Salt Lake County Bar Ethics Luncheon
In case you missed it (which is likely since seating was limited), the Salt Lake County Bar Association together with the Utah Minority Bar held a luncheon and ethics CLE on professionalism and civility. The panel members included Third District Court Judges Judith Atherton, Michele Christiansen, Vernice Trease, and U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge William Thurman. Overall the hour passed quickly and painlessly (for the most part) and was highlighted by a moderately spirited discussion of appropriate brief commentary. The gist of the discussion was: know your judge and write to him or her. The audience consensus appeared to be that if you think your judge will find your flippant analogy to O.J. Simpson or Britney Spears appropriate then go ahead and use it. Above all, however, use your discretion and think about your reputation.
One comment from Judge Trease, however, gave me pause: she said that her clerks often relay to her questions and comments from counsel (we knew that) and stated that counsel’s ex parte comments or questions to the clerks were contrary to the Rules of Professional Conduct. Some of the example questions included questions about the judge’s disposition towards certain motions and questions about her preferences and quirks. Do you perceive this contact with the court clerk a this as a problem or a violation of the Rules? Rule 3.3 and 3.4, Utah Rules of Professional Conduct, do not appear to bar ex parte contact with clerks. Ex parte contact with the “tribunal” appears limited to the judge and not his or her clerk (Rule 3.3) and requesting information from the clerk does not appear to violate any fairness doctrine (Rule 3.4) since the same information is available to all parties. Is the issue one of perception or is this a real problem that should be dealt with by the courts or the bar?
