US Judges’ Interns May Accept Law Firm Stipends Under Ethics Guidance

 

Law students working as unpaid interns for federal judges after their first year of studies may accept stipends from law firms seeking to recruit them as summer associates under certain conditions, according to the US judiciary’s top ethics body.

 

The US Judicial Conference’s Committee on Codes of Conduct addressed the issue on Tuesday after several major law firms began offering first-year law students who commit to working for them stipends of $25,000 to $50,000 to enable them to undertake public interest internships in government and nonprofit sectors.

 

Among the firms offering such stipends to attract law students early in their studies are Davis Polk & Wardwell, Milbank, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Latham & Watkins.

 

Many federal judges take on unpaid volunteer interns as part of their legal education. Law students commonly assist judges and law clerks with legal research and writing without pay.

 

The judicial ethics panel, which provides guidance to federal judges, had previously said interns could accept a modest “educational stipend” but could not accept money from a law firm if the payment was contingent on the individual working for a judge.

 

In Tuesday’s opinion, the committee said that, in cases involving the latest form of stipends, judges should ask whether their interns will receive payments from prospective law firm employers and that interns should disclose their decision to accept the money.

 

The panel said such payments may be ethically permissible as long as the stipend is not tied in any way to the intern’s judicial service and the money is not paid during the internship itself.

 

“The Committee also recognises that some judges may prohibit interns and externs from accepting any stipend or similar payment, regardless of the payment timing or other circumstances,” the advisory opinion said.

 

Interns who receive such payments must also recuse themselves from any matter in which the law firm appears as counsel, the committee said.