| A lawyer may appear before a judge who has a relative (including in-laws) in the lawyer's firm, but the judge must disclose these facts to all parties, and obtain their consent. [The judge's possible disclosure duties would be found in the Canons of Judicial Conduct.] | 12/30/1985 |
0676
Print
|
| A lawyer may appear before a judge who has a relative in the lawyer's firm, as long as the judge discloses the relationship and the parties consent. The judge would not have to disclose that a nephew is a lessee of a partner in the firm. The judge's spouse (a receptionist in the judge's son's law firm) may handle client files as long as the spouse does not handle files assigned to the judge. The judge would not have to disclose the fact of the spouse's employment in the son's law firm. [The judge's disclosure obligations would be governed by the Canons of Judicial Conduct.] | 3/15/1985 |
0881
Print
|
| A lawyer may not appear before a judge (or take part in any case assigned to the judge) employing the lawyer's spouse as clerk if the spouse is involved in the matter or proceeding. | 5/1/1987 |
0368
Print
|
| A lawyer may not purchase the work in progress of a lawyer who has just become a judge, and may not lease office space from the judge if the lawyer plans to practice before the judge. | 4/23/1980 |
0826
Print
|
| A lawyer may not represent a client before a local health department if it is merely an extension of a state health department or health regulatory board for which the lawyer sits as a part-time hearing officer. | 10/15/1986 |
0617
Print
|
| A lawyer may not represent a party in a special education due process hearing when the lawyer's partner is the presiding hearing officer, although the lawyer may do so if the partner was a presiding hearing officer on other cases. | 10/24/1984 |
0737
Print
|
| A lawyer may not serve as a Commissioner in Chancery in a divorce action in which the defendant is a sitting judge in that circuit. | 11/1/1985 |
0791
Print
|
| A lawyer may not serve as a court-appointed lawyer in a commitment proceeding when the Special Justice hearing the case is the lawyer's landlord. | 5/1/1986 |
0686
Print
|
| A lawyer may represent a defendant in a civil suit involving a traffic accident even though the lawyer's partner acted as a substitute judge in the traffic case (the law firm is not disqualified, because Canon 9 contains no imputed disqualification rules). [Rule 1.11 would now allow an "ethics screen" in this circumstance.] | 5/30/1985 |
0520
Print
|
| A lawyer may represent a wife in a personal injury case against her husband even though the lawyer's partner (sitting as a substitute judge) found the husband guilty of a traffic violation. | 5/16/1983 |
0500
Print
|
| A lawyer may serve on the Board of Zoning Appeals while acting as a General District Court substitute judge, because the court has no jurisdiction over Board of Zoning Appeals matters. | 11/8/1982 |
0632
Print
|
| A lawyer occasionally serving as a hearing officer may not represent a client before a state agency in a proceeding involving the same subject matter on which the lawyer serves as a hearing officer for the agency. | 12/3/1984 |
0476
Print
|
| A lawyer serving on a county's Board of Supervisors may not sit as a substitute judge. | 10/4/1982 |
0422
Print
|
| A lawyer who represents a judge may not accept court-appointed cases from any judge in the same circuit (given the appearance of impropriety and the suggestion that the lawyer is receiving a favor), but may represent other clients as long as the clients and their adversaries consent after full disclosure. | 8/14/1981 |
0583
Print
|
| A lawyer who serves as a hearing officer in special education due process proceedings may not appear as an advocate in such hearings. [This LEO was superseded by LEO 847.] | 5/31/1984 |
0883
Print
|
| A lawyer who serves as a Virginia special education hearing officer may also serve as a consultant to a private association in Maryland as long as there is no overlap between their jurisdictions. | 4/1/1987 |
0845
Print
|
| A lawyer whose office administrator is married to a judge may appear before the judge, but may have to disclose these facts on the record. | 2/27/1989 |
1023
Print
|
| A lawyer-turned-judge may continue to receive contingency payments from the judge's former firm. | 1/22/1988 |
0433
Print
|
| A portrait of a retired judge may be placed in the courtroom or elsewhere in the courthouse even if the retired judge now practices as a lawyer in the courthouse, although it would be "more tasteful" to place the portrait in a spot other than the courtroom. | 10/16/1981 |
490
Print
|
| After pointing to evidence that some judges have "repeatedly failed to inquire into litigants' ability to pay financial obligations prior to incarceration for nonpayment," characterizing as "a core ethical obligation of the judiciary" judges' duty to inquire into such litigants' ability to pay. | 3/24/2020 |
485
Print
|
| Although judges' performance of marriage "is a discretionary function rather than a mandatory function, "they must avoid "bias or prejudice" and "the public must also perceive judges to be impartial." Judges required by their job or acting within their discretion to perform marriages for opposite-sex couples must also perform marriages for same-sex couples – even if they limit their performance of marriages "exclusively for family and friends." | 2/14/2019 |
0624
Print
|
| An Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney whose husband is a judge may not appear before her husband or have any role in any cases assigned to her husband. | 11/13/1984 |
0502
Print
|
| Even though a retired judge may not appear as counsel in any state court (under an old Virginia law), lawyers associated with the retired judge are not barred from practicing. | 3/10/1983 |
ABA-478
Print
|
| Judges may independently research background information and may "judicially notice" facts under court rules, but may not independently investigate material facts involved in their adjudicative function. "The key inquiry here is whether the information to be gathered is of factual consequence in determining the case. If it is, it must be subject to testing through the adversary process." "[E]ven general subject-area research is not permissible . . . if the judge is acquiring information to make an adjudicative decision of material fact." Judges may not investigate through online research (or otherwise) information about jurors or parties, but may investigate lawyers -- unless the investigation "is done to affect the judge's weighing or considering adjudicative facts." | 12/8/2017 |
ABA-452
Print
|
| Judges may participate in fundraising activities on behalf of "therapeutic" or "problem solving" courts, but must comply with all of the Model Judicial Code's limitations on fundraising and other activities. For instance, judges may not sign solicitation letters, but may appear on the letterhead of a not for profit organization (presumably including letterhead used in fundraising letters). Although judges would not automatically have to disqualify themselves from matters in which one of the lawyers contributed to such an organization, the judge would have to consider such disqualification (taking into account "both the size and the importance of contributions known by the judge to have been made by lawyers or parties who come before her"). Judges may endorse such organizations "only when it is clear that no political or business profit making interest is involved." | 10/17/2008 |
ABA-462
Print
|
| Judges may participate in social networking sites, but must be cautious to avoid violating judicial ethics provisions, including those prohibiting, among other things: impropriety and the appearance of impropriety; ex parte communications with litigants; certain election activity; public or certain private statements about pending cases or public policy issues. | 2/21/2013 |
ABA-470
Print
|
| Judges may send generic and widely-circulated letters encouraging lawyers to engage in pro bono work. | 5/20/2015 |
488
Print
|
| Judges must disqualify themselves where "their impartiality might reasonably be questioned." ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct 2.11(A), lists specific family relationships that automatically meet that standard, but that rule does not provide any guidance on other personal relationships with lawyers that would require their disqualification. Judges must "avoid even the appearance of impropriety in performing their duties," but "are presumed to be impartial." Possible grounds for disqualification is "evaluated against an objective reasonable person standard," and "judicial disqualification is the exception rather than the rule." Personal relationships that might or might not require disqualification can be separated into three categories: (1) acquaintanceships; (2) friendships; and (3) close personal relationships. First, judges have no obligation to disclose their relationship with a party or lawyer who is an "acquaintance." These persons' "interactions outside of court are coincidental or relatively superficial." "[N]either the judge nor the lawyer seeks contact with the other, but they greet each other amicably and are cordial when their lives intersect." Second, judges should disclose (but have discretion to continue presiding over a case if a party objects to the judge's presiding) if one of the parties or lawyers meets the "friendship" standard. That relationship "implies a degree of affinity greater than being acquainted with a person; indeed, the term connotes some degree of mutual affection." Those meeting this standard might include former law colleagues who occasionally meet for a meal, or law school classmates who occasionally communicate with each other. A closer friendship exists if judges and parties or lawyers exchange holiday gifts, "regularly socialize together," regularly interact "because their children are close friends"; "vacation together"; etc. Depending on the degree of friendship, judges may or may not have to disqualify themselves. Third, judges may have to disqualify themselves they have a "close personal relationship" with a party or lawyer. Examples include a romantic involvement (or a desire for such an involvement), a cordial relationship with a divorced spouse, the judge's acting as a "godparent" of a lawyer's or party's child, or vice versa. Judges must disqualify themselves if they have a romantic relationship with a lawyer or party (or desire such a relationship). Judge should "disclose other intimate or close personal relationships" with a party or a lawyer, but have the discretion "to either continue to preside over the proceeding or disqualify himself or herself." In that situation, judges "should put the reasons for the judges' decision to remain on the case or to disqualify himself or herself on the record." Judges subject to possible disqualification "based on a friendship or close personal relationship with a lawyer or party" may seek the parties' waiver of disqualification. Such a waiver "must be put on the record of the proceeding." | 9/5/2019 |
1730
Print
|
| Lawyers who represent judges may discount their fees as a professional courtesy if they would do the same for other friends and colleagues. A lawyer appearing before a judge that the lawyer is representing faces a conflict of interest [the Bar does not indicate how to resolve the conflict, but presumably the parties may consent to the judge's handling of the case upon full disclosure.] | 3/26/1999 |
1548
Print
|
| The Bar declines to indicate whether a lawyer may contract to collect unpaid fines and costs in criminal cases when one of the lawyer's partners is a substitute judge in the same jurisdiction, because the Bar cannot interpret the rules of judicial ethics. | 8/12/1993 |
1624
Print
|
| The Bar declines to state whether a federal judge was obligated to reveal that a lawyer appearing before the court had served as the judge's law clerk three or four years ago. Because the current case was unrelated to any matter on which the lawyer assisted the judge while a clerk, the lawyer was not obligated to disclose the earlier clerkship. | 2/7/1995 |
0552
Print
|
| The Canons of Judicial Conduct govern the permissibility of a lawyer appearing before a judge when one of the lawyer's partners and the judge jointly own real estate. [This LEO was reaffirmed in LEO 1034.] | 4/17/1985 |
1034
Print
|
| The Canons of Judicial Conduct govern the permissibility of a lawyer appearing before a judge who was formerly a partner in the law firm (reaffirming LEO 552). It is improper to list a Congressman (who is precluded from the practice of law) as "of counsel" to a law firm. | 2/9/1988 |