A judge has rejected an offer from actress Gwyneth Paltrow's legal team to "bring in treats" for courtroom security at her trial in Utah.
This is a civil action in a District Court of the U.S. state of Utah, the details of which are not relevant to this question. According to the news articles, Paltrow's attorney offered "to bring in treats for the bailiffs for how helpful they've been". The other party's attorney objected, and the judge ruled: "OK, there's an objection so thank you, but no thank you." He apparently added that either side could bring treats later if they wished.
I was surprised that the attorney would have made the offer in the first place, and that the judge might have allowed it had the other side not objected. In my imagination, and in reality in some places, court officials would not be able to accept gifts from a party to ongoing proceedings; for example:
In New York, nonjudicial employees of state courts "shall not solicit, accept or agree to accept any gifts or gratuities from attorneys or other persons having or likely to have any official transaction with the court system" and "shall not request or accept any payment in addition to their regular compensation for assistance given as part of their official duties, except as provided by law". (Rules of the Chief Judge 50.1(I)(D and E))
In California, "a lawyer shall not directly or indirectly give or lend anything of value to a judge, official, or employee of a tribunal" with certain exceptions. (Rules of Professional Conduct 3.5(a))
Federally, "a judicial employee should not solicit or accept a gift from anyone seeking official action from or doing business with the court or other entity served by the judicial employee" (Code of Conduct for Judicial Employees, Canon 4(C)(2)), again with possible exceptions.
These rules come at the matter from different directions (attorney's conduct, bailiff's conduct) but my instinct would be that this should not be allowed, even though the bailiff isn't a judicial decision-maker, and the treats may not be of any real value. A detailed reading of the cited rules would probably show a bit of nuance, but the general thrust feels against it.
My question is: What rules of conduct are there in Utah which might ever allow a court employee to receive a gift from someone engaged in litigation in that same court? Is there any difference if the "treats" are of small value, like cupcakes, or much more expensive, like various products sold by Paltrow's "Goop" company?
