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Contacts | | Except for the first couple links, the list below tries
to concentrate on ethics codes, codes of conduct, and canons written for
non-judicial or administrative court employees. The national
directories published by the ABA and Cornell are heavily
weighted toward codes for judges and attorneys rather than non-judicial court
employees. If any states or jurisdictions have adopted
codes for non-judicial court staff not listed here, we would be happy to publish them. Please e-mail or mail copies to Karl Thoennes at the address shown
on the Contacts page.
Recent additions: Oregon -
Ethics Code of the Oregon Association for Court Management,
October 2008.
 | United States. In October 2007 the National
Association for Court Management (NACM) adopted a new Model Code of Conduct for Court Professionals. The
2007 model code was also endorsed by the Conference of State Court
Administrators soon after. The 2007 version replaced NACM's original Model Code of Conduct
adopted around 1989/1990.
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| United States (all 50 States). The American
Bar Association publishes a comprehensive state-by state list of ethics
codes, professional conduct codes, ethics enforcement structures, and ethics
advisory opinions primarily for attorneys and judges. The list also
includes a few codes or canons for court staff, paralegals, and others.
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| United States (all 50 States). Cornell
Law School's American Legal Ethics Library publishes a catalog of canons, codes, opinions, and ethics enforcement structures in
all 50 states and the District of Columbia. However, the
materials do concentrate on ethics for judges and attorneys and generally do
not include codes for administrative or clerical court employees.
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| United States, Conference of State Court
Administrators. Model Code of Conduct
for Nonjudicial Court Employees. Adopted c. 1993. Based
on the AJS Model Code. Thanks to The Ethics Fieldbook: Tools for
Trainers, Cynthia Kelly Conlon and Lisa Milord, American Judicature
Society/State Justice Institute, for reprinting the COSCA model code in the
appendix to their work (1996).
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| United States. The American Bar Association's
Canon 3, Model Code
of Judicial Conduct includes provisions that at least indirectly
apply to non-judicial court employees through the judges. Note, in
February 2007 the American Bar Association adopted a revised Model Code,
including a supervisory section that refers to court staff. Because
that revision was adopted so recently many states have not had time to
consider amendments to their respective state Codes, but you can find the
new version of the ABA's 2007 Code at
this link. The supervisory section appears as Rule 2.12
Supervisory Duties, page 31.
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| Alaska [tribal court]. Tanana Valley Chiefs
Conference, Chapter
Seven on Judicial Ethics, compiled by the Chiefs Conference and Lisa
Jaeger, Fairbanks, Alaska 2002. Includes an oath and ethics code that
specifically applies to both judges and court employees. The
University of Oklahoma Law Library and the National Indian Law Library of
the Native American Rights Fund have published an extensive collection of
tribal court documents and references on their site, including this
one.
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| Arizona. Arizona's Code of Conduct for Court
Employees (1997) can be found on the National Center for State Court's
nationwide index (found on the "Ethics Links" page on this
website) or by clicking
on this link.
Arizona's Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee also published an ethics
advisory opinion on charitable activities of judges and court/administrative
employees which can be found at this link.
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| California
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Glenn
Superior Court, 12 tenets for court employees.
Ethics for Court Employees,
adopted 1994; same as Glenn Superior Court but also includes a series of
guidelines for each tenet.
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Colorado. Colorado does not have an ethics code
for court employees, but like many states, its personnel rules do address a
number of ethics and conduct issues. For example, the Colorado
Judicial System Personnel Rules address outside employment and political
activity in Part 5. |
| Connecticut. Thanks very much to Martin
Libbin, Deputy Director of Legal Services for the State of Connecticut
Judicial Branch for sending us the materials for Connecticut. If you
click this link
you'll find a set of ethics-related documents for the courts in
Connecticut. The set includes Ethics and Conduct for Judicial
Marshals, an Employee Conduct human resources policy for Court Support
Services, a dress code for court employees in general, a secondary
employment request form, and sections from the Administrative Policy and
Procedures Manual, 602 Code of Ethics, and 603 Receipt of Gifts.
(Connecticut also sent their interpreter code, which appears separately on
the Interpreter page on this website.) The pdf document is 819KB, so
the download may take a minute depending on your connection speed. |
Idaho
Professional Ethics taken from the Idaho Clerk of District Court
Manual.
Model
Code of Professional Conduct for Illinois Probation/Court Services Employees
(PDF form)
Code of Ethics
for Employees of the Maryland Courts. DRAFT only; this
document is only a draft and has not been adopted as of February 2007.
Largely based on California's format listed above.
Massachusetts Financial Disclosure Law requires certain state, county,
and municipal employees to file their financial interest statements with the
Massachusetts State Ethics Commission. This can also be found online by
clicking here.
| Montana. Employee
Code of Conduct (Word document). Adopted 2002, as a section
within the Montana Judicial Branch/Personnel Policies and Procedures.
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| Nebraska. Nebraska's Code
of Judicial Conduct adopted 1992. This is a
48-page very detailed code of judicial conduct generally (but not entirely)
based on the American Bar Association's (ABA's) Model Code. It is
included here because like Washington below, Nebraska's code applies by
extension to court employees "subject to the judge's direction and
control."
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Here is a
link to
a more complete set of Rules Governing Conduct of Non-Judicial Court
Employees, as well as standards and administrative policies regarding
Financial Disclosure by Judges and Non-Judicial Employees and the
Establishment of an Ethics Commission.
| Nevada. Model Code of
Conduct for Judicial Employees. Adopted or last revised March
2004, by the Judicial Council of the State of Nevada. May or may not
be approved for use in all jurisdictions. Thanks very much to Michael
Bell, Manager of the Judicial Education Division for the Administrative
Office of the Court in Carson City, Nevada.
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| Nooksak Indian Tribe (near Bellingham,
Washington). This one isn't exactly an ethics code, but the tribe has
published a short but refreshingly clear and straightforward statement on
the duties of a court clerk, including a clerk's ethical duties. The
tribe's website can be found at
this link or view the statement itself in
this Word document.
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| Ohio (Supreme Court). Employee Code of Ethics.
Thanks very much to Rick Dove, Director of Attorney Services for the Ohio
Supreme Court. Rick sent this note with the code: "[This
is] a copy of the Employee Code of Ethics adopted by the Supreme Court of
Ohio for its employees (we are not a unified state so the Code applies only
to Supreme Court employees, although some local courts have adopted their
own codes/policies). We have had a conduct code since at least 1990,
and the attached is the most recent version adopted by the Court in 2003.
We also conduct a half-day new employee orientation program that includes a
20 minute overview of this Code, the state ethics law (applicable to all
government employees and officials), and the Code of Professional
Responsibility (for employees who are lawyers).
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| South
Dakota. Unified
Judicial System Personnel Rules. Adopted 1998. Like a
number of other states, South Dakota has not adopted an ethics code
specifically for court employees although its personnel rules do contain a
number of provisions typically found in ethics codes. Scroll down to
page 93, Chapter 9, "Conduct," for sections on nepotism, political
activity, outside employment, etc.
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South Dakota Court Services Ethical Guidelines - These guidelines were
recently revised in March of 2007.
Finally, even though they refer to judges rather then general
court employees, because South Dakota statutes or rules on judicial ethics are
sometimes difficult to find through regular online searches we have included
the South Dakota
Code of Judicial Conduct and the
Appendix to SDCL Chapter 16-1A.
The appendix to Chapter 16-1A which includes the Rules of Procedure of the
Judicial Qualifications Commission, Rule IV on Judicial Elections, including
the Special Committee on Judicial Elections; and Rule VI, on the Judicial
Ethics Committee created in 2006. These references are current as of
September 2008.
| Utah.
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Utah Judicial
Employee Ethics - This is a link to a list of ethical scenarios that
deal with issues such as receiving gifts, giving legal advice, favoritism, and
many others that are used for employee ethics education and training.
Code of
Personal Conduct - This code of personal conduct was taken from Utah's
Human Resource Policy.
| Washington
(State). Court
Rules; Code of Judicial Conduct. It appears that Washington
has generally adopted the ABA's model Code of Judicial Conduct in its rules;
this judicial ethics code is listed here because like a lot of states it
contains the ABA's model language that applies judicial ethics codes to
court staff, "Judges should be patient, dignified, and
courteous...and should require similar conduct of lawyers, and of the staff,
court officials, and others subject to their direction and
control." Thanks to Frank Maiocco, Court Administrator in
Kitsap County, for this reference.
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