Good intentions can still violate the rules.

Can lawyers make gifts to the judiciary, either directly or indirectly, as an institution and, if so, would it require disqualification?

One of the problems in evaluating conduct under legal and judicial ethics is the fact that good intentions sometimes still can violate the rules of ethics. Presumably, the question is referring to the contribution attorney Thomas Kline has made to law schools to set up a judicial education program in two law schools in conjunction with working with the nine law school deans and also secondarily to help the law school satisfy the American Bar Association's six-hour requirement for law students to do internship-type of work. When an attorney is so generous with his resources, it's hard to be critical. Particularly when the program has such good intentions and will certainly assist not only the law schools, but also judicial education.

But, the question still comes back to giving gifts or benefits to judges specifically or the judiciary generally. Can a lawyer do that, particularly a lawyer whose law firm practices extensively in many different courthouses throughout Pennsylvania and in all the appellate courts in Pennsylvania.