Practical Applications
of Ethics Codes:
The Big Bounce –
Customer Service and
Giving Legal Advice
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Objectives
• Become familiar with ethics codes
• Understand why ethics codes are
important to us as court professionals
• Determine how ethics apply to customer
service and giving legal advice
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Are Ethics Important?
• A fair and independent court system is
essential to the administration of justice in a
democratic society.
• To be a court professional means ethical
conduct that strives to:
– inspire public confidence and trust in the
courts;
– convey impartiality, equity, fairness and
integrity
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Scenario:
The Big Bounce
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PLAY VIDEO
The Big Bounce
Codes
NACM Model Code of Conduct for Court Professionals
Canon 1.7 Assisting Litigants
A court professional shall be responsive to inquiries
regarding standard court procedures, but shall not give
legal advice unless it is required as part of one’s
official position.
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The Big Bounce
Codes
American Judicature Society Model Code for
Nonjudicial Court Employees
Section Two (f): Confidentiality
Court employees are not precluded from responding to
inquiries concerning court procedures, but a court
employee shall not give legal advice. Standard court
procedures, such as the method for filing an appeal or
starting a small claims action, should be summarized
in writing and made available to litigants.
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The Big Bounce
Discussion Questions
• Is being bounced from office to office just the price
that customers pay for coming to court?
• Response #1
“Although courts work to be ‘customer friendly’ they
are also increasingly specialized. One result of that
specialization is that only certain workers have the
knowledge and tools to solve an individual’s
problems. We don’t want to ‘bounce’ customers,
but sometimes they have to wait for the right
worker to help them.”
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The Big Bounce
Discussion Questions
• Is this being bounced from office to office just the
price that customers pay for coming to court?
Response #2
“Bouncing a customer from office to office should
never be acceptable and every court in America
should work to answer a customer’s questions by
the first counter worker or by worker who answers
the phone.”
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The Big Bounce
Discussion Questions
Was there any different way the clerk could have
handled this situation?
• Response #1
“No . Legal advice is a technical concept that few
regular citizens understand. The clerk did an
admirable job of trying to explain the concept to the
customer, but in the end we have to accept that it
may be too complicated for the general public.”
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The Big Bounce
Discussion Questions
Was there any different way the clerk could have
handled this situation?
Response #2
“Yes . Courts should be trying to find 1) better ways
to describe legal advice to the public, 2) innovative
approaches to help customers, and 3) policy and
legal solutions for just this kind of dilemma that the
customer found herself trapped in.”
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The Big Bounce
Discussion Questions
What can the court learn from this situation?
Response #1
“We in courts talk a good game about customer
service, but we really don’t do a very good job of it.
Here was an example where the court could analyze
what happened to this lady and develop innovative
ways to ensure it never happens again.”
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The Big Bounce
Discussion Questions
What can the court learn from this situation?
Response #2
“Court staff know more about cases and court
procedures than the bar gives us credit for knowing.
To prohibit court staff from truly helping customers is
disservice to the public. The potential harm
outweighs the help we could do..”
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The Big Bounce
Discussion Questions
What can the court learn from this situation?
Response #3
“Court staff need to be better trained on the reasons
behind why giving legal advice is not only against the
law but ultimately unhelpful to the public. The reason
we are prohibited from giving legal advice is not just
to throw more business to lawyers. We could harm
someone’s case and possibly their life by giving bad
advice.”
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The Big Bounce
Discussion Questions
Determine what your own
answers are to the questions
asked here.
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Why Do This?
•It’s the Integrity of the Judicial Branch
•It’s More than Just Personnel Rules
•It’s Not Just Right & Wrong Answers
•It’s Your Job to Make the Code Relevant
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Learn More and Joint the
Conversation
Log onto the NACM Website Ethics Page:
http://www.ncsconline.org/Nacmethics/
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