State of Washington

Ethics Advisory Committee

Question

May a judge hear cases where one of the parties is represented by an attorney that ran against the incumbent judge, where during the election, the attorney accused and/or insinuated the judge was not impartial?

Answer

A judge is not prohibited from hearing cases where one of the parties is represented by an attorney that ran against the incumbent judge.

The Supreme Court adopted a new Code of Judicial Conduct effective January 1, 2011. In addition to reviewing the ethics advisory opinions, the following should be noted: CJC 2.11

Opinion 88-16

11/15/1988