State of Washington

Ethics Advisory Committee

Questions

1) May a judicial officer belong to an organization formed solely of judicial officers, some of whom are retired, when the organization is sponsored in part by monetary contributions from a vendor, a legal publisher?

2) May a judicial officer attend a conference or a social event at a conference where the event is sponsored, in part, by: (1) a law firm that practices in the judicial officer’s court; (2) a vendor which may contract to provide a product or service to the judicial officer’s court; or (3) any entity likely to have cases in the judicial officer’s court?

3) Does recognition of that sponsorship given to the donor at the conference or social event affect the propriety of attending the event?

4) What is the effect of solicitation of the vendor or law firms or bar associations for monetary contributions if done by retired judicial officers?

5) Does participation by the donor in the conference or social event affect the propriety of attending the event?

6) Does the fact that the judicial officer’s court is contemporaneously negotiating with the vendor for a contract affect the propriety of the judicial officer’s attendance at the event or belonging to the judicial organization?

Answer

CJC Canon 2(A) provides in part that judges should act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. Canon 2(B) provides in part that judges should not convey or permit others to convey the impression they are in a special position to influence them. Canon 4 provides that judges may engage in quasi-judicial activities, if in doing so they do not cast doubt on their capacity to decide impartially any issue that may come before them. Canon 4(C) provides in part that judges may serve as members of an organization devoted to the improvement of the law, the legal system and the administration of justice and they may assist an organization in raising funds and may participate in the management and investment, but they should not personally solicit contributions from the public.

Based on the provisions of the Code cited above, the responses to the questions submitted are:

1) A judicial officer may belong to an organization formed by judicial officers when the organization is sponsored in part by monetary contributions from a vendor/legal publisher provided: 1) the contributions are not solicited by active judicial officers; 2) the contributions from the vendor/legal publisher, if it has a contractual or business relationship with a court upon which its members sit, are of an insignificant amount; and 3) the contributions would not convey the impression that the vendor/legal publisher is in a special position to influence the judicial officer members.

2) A judicial officer may attend a conference or social event at a conference where the event is sponsored, in part, by a law firm that practices in the judicial officer’s court, a vendor which may contract to provide a product or service to the judicial officer’s court, or an entity likely to have cases in the judicial officer’s court provided the contributions from the individual law firms, vendors or entities are of an insignificant amount, the solicitations were not made by sitting judicial officers and the contributors are not publicly acknowledged in a way that creates the impression that the judicial officer is lending the prestige of office to advance the private interests of the contributors.

3) Recognition of the conference/social event donor does affect the propriety of attending the event if the donor’s sponsorship casts doubt on a judicial officer’s capacity to decide any issue that may come before them or would permit others to convey the impression they are in a special position to influence the judges attending the event. The judicial officer should be aware of how the recognition will be handled and make sure that it does not convey the impression that the judicial officer is lending the prestige of the office to advance the private interests of the contributors.

4) Retired judges are not covered by the Code of Judicial Conduct and therefore they may solicit contributions from vendors, law firms or bar associations provided they are not publicly recognized in program or event materials in a way that lends the prestige of the judicial officers to advance the private interests of the contributors.

5) Participation by the donor in the conference or social event affects the propriety of attending the event because it conveys the impression they are in a special position to influence the judges attending the event.

6) A judicial officer, whose court is contemporaneously negotiating with the vendor for a contract, should not attend an event if the judicial officer is aware that the vendor is a significant contributor to the event because it creates an appearance of a conflict of interest and undermines the public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary. These same circumstances may affect the propriety of belonging to the organization and should be examined by the judicial officer to determine if the membership creates the appearance of partiality or undermines the public confidence in the judiciary.

Also see Opinion 07-04.

Opinion 08-07

09/28/2008