Mass. Judiciary Drops Plan for Free Law Clerks Paid by Law Firms

The Massachusetts judiciary has dropped a plan to fill law clerk jobs with new lawyers who are paid by law firms to stay away from work.

Robert Mulligan, chief justice for administration and management of the trial courts, dropped the idea after receiving an opinion about the propriety of the arrangement from the state Ethics Commission, the Boston Globe reports. He did not reveal the content of the opinion.

Some observers had said the arrangement raised ethical concerns because law firms that pay a judicial employee could appear to be currying favor.

Many law firms are paying new hires as much as $60,000 annually to defer their start dates, more money than the pay of full-time clerks in the state, who earn $47,000 to $51,000 a year, the story says. Budget cuts have slashed the number of judicial law clerks from 105 full-time clerks to 75 full-time clerks and about a dozen part-time, mostly volunteer clerks.