Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct of the District of Columbia Courts Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct of the District of Columbia Courts, with full citations and source links on every page.
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May a D.C. judge appear on fundraising letterhead or recommend a grant?
D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 15 says an organization's fundraising letterhead may identify a judge's office if it identifies other people comparably. It also permits grant recommendations for…
Must a D.C. judge recuse when a former law clerk appears as counsel?
D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 13 rejects automatic permanent disqualification when a former clerk appears. It recommends a one-year period of recusal after the clerkship as a rule of thumb, with…
Must a D.C. judge recuse from a bank case because of an account or ordinary loan?
D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 12 says an ordinary deposit account or loan with a litigant bank does not usually require recusal. Disqualification may be required if the case could substantially…
Must a D.C. judge recuse when a litigant university awarded the judge's child a large scholarship?
D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 11 says the child may accept the scholarship under the Code provision it applied, but the judge should recuse from matters involving the donor university or its…
Did the D.C. judicial code permit senior judges to practice law while serving?
D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 10 says the Code's senior-judge exemption did not impose a blanket ban on law practice, but its court and appellate-jurisdiction limits and the Code's impartiality…
Could a D.C. judge hear a case involving the District when the judge's spouse was Corporation Counsel?
D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 9 concluded that the judge should recuse from District litigation while the spouse served as Corporation Counsel, including neglect reviews. Under the Code then in…
What did superseded D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 8 say about a judge's name on fundraising letterhead?
The 2000 opinion treated a judge's name on fundraising letterhead as participation in solicitation and allowed it only for specified recipients. D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 15 expressly…
Could a D.C. judicial clerk accept interview costs, moving expenses, or a bonus from a future employer?
D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 7 allowed reasonable recruiting and actual transition expenses from a prospective employer during a clerkship, but said a clerk should not accept a hiring bonus or…
Did a D.C. judge have to recuse from every prosecution because the judge's spouse was an Assistant U.S. Attorney?
D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 6 rejected blanket recusal solely because the judge's spouse was a nonsupervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney. It required recusal from cases in which the spouse…
Did a D.C. senior judge have to recuse from prosecutions over offenses dating to the judge's Justice Department employment?
D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 5 rejected recusal solely because a charged offense occurred while the judge worked for the Justice Department. It identified personal knowledge, work as a lawyer…
Could a D.C. judge attend a specialty bar association's event?
D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 4 permitted attendance at a specialty bar event if it would not reasonably appear to promote the host's policy goals or litigation positions. It identified the…
Could a D.C. senior judge perform paid private arbitration while also sitting as a judge?
D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 3 permitted senior judges to act as private arbitrators under the then-effective Code, but barred arbitration during paid judicial service, on court property, with…
When did a D.C. judge's former law-enforcement work or police commander spouse require recusal?
D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 2 rejected blanket recusal for the judge's former police and prosecutor work or every MPD witness. It called for recusal when an officer under the spouse's First…
When did a D.C. judicial clerk's job search require exclusion from a prospective employer's cases?
D.C. Judicial Conduct Opinion No. 1 set the interview invitation or unrefused job offer as the trigger for its clerk-disqualification guidelines. It excluded the clerk from the prospective…
May D.C. judicial clerks publicly take sides on controversial issues or attend protests?
The D.C. Advisory Committee's memorandum says law clerks and interns may publicly affirm equality and nondiscrimination, but may not publicly take sides in controversies in ways that reasonably call…
Browse Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct of the District of Columbia Courts opinions by topic
Legal ethics opinions from the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct of the District of Columbia Courts interpret the rules of professional conduct for working lawyers, in response to inquiries from members and committees. They are advisory, not binding like court discipline decisions, but courts and discipline boards treat formal opinions as substantial guidance on how the rules apply. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the original source on the bar's site.