State of Washington

Ethics Advisory Committee

Question

Does the answer in Opinion No. 86-14 change if 1) the Board of County Commissioners, instead of a district court and/or district court judge(s), contracts for indigent defense services for county district court with a law firm having a member presently serving on a part-time basis as a judge of a municipal court in the county; or 2) the district court and judge(s) had no role in the awarding of the contract and would not be a party to the contract?

Answer

Neither the fact that the contract is awarded by the court nor the fact that the court is not a party to the contract affects the appearance of impropriety and partiality.

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 1.2

Opinion 89-06

5/22/1989