Canon 2 - A Law Clerk Should Avoid Impropriety and The Appearance of Impropriety in All of the Law Clerk's ActivitiesA. A law clerk should respect and comply with the law and should act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.B. A law clerk should not allow family, social, or other relationships to influence the law clerk's judicially related conduct or judgment. A law clerk should not lend the prestige of the office to advance the private interest of others; nor should a law clerk convey or permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the law clerk.C. Law clerks must avoid talking with attorneys about cases before the court. A law clerk must never communicate to the attorneys on a pending case the law clerk's opinion or attitude toward the issues pending before the judge. Moreover, once the decision is announced or opinion issued, the law clerk must avoid comment on it or disclosure of the extent of his or her involvement with it. However, this rule does not prevent a law clerk from providing as a writing sample to prospective employers copies of an opinion or order issued by the court in which the law clerk serves or had served, provided the law clerk performed substantial drafting and researching work in connection with the opinion or order, and provided further that the authoring judge gives his or her permission for such use. This rule also does not prevent a law clerk from providing as a writing sample to prospective employers memoranda of law addressing legal issues prepared for the judge for whom the law clerk is employed, provided the judge gives his or her permission for such use. If engaged in conversation by an attorney about a pending matter, the law clerk should strive to terminate the conversation as quickly as politely possible. The law clerk should avoid even informal contact with attorneys with respect to a matter pending before the Court. A law clerk must not give advice to attorneys on matters of substantive or procedural law, and must not do minor research tasks for attorneys.
Law clerks should be particularly careful to see that all attorneys are treated equally and not be tempted to provide a special favor for a law school colleague or an old friend.