Unethical to ask judge to recommend you to other judges? Forum

[Anonymous User]

So judge-ethics are so confusing i have no idea. I want to email a judge who I am on great terms with, but probably doesnt know I want to apply to be a court attorney, not whether I can work for him (he has his own CA) but to please either ask around or let me know if another judge is looking. Is there some sort of hidden ethics thing im missing? This is a supreme court judge in nyc, and they have weird rules, for example, cant write me a rec to a DA office in the same county that they work in, but can recommend me to other counties. I want to get help but not put him in a position where I send an email that wouldn't have wanted to get.

(If there is no ethics issue, im sure hed do it)

[Danger Zone]

Just ask. If there's an ethics issue, he'll tell you.

[A. Nony Mouse]

So judge-ethics are so confusing i have no idea. I want to email a judge who I am on great terms with, but probably doesnt know I want to apply to be a court attorney, not whether I can work for him (he has his own CA) but to please either ask around or let me know if another judge is looking. Is there some sort of hidden ethics thing im missing? This is a supreme court judge in nyc, and they have weird rules, for example, cant write me a rec to a DA office in the same county that they work in, but can recommend me to other counties. I want to get help but not put him in a position where I send an email that wouldn't have wanted to get.

(If there is no ethics issue, im sure hed do it)

It's not really weird that he can't recommend you to the DA in the county where he sits, because the DAs appear before him all the time and it could look like he was using his authority in their jurisdiction to make them hire you (either they might feel like they have to hire someone he recommends or he'll hold it against them in court, or they will want to hire someone he recommends in the hopes of getting an unfair advantage in court). DAs in another county won't appear before that judge, so they won't feel pressured to hire/want to curry favor by hiring someone the judge recommends.

There's no similar ethics issue involved between judges for positions in the court, though, because one judge doesn't have any authority over another. Like DZ said, just ask, he may not be able/want to help, but you wouldn't be asking anything offensive.

[fats provolone]

just have him write you a personal email praising your abilities, and then you can forward it to people

[JusticeJackson]

.

[ggocat]

I know judges that refuse to even recommend their own clerks because they think it might raise an ethics issue. Others make calls to people that commonly appear before them to lobby for people. Only way to know is to ask.

This. Though OP could try to look up state canons of judicial ethics/conduct and advisory oopinions. Probably won't get a definitive answer from those, and judges have different interpretations of the rules anyway.