Navigation Judges may not hire family members, but may speak at firm sponsored seminars aimed at law students
Like many businesses, Florida’s courts are caught in the national labor crunch. While a creative, out-of-the-box approach is needed to fulfill staffing shortages, judges are still prohibited from hiring family members, according to the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee.
The Supreme Court committee issued Opinion 2022-12 October 3, which responded to a judge on whether the Code of Judicial Conduct would allow the judge to hire the judge’s spouse as a judicial assistant. The assistant position has been vacant in the judge’s office for some time.
The judge asked the committee to reconsider the opinion reached in Fla. JEAC Op. 2015-09, which “dealt with the question of whether a judge could continue to employ the judicial assistant after the assistant’s marriage to the judge’s son.”
