Fear of Retaliation Silences Law Clerks—Employers Should Speak Up

Fear of retaliation silences law clerks. Legal employers can help.

In Bloomberg Law, LAP’s President and Founder Aliza Shatzman argues that judicial misconduct has been difficult to prevent or discipline because clerks’ fears of retaliation by judges and reputational harm in the legal community preclude them from filing formal complaints. Unfortunately, this enables judiciary leadership to both discount the scope of the problem and disclaim responsibility for correcting it. As if the lack of judicial accountability weren’t outrageous enough, judges have power to derail former clerks’ careers if they speak out.

As long as we accept a judge’s reference as the end all, be all, we will never empower clerks to stand up for themselves. Legal employers must stop accepting a judge's reference as the end all, be all, thereby empowering their attorneys to stand up for themselves and seek judicial accountability.

Together, we can change judiciary behavior; ensure that judges aren’t just good jurists, but also good managers; and send a message that misconduct will no longer be tolerated in the profession.

Reproduced with permission. Published August 10, 2023. Copyright 2023 Bloomberg Industry Group 800-372-1033. For further use please visit https://www.bloombergindustry.com/copyright-and-usage-guidelines-copyright/