Court Opinion

ID: 9735015
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:57:11.92594+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:54.253120
License: Public Domain

Justice ALBIN,
dissenting.
As a law clerk, Priscilla Miller assisted a family law judge who decided a motion that held plaintiff in contempt for failure to comply with a final divorce judgment and who issued a bench warrant for plaintiffs failure to abide by an order of the court. After concluding her clerkship, Ms. Miller entered the private practice of law with a firm that represented defendant in that case. At some later point, Ms. Miller assisted in the representation of defendant in the very case on which she did substantive work during her judicial clerkship. I cannot conclude, as does the majority, that there is nothing wrong with this picture.
The majority sanctions Ms. Miller’s involvement in defendant’s case by concluding that she did not participate “personally and substantially” as a law clerk in that matter. Such a narrow interpretation of what it means for a law clerk to “personally and substantially” participate in a case, I fear, will undermine the appearance of judicial impartiality and the public’s confidence in the fair administration of justice. I would give clear direction to the bar and to our judges that a law clerk, who digests or summarizes a motion, a brief, or a transcript; conducts research; prepares an order; or performs other substantive work on a case for a judge, has participated “personally and substantially” in that matter.
*105That Ms. Miller “had no more contact with this [matter] than any other matter pending during [her] clerkship,” does not excuse her from abiding by the disqualification rule. See RPC 1.12. The number of matters on which Ms. Miller worked as a law clerk is not an indication that she did not substantially participate in assisting the judge in many, if not most, of those matters. To the extent that Ms. Miller participated in a judicial matter, she should not, after her clerkship, represent one of the litigants in that same matter. It is not surprising that Ms. Miller has “no specific recollection of having any contact with this file other than [her] routine involvement as a law clerk.” Every year, a high volume of cases pass through the family court, and the passage of time undoubtedly will diminish the law clerk’s ability to remember precisely what she did in any one case. However, each one of those cases is significant to the party contesting such important issues as custody of children and the division of marital assets. One party to the case should not be disadvantaged or feel disadvantaged because the other party has retained an attorney who, while a law clerk, assisted the judge in that very matter.
The majority relies on the Law Division case of Marxe v. Marxe, 238 N.J.Super. 490, 570 A2d 44 (1989). Unlike this case, the law clerk in Marxe was screened from the case in which she had participated as a law clerk. Id. at 497, 570 A.2d 44. Had Ms. Miller’s law firm taken the same precautionary steps as the law firm in Marxe, it is highly unlikely this case would be before us.1 I do not find persuasive the rather constricted view in Marxe of what it is for a law clerk to “personally and substantially” partid*106pate in a case. The Marne court concluded that the law clerk had minimal involvement because her duties were limited to summarizing pleadings for the judge’s review. Id. at 493, 570 A2d 44. For anyone who has ever served as a law clerk or a judge, it is clear that even summarizing or digesting a brief, a transcript of testimony, or moving papers may involve subjective, editorial judgments filtered through the particular value system of the clerk. In light of the significant volume of litigation before a family law judge, the Mane court suggested that a law clerk will not have substantial involvement in any one matter. Ibid. However, substantial involvement is not defined by the time spent on the matter but the nature of the participation of the clerk in that matter. A family law judge is substantially involved in each of the cases over which that judge presides, however little time is spent on any one ease and however many cases may be decided in a day. That same concept applies to the law clerk. Last, although I agree with the Mane court’s axiomatic conclusion that “at no time does anyone other than the judge ever decide any issue,” id. at 493-94, 570 A2d 44, that surely cannot mean that a law clerk does not “personally and substantially” participate in a case, simply because the clerk is not the decision maker.
I would broadly construe the term “personally and substantially” to disqualify any law clerk from later representing a litigant in a case on which the clerk did substantive work for a judge. Ministerial work, such as calendaring or completing a checklist of items received in a case, would not be a basis for disqualification under RPC 1.12. Such a bright-line rule will give guidance to law clerks in their future employment. This rule would not bar a lawyer from accepting employment with a firm representing one of the parties in a case in which the lawyer substantially participated as a law clerk. The rule only would require that, when the lawyer has substantially participated in that case as a law clerk, the lawyer be screened by the law firm from any involvement in the case. The interpretation I would give to the words personal and substantial participation would instill greater public confidence that the integrity of our judicial system will not be compro*107mised. The majority’s opinion will invite further litigation to define the contours of personal and substantial participation. An aggressive party may seek to depose the law clerk and perhaps the judge to determine the precise nature of the clerk’s involvement in the case. Such an intrusion into the judicial function can have only negative repercussions.
The majority concludes that Ms. Miller did not participate “personally and substantially” as a law clerk in the ease, and yet requires that she be screened from any further participation as a lawyer. This inconsistent approach to the issue betrays a certain uneasiness that the majority has with the unseemly appearance of Ms. Miller representing one of the litigants in this matter.
Although I disagree with the result reached by the majority in this case, I welcome the majority’s referral of RPC 1.12 to the Professional Responsibility Rules Committee “to determine whether [that rule] embodies an appropriate standard.” I believe that my interpretation of the current rule sets “an appropriate standard” that will promote public confidence in the judiciary and the legal profession.
Because I conclude that Ms. Miller participated “personally and substantially” as a law clerk in the same case in which she is representing defendant, I would disqualify both her and her law firm from any further participation in that case. That result, although harsh for defendant who would have to find new counsel, is dictated by the need to assure litigants that our judicial system is both impartial and just. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.
Justice LaVECCHIA joins in this dissent.
For affirmance — Chief Justice PORITZ and Justices VERNIERO, ZAZZALI and WALLACE — 4.
For reversal — Justices LaVECCHIA and ALBIN — 2.

 Paragraph (b) of RPC 1.12, was amended effective January 1, 2004, to provide expressly that a law firm may “undertake or continue representation in [a] matter,” despite its association with a lawyer disqualified by paragraph (a), if:
(1) the disqualified lawyer is timely screened from any participation in the matter and is apportioned no part of the fee therefrom; and
(2) written notice is promptly given to the parties and any appropriate tribunal to enable them to ascertain compliance with the provisions of this Rule.
[RPC 1.12(b).]