Rule 51:3.10 Practice of Law

Judges cannot work as lawyers while they serve as judges. This means they can't take on clients, give legal advice for pay, or represent people in court.

There are a couple of narrow exceptions to this. A judge can represent themselves in their own legal matters. A judge can also help out family members by giving them legal advice or helping write up documents, as long as the judge doesn't get paid for it. But even with family, there's a limit: the judge still can't act as that family member's lawyer in court or in any official legal proceeding.

The idea behind this rule is to keep judges focused on judging, not practicing law on the side. It also helps avoid situations where a judge's outside legal work could create conflicts of interest or make people question the judge's fairness.