Reading Room Document

Department of Justice Representation of Federal Employees in Fair Employment Suits

Government attorneys are not prohibited by 18 U.S.C. § 205 from representing federal employees in judicial personnel administration proceedings, as long as the representation is uncompensated and is not inconsistent with the attorney's performance of his or her official duties. However, Department of Justice regulations prohibit departmental attorneys from representing federal employees in fair employment suits in federal court, explicitly limiting such representation to administrative complaint procedures. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23101/download.

July 23, 1982