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is a federal judge or a US Magistrate judge allowed to write letters of recommendation or is this prohibited by some judicial committee rules?

I am working for a magistrate judge this summer and I was mentioning to the secretary that I had turned in an application to transfer to this one school and she told me that the judge teaches as an adjunct at the school I'm applying.

When he came back she told him and even though I've only known him about a month, he said "use me as a reference!"

So 2 questions:

1. since I didn't have the guts to ask for a letter of rec. right then and there, I'm just wondering if it's worth it to ask him now or if would just be embarrassing since he didn't offer (and maybe he cant?)

2. if i didn't would it be worth the bother even to send a quick letter supplementing my application saying please use so-and-so judge as a reference.?

jimmy wrote:is a federal judge or a US Magistrate judge allowed to write letters of recommendation or is this prohibited by some judicial committee rules?

I am working for a magistrate judge this summer and I was mentioning to the secretary that I had turned in an application to transfer to this one school and she told me that the judge teaches as an adjunct at the school I'm applying.

When he came back she told him and even though I've only known him about a month, he said "use me as a reference!"

So 2 questions:

1. since I didn't have the guts to ask for a letter of rec. right then and there, I'm just wondering if it's worth it to ask him now or if would just be embarrassing since he didn't offer (and maybe he cant?)

2. if i didn't would it be worth the bother even to send a quick letter supplementing my application saying please use so-and-so judge as a reference.?

I would use it.

As far as I know there is nothing to bar a fed. judge as opposed to any other judge from writing a letter.

Just because he didn't offer doesn't mean he wouldn't want to. Don't forget that judges have been out of the loop for a while and may not even know that transfers require personal recommendations. Just let him know what the procedure is and ask. Leave it to your judge to say yes or no. Don't do it for him/her.

rando wrote:Leave it to your judge to say yes or no. Don't do it for him/her.

TCR, although I know some federal judges refuse to write recommendation letters even for their clerks.

I've been searching but I can't really find anything on it, so the only reason I ask is because one person I know mentioned that typically u.s. judges couldn't write letters because some rules identified that as a conflict of interest.

I'm just basically trying to avoid any awkwardness that might ensue since he didn't outright say that he would "write" me a letter and asking him might be weird.

I mean, supposing I don't ask him for a rec, does providing a letter saying you may use this person (albeit he teaches as an adjunct there) as a reference do ANYTHING?

The question I suppose is: is it letter of recommendation or bust?

jimmy wrote:I'm just basically trying to avoid any awkwardness that might ensue

Get over it.

jimmy wrote:I mean, supposing I don't ask him for a rec, does providing a letter saying you may use this person (albeit he teaches as an adjunct there) as a reference do ANYTHING?

It couldn't hurt.

jimmy wrote:The question I suppose is: is it letter of recommendation or bust?

No.

Reference only. Conflict of interest is a huge consideration.

I've been wondering, on similar lines, whether the judge that you intern for your 1L summer can recommend you to judges you apply for clerkships with later. You'd think that would carry more weight than a professor, however well-known, saying "I've taught this guy and he's smart," but I'm not sure judges are in the habit of writing LORs.

My fed judge I externed for said to use him as a reference, but said he does not do actual LORs. I think they have the discretion to write LORs, especially for clerks, but a lot of judges probably prefer you just use them as a reference so that they don't cross the CJC line of what is unacceptable.

I think most everyone on here is right. From what I have heard, a lot of judges prefer not to write letters. However, it is definitely discretionary, because one of my LORs for clerkships is from the District Court Judge I externed for.

Doesn't hurt to ask, especially if you frame it first as a question about whether they have a policy one way or the other.

Most judges do not write LORs, but they allow you to use them as a reference. However, I think this is just a discretionary decision (I interned for a Federal Judge this summer and he wrote a LOR for me)

I asked a magistrate judge who used to be my dad's lawyer for a rec, and he told me its a violation of the federal rules of judicial conduct.

toddyman8 wrote:I asked a magistrate judge who used to be my dad's lawyer for a rec, and he told me its a violation of the federal rules of judicial conduct.

i think the rules say judges aren't supposed to "use the prestige of the judicial office to advance the private interests of others" or something like that. i don't think that this has ever necessarily been read to mean they can't write LORs to law students. i think the credited response is still that it is just a matter of each individual judge's policy on the matter.

If I were a tad more neurotic I might walk in tomorrow morning and be like, "sooooo, do you feel like sending a letter about how awesome my bench memos have been to Harvard?" She is very enthusiastic about my transfer chances, but I don't think that would go over very well.