Ethics of asking a judge for a recc Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm doing an internship with a judge in a specialty court, and I recently asked the judge if she would be willing to write me a recc for when I apply for clerkships in August. She said that there would be an ethical issue with her actually writing a recc, but she happily agreed to actually make phone calls recommending me. About 2 1/2 weeks ago I had a 2nd interview with a mid sized firm for a 2L summer position that does exactly the type of work that this court does, and I'm dying to work there (they said 2-3 week until I would hear back). The firm practices a lot in the court, and has had many cases in front of the judge I work for. Would it be unethical for her to make a phone call recommending me to the firm? I wouldnt even want to ask for the favor unless there is a reasonable chance she would say yes.

[guano]

I'm doing an internship with a judge in a specialty court, and I recently asked the judge if she would be willing to write me a recc for when I apply for clerkships in August. She said that there would be an ethical issue with her actually writing a recc, but she happily agreed to actually make phone calls recommending me. About 2 1/2 weeks ago I had a 2nd interview with a mid sized firm for a 2L summer position that does exactly the type of work that this court does, and I'm dying to work there (they said 2-3 week until I would hear back). The firm practices a lot in the court, and has had many cases in front of the judge I work for. Would it be unethical for her to make a phone call recommending me to the firm? I wouldnt even want to ask for the favor unless there is a reasonable chance she would say yes.

No harm in asking (may as well phrase it defensively)
They'll need to make sure you don't work on anything related to that judge - they'll know what to do

[Anonymous User]

A judge I interned for did this for me, so there's definitely no rule against it.