State of Washington

Ethics Advisory Committee

Question

May a judicial officer serve on the board of directors for a county volunteer lawyer program, which has no attorney employees, and no employees of the organization will be appearing before the judicial officer?

Answer

CJC Canon 4(C) provides that a judicial officer may serve as a director of an organization that is devoted to the improvement of the law, the legal system and the administration of justice. A judicial officer may serve on the board of directors for a county volunteer lawyer program because no attorneys who might appear before the judicial officer are employed by the organization.

Opinion 93-16 is withdrawn. When that opinion was issued the committee erroneously assumed that the board on which the judicial officer sits is the employer of the attorneys who appear in court. If there is no employee/employer relationship, service on a board which oversees a county volunteer lawyer program is distinguishable from a legal services program which actually employs attorneys who regularly appear in the judicial officer's court.

Opinion 93-26

11/22/1993