Off Hours Volunteering Forum

[Adikus]

What I am inquiring about is for someone that has a prior commitment, but wanted to volunteer to assist and get some experience is that a possibility, or is volunteering limited only to workday normal hours?

Or stated another way, lets say you are transferring from the tip of the boot, to the Metroplex and wanted to volunteer for the knowledge, but you could only do so after hours or on weekends is that a possibility or not?

[A. Nony Mouse]

You're generally not allowed to practice law in any capacity while working as a judicial clerk.

[owlofminerva]

You're generally not allowed to practice law in any capacity while working as a judicial clerk.

Yes and no. You are allowed, to a very limited extent, to do pro bono work. HOWEVER, you cannot do any of these things:

1) You cannot appear in any court at any level or any administrative agency
2) It cannot conflict with your duties as a clerk, or involve time you should be working
3) It cannot be a matter of public controversy or an issue likely to come before your court
4) It cannot involve compensation (given, since we are talking about volunteer work)

Basically, you can do some limited pro bono work that involves reviewing documents and the like is the bottom line. Check out the federal ethics manual for clerks or Canon 4A of the Judicial Code of Conduct for more info.

[Anonymous User]

actually, you aren't allowed to do any legal work (even pro bono that doesn't conflict with those ethical rules) if that's your judge's policy. and that is the policy of most judges

[owlofminerva]

actually, you aren't allowed to do any legal work (even pro bono that doesn't conflict with those ethical rules) if that's your judge's policy. and that is the policy of most judges

Agreed--this, of course, encompasses all aspects of clerking

[Anonymous User]

actually, you aren't allowed to do any legal work (even pro bono that doesn't conflict with those ethical rules) if that's your judge's policy. and that is the policy of most judges

This is my judge's policy. Even though I'm in a court that has a limited jurisdiction, she disallows her clerks from doing any legal work.

The only thing she allows her clerks to do is academic research and it has to be with a prof. or non-profit, non-partisan org., and she has to OK everything first.