Opinion
No. 2:02cr0056 AS.
September 28, 2005
MEMORANDUM
Today, a law clerk for this Judge received an elongated ex parte telephonic communication from someone who represented himself to be a paralegal in a law firm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The record in this case fails to disclose the appearance of any such law firm for the defendant here. The conversation between that purported paralegal and a law clerk in this Judge's office was altogether inappropriate. A record is now made of this action in order to insure that counsel in this and similar cases do not engage in similar inappropriate conduct. It has been the long-standing practice of this Judge to avoid ex parte communications about cases with both federal prosecutors and defense lawyers. That practice will continue. If there are problems relating to the custody of this defendant, the present counsel of record is altogether competent to deal with them appropriately.