United States District Court
Northern District Of Illinois
Local Rules
LR83.51.12. Former Judge or Arbitrator
(a) Except as provided in section (d), a lawyer shall not represent anyone in
connection with a matter in which the lawyer participated as a judge or other
adjudicative officer, arbitrator, law clerk or any other assistant or aide to such a
person unless all parties to the proceeding consent after disclosure.
(b) A lawyer shall not negotiate for employment with any person who is involved as
a party or as a lawyer for a party in a matter in which the lawyer is
participating personally and substantially as a judge, other adjudicative officer, or
arbitrator. A lawyer serving as a law clerk to a judge, other adjudicative
officer, or arbitrator may negotiate for employment with a party or a lawyer
involved in a matter in which the clerk is participating personally and substantially,
but only after the lawyer has notified the judge, other adjudicative officer,
or arbitrator.
(c) If a lawyer is disqualified by section (a), a lawyer in the firm with which
that lawyer is associated who knows or reasonably should know of that
disqualification shall not undertake or continue representation in the matter unless:
(1) the disqualified lawyer is screened from any participation in the matter and
is apportioned no specific share of the fee therefrom; and
(2) written notice is promptly given to the appropriate tribunal to enable it to
ascertain compliance with the provisions of this rule.
(d) An arbitrator selected as a partisan of a party in a multimember arbitration
panel is not prohibited from subsequently representing that party.
Committee Comment. This rule generally parallels LR83.51.11. The term “personally and substantially” signifies that a judge who was a member of a multimember court and thereafter
left judicial office to practice law is not prohibited from representing a
client in a matter pending in the court, but in which the former judge did not
participate. So also the fact that a former judge exercised administrative
responsibility in a court does not prevent the former judge from acting as a lawyer in
a matter where the judge had previously exercised remote or incidental
administrative responsibility that did not affect the merits. Compare the Comment to LR83.51.11. The term “adjudicative officer” includes such officials as judges pro tempore, referees, special masters, hearing officers and other parajudicial officers,
and also lawyers who serve as part-time judges. Compliance Canons A(2), B(2)
and C of the Model Code of Judicial Conduct (also part of the Code of Conduct
for United States Judges) provide that a part-time judge, judge pro tempore or retired judge recalled to active service may not “act as a lawyer in any proceeding in which the judge has served as a judge or
in any other proceeding related thereto.” Although phrased differently from this Rule, those rules correspond in
meaning.