Opinion ID: 72909
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Law Clerk Issue

Text: Plaintiffs’ first contention is that because the defendants' lead counsel was a former law clerk, the judge had an impermissible conflict of interest. Three months before trial, plaintiffs learned that the defendants' lead counsel, Paul Perez, had clerked for Judge Moore during the 1984-85 term. Perez had become the lead defense counsel after leaving the U.S. Attorney’s office in 1993. This case had been filed in 1983, which means Perez was a clerk for Judge Moore while this case was before him. Furthermore, this case was one of the cases for which Perez was responsible during his clerkship, and many of the defendants’ motions to dismiss were filed and pending while Perez was clerking for Judge Moore. Judge Moore did not rule on those motions until two years later, at which time Perez was no longer his law clerk. 27 The Middle District of Florida has expressly incorporated Florida’s ethical rules into its local rules. See M.D.Fla. R. 2.04(c). Florida Rule of Professional Conduct 4-1.12(e) prohibits a former law clerk from participating as an advocate in any case in which he had substantial participation as a law clerk, unless all of the parties consent after full disclosure. It is not clear, however, whether Perez had “substantial involvement” with this case. Perez was the law clerk to whom the case was assigned, and motions to dismiss were filed during his tenure as a clerk, so it is possible that he was privy to Judge Moore's thoughts concerning the case. On the other hand, the motions to dismiss were not decided until after Perez had moved on to another job, and in his sworn affidavit Perez states that he had little involvement with the case. The former Fifth Circuit has held that when a former law clerk who has been exposed to the judge's “innermost thoughts” concerning a particular case becomes part of the counsel team for a party to that litigation, the judge must recuse himself. See Fredonia Broadcasting Corp. v. RCA Corp., 569 F.2d 251, 255 (5th Cir. 1978). However, it is not necessary to decide whether Perez was exposed to Judge Moore’s “innermost thoughts” so as to necessitate Judge Moore’s recusal. Even if § 455 ordinarily would require recusal in this situation, plaintiffs have waived this issue. Although a literal reading of § 455 places the duty to recognize the conflict on the judge, this Court has held that a motion to disqualify must be timely. See, e.g., United States v. Slay, 714 F.2d 1093, 1094 (11th Cir. 1983). In Slay, the defendant became aware of a potential conflict warranting recusal under § 455. Nevertheless, the defendant waited until after the judge ruled unfavorably on his motion to 28 suppress before raising the § 455 issue. This Court refused to consider the recusal issue, holding that the defendant had waived the issue by not raising it at the first available opportunity. Plaintiffs’ attorneys were aware a full three months before this case went to trial that Judge Moore had employed Perez as a law clerk while the case was pending before him. They recognized the recusal issue from the start of that three-month period. Yet they made a strategic decision not to raise the issue until they saw how the trial came out. They explain that they decided to keep this issue in their pocket because the case was twelve years old, the remaining plaintiffs were seventy years old, and they thought that they would prevail at trial anyway. In other words, they made a carefully thought out, coldly calculated, eyes open decision not to raise the issue and instead to gamble on winning anyway. The recusal provision was intended to be a shield, not a sword. An issue involving recusal cannot be used as an insurance policy to be cashed in if a party’s assessment of his litigation risks turns out to be off and a loss occurs. Plaintiffs waived the issue.6